Hire a VW Campervan – New Vs Old
Hire A VW Campervan – New Vs Old
Being an eco-sustainable mad chap, keen on recycling and re-use, it can seem an odd contradiction that we at Active Kampers provide new VW campervan hire. At the moment all our fleet are the popular but expensive factory built VW California. The new VW California is the first and only manufacturer made camper van, everything else new or old has been mucked around with, to variable standards.
Often a classic van is the first port of call for VW campervan hire enquiries. So why don’t we run the old 60s splitties, or 70s Bays? These cute 40 year old classic vans certainly have a smile factor as one of my friends would say, but after that the initial appeal can wane quite quickly. They are frankly best handled by people that are familiar with driving them (because of heavy steering, ‘variable’ engine performance and risk of breaking cables at high speed etc). If you hire a well looked after one and are prepared to do 50- 60 miles an hour tops, and are not going far in the summer then you may well be fine. Otherwise it’s a big petrol bill, a draughty night’s sleep and a tiring drive, at the very least.
Even for festival VW campervan hire where style rules I would still go for the VW California. It’s more spacious inside, has great storage, is quieter inside due to insulation and double glazing. Most importantly it has a great 42 litre fridge for essential storage of cool wine and beers and its powered by two (new) massive leisure batteries which will last for 3-4 days.
Without a doubt a new VW Campervan hire is the way to go for longer trips or distances. They win on comfort, space, fuel economy (now getting 40mpg which must be 2-3 times that of the odd vans), and warmth (all have heaters). Like I’ve said before we have a 100% satisfaction from our customers after 3 and a bit seasons of hiring so we are sticking with our lovely VW California’s.
Pollution is a factor to, with the California’s expensive catalytic converter hugely reducing the output of nasties from the diesel engine. Sure if you don’t want any CO2 emissions stay at home, or take the bus or train, but being realistic for a family a VW California road trip around the UK or Europe is considerably less polluting or lower carbon emissions than a return flight.
I am pretty sure that major accidents aside all of our California’s will be around in 40 years’ time after hundreds of thousand miles of driving much like their predecessors. What will I be hiring out then? Space campervans? Who knows, but hopefully I’ll still be campervanning!
Matt
