15 days/2200km in a Frontier around North Island as a family of 5 (Dad, Mum, 21,19 & 5yo daughters).

The Auckland THL staff were friendly. The intro to the van was reasonable, but allow a day or so to figure out how the vehicle works yourself. Opting for the $7500 excess WAS a stressor throughout, but I felt the hand-back was pleasant even with a chipped windscreen (2x $55 - quite reasonable). The THL share pantry is brilliant, use it and repay the favour with your leftover items.

Mercedes Sprinter: well behaved overall, easy to operate, good features. Consult the vehicle manual to figure out how it works - eg cruise/speed limiter is brilliant to use but not obvious at first. As a former truck driver I had no problems with the size, but at 2.3m wide and 7.2m long won't fit in a normal car park. No reversing camera! Honestly cannot understand why such a simple device isn't added - driver sees nothing directly behind the van. Also some caution needed when wind gusts combine with bumps to give it the wombles.

Heaps of sleeping room inside; took us a few days to get into routine but pretty straightforward. Quite cosy, well insulated. Condensation is a natural consequence of 5 breathing bodies, even with the top vents and some windows a bit open. Vehicle aircon dried it out quickly, however still damp patches behind cushions/under mattresses. The linen provided was quite adequate (our daughters did take sleeping bags though).

Kitchen and fridge is fine, reasonable range of utensils although for a family of our size the frypan/saucepan was a little limited in capacity. The cassette toilet to is actually easy to deal with (ask for more tablets so you can empty regularly). Hot water for shower never worked though. House battery was dodgy, which limits options at night (eg diesel heater is great, but needs power for fan).

Most nights were lovely free spots, with van parks every few days for showers and power (4 adults=$$$). Next time I would plan for more Campable sites.

Reviewed over 5 years ago