Touring New Zealand in a Luxury Motorhome

The Sunlight 169L: The Ideal Winter Motorhome

I’ve been indulging myself recently in some motorhome travel in the Queenstown/Wanaka area of New Zealand. Since it was a winter trip, it included some skiing time. My wife and I opted for the largest rental motorhome, a Sunlight I69L from McRent in Christchurch.

Despite the slightly Scottish-sounding name, it’s actually German-owned. Just in case you’ve never heard of Sunlight motorhomes, they are also made in Germany and are part of the Hymer group. One of the reasons we opted for this motorhome is that it’s an A class or ‘integrated’ in Hymer speak. It’s just about the only A-class motorhome that’s available for commercial hire in New Zealand or Australia. 

Space and Style on New Zealand Roads

The Sunlight motorhome is built on a Fiat Ducato chassis without the normal cab. Although an A-class motorhome looks big, the I69L was not particularly so, having an external length of 7.43m (24ft 5in) and a height of 2.94m (9ft 8in). Since A-class motorhomes, particularly the European style, are somewhat rare in Australia, I was keen for an extended drive.

Many people don’t necessarily think of skiing and motorhomes as connected, but I’ve done both on several occasions and found them to be very flexible ways of combining winter sports and travel. 

The Sunlight I169L had a couple of features that were quite attractive for our purpose. One was the huge ‘garage’, aka rear storage area. While it was large enough to take a couple of bicycles, it was more than adequate for our travel bags, skis, stocks and boots. The other item was the Truma 6E ducted heating, which worked extremely efficiently on either 240V mains power or LP gas, as did a related feature – anti-condensation panels.

Not common in locally built motorhomes and caravans but often fitted to European-built RVs, when fitted behind beds and seating, they do seem to prevent dampness building up. Although mostly designed for a couple with an island bed in the rear, the I69L was a four-berth, the second bed being quite a clever drop-down arrangement above the driver’s cab.

Understanding Weight and Performance

Excessive weight is a common topic in the Australian RV industry, making the Ducato-powered Sunlight I69L interesting. For a start, I didn’t have to hunt around to find either the Tare Mass (3200kg) or the GVM (3650kg). Compared to Australia, they are relatively lightweight for a 7.4m motorhome. Both were found on the NZ Transport Agency stickers on the side window, along with other interesting facts, like the maximum front and rear axle loadings. This is not information that most renters need to know, except for the 3650kg GVM - anything over 3500kg has a speed limit of 90km/h – but it is certainly handy for retail buyers. 

When European Features Meet New Zealand Roads

One curious difference between the Fiat Ducato motorhomes used in Australia and New Zealand is that the local variants are almost exclusively the 180 Multijet variant. That is a 130kW/400Nm turbo diesel engine - currently the most powerful in the Ducato range. In New Zealand, the 130 Multijets (96kw/320Nm) are more normal, and while the Sunlight motorhome was okay along the flat, steep hills (common in NZ) were another matter, and the going was a bit slow. Fortunately, Fiat’s nine-speed torque converter gearbox is a much smoother performer than the old six-speed Automated Manual Transmission (AMT). 

A feature of most German-built motorhomes (Hymer/Burstner/Carado/Dethleffs/Sunliner et al.) built for the right-hand drive is that the habitation door is on the offside – no mirrored layouts. Additionally, in the case of the I69L, there’s no driver’s door, but the passenger gets one. I did think that might be a little annoying, but once I got used to it, I did not find it so. One of the benefits of the easily rotating cab seats is that moving between the front and rear areas is quite easy. Something obligatory when travelling in the NZ southern Alps area is snow chains – some major roads do get closed because of snow. Things have improved since the last time I had to use chains because what was supplied were snow socks. I didn’t try them, but they looked much easier to fit than the old-style chains. 

Kitchen and Amenities

Anyone familiar with European-built RVs is that the kitchen area is often quite small. There was no exception with our motorhome, the kitchen bench being just large enough for a three-burner hob and a round stainless-steel sink. Under the hob was fitted a grill/oven, but there wasn’t that standard item of just about any Australian-built RV, a microwave oven. Something basic, like washing up, was a bit fiddly and messy, but we utilised a feature found in just about all New Zealand caravan parks: a camp kitchen. Most are relatively well equipped and, for winter use, usually well heated. Digressing slightly, at Wanaka, I discovered a feature not found in most caravan parks: a ski waxing room complete with waxing iron and brackets for holding my skis. 

The Growing Presence of Australian Motorhomes in New Zealand

For caravanning enthusiasts, fly-drive holidays are less easy to come by than for motorhomes, particularly on overseas travel. That said, the Australian retail caravan export industry is doing quite well in New Zealand, with brands like Jayco, New Age, Avida, NextGen and Millard seen on the road as we moved around. I saw a couple of other brands no longer sold in NZ, like Trakka and Paradise. Winter RV travel in NZ is quite popular. 

Ready for Adventure? 

Find your dream van online at OnlyVans.com.au!  We have great deals on caravans for sale including used caravans and caravans from private sellers. You can also find motorhomes for sale, camper trailers, and pop top caravans. No matter how you like to travel, we've got you covered. 

This article was written by, and photos provided by Malcolm Street and previously appeared at TradeRVs.com.au, now powered by OnlyVans.com.au.  

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