Best campervans for travelling New Zealand

This factory-made camper turns the Volkswagen Transporter into a luxurious house on wheels. It’s not cheap at $159,990, but the California has AWD and can tow 2500kg. VW’s ‘compact camper’ (you can get a much larger Grand California) still has room for up to four people thanks to its pop top roof. That gives you extra space to move around in the passenger compartment, while there is a rooftop bed and a fold-down bed in the cabin for a further two.

Other tricks include a kitchen equipped with a twin burner gas hob and a removable washing-up bowl. It has a 30L tank for fresh water and another 30L reservoir for the waste water. There’s also a power hose attachment to facilitate an outside shower at the rear of the van, a retractable side awning and an outdoor table with chairs, the latter stowed away cleverly in the tailgate. 

The California has a range of driver assist safety features, comes with a five year/150,000km warranty and has 30,000km/24 month service intervals. 

Head to Trade Me Motors, and you’ll find the Caravans and Motorhomes tab. Here you’ll discover all the used campervans on the market. There are plenty of full bodied motorhomes here, but also many converted campervans, including the trusty Toyota Hiace. Given the Hiace’s reputation for taking a licking on the work site and as a courier van, it makes a great basis for a campervan. You don’t need to be spending your time on holiday worrying about breakdowns. 

You’ll find a range of sizes from the more compact short wheel base model to the long wheel base version with the high roof for maximum interior space. And there’s the choice of automatic and manual, petrol or diesel, and some even have 4x4. 

You can bag a bargain with some of the older, higher mileage vans, some for less than five figures, while a budget in the $30k-$50k region will get a quality conversion with more conveniences including fresh and waste water tanks, fridge, microwave and gas cookers. 

If you’re a bit handy with the power tools, you can always give it a go yourself. With many used vans for sale on Trade Me, you can select the model you like best, and then set about configuring the interior exactly to your liking. There are many handy resources online to help you select a layout, such as camplify with a range of ideas to suit. Do you want a fixed bed in the back, or two sofas that convert into sleepers? Do you prefer to have the kitchen at the front of the living space or at the back?  There are also configurations to help you squeeze in a third or fourth berth. Doing it yourself also allows you to add the things you might want like solar panels and a cassette toilet so you can freedom camp more easily.