Strategy

Text/Wei Bo

Although this year’s May Day holiday is still during the epidemic, the Chinese people who have been stifled by the epidemic have long been screaming, and many hotels are overcrowded. Many scenic spots also require reservations to enter.

So my son and several of his kindergarten “best friends” used WeChat to make an appointment to go on a trip in an RV. Ask your son how you know about "RV", and he replied that he saw it the last time he went to Yellowstone Park in the United States. "I have never lived in a RV..."

Our parents also think it is feasible. After all, Living in an RV eliminates the need to go to a hotel and avoids the risk of cross-infection during vacations. Besides, children have very little concept of traveling. Just find a deserted place in the wild and let them have fun.

There are many parent-child agencies on the Internet that provide RV self-driving trips. Some parent-child agencies provide RV outings for two families in one car - anyway, it feels weird and too crowded for two families to live in one "room". So we chose the "one car, one night for one family" plan provided by another parent-child agency:

Including campground usage fees, campground water and electricity, as well as campground barbecue grills, charcoal and small hot pots, each RV The packaging service fee is about 1,700 yuan. The price of renting an RV during a holiday like May Day is much more expensive than usual. However, for the "one car, one night per family" plan, this price should be the cheapest we have seen during the May Day period.

In addition, since the father of a child works in the logistics industry, the company strictly stipulates that we cannot leave Shanghai during this period, so we can only find campsites in Shanghai - the conditions of the campsite are also why we finally chose this one One of the reasons for parent-child agencies.

The activity camp provided by this parent-child agency is located north of Xisha National Wetland Park. It can be said to be the best RV campground in the entire Shanghai area. For the current RV tourism projects in China, campground conditions are an aspect that cannot be ignored.

As we all know, there are two types of RVs. One is the unpowered RV that is commonly towed behind a car in the United States. Towing an unpowered RV in China requires a special license. This kind of RV has more space, more complete facilities, and comes with a diesel AC power generation system. No matter where you camp, there is air conditioning in the house.

Powered RVs such as the Maxus RV80 do not have an AC power generation system. If you want to use the RV air conditioner, you must connect an external 220V AC power supply.

If you want to start the vehicle and use the car air conditioner forcibly while camping, there is a risk of carbon monoxide poisoning. Therefore, for the most common powered RVs in China, a campsite that can provide 220V AC power is essential, otherwise it will be really hot and stuffy in the car at night.

After seeing photos of related campsites, several of our families decided to rent a car from this parent-child agency as a group. In addition, you can bring your own food and drinks, and pay for road and bridge tolls and fuel. There is a refrigerator in the car. You can put food and drinks in the refrigerator after picking up the car.

According to the parent-child agency, the RV we rented is "automatic transmission", so we can drive it as long as we have a C2 or above driver's license.

When I saw the actual car, I found that it was not an "automatic transmission" at all, but an AMT semi-automatic transmission without P gear - but it didn't matter, because for many people, starting out Those that do not require a clutch are collectively called "automatic transmissions." But for me, the combination of AMT+diesel engine is my first experience.

Please don’t laugh at this frustrating AMT. After all, it is not an “automatic transmission” in the first place. It is a fallacy in itself to compare the experience of an automatic transmission to an AMT.

You should use a manual transmission to compare it with an AMT. This way you will feel that AMT is really friendly to many drivers who are afraid of manual transmissions!

Of course, having a driver's license and being able to drive are actually two different things - there are so many "natives" in China.

This RV80 C-type RV is modified based on the Maxus long-axis V80. It is equipped with a 2.5T turbocharged diesel engine with a maximum power of 100kW/3800rpm, matched with 6AMT, and has a body size of 5995× 2330×3150mm, wheelbase is 3850mm. Many drivers will indeed feel stressed when seeing such a tall and long car for the first time.

This event was originally attended by four families, but the father of one of the children had been struggling with whether he could hold such a big car, and finally decided to quit.

As for the remaining three dads, except for one of them who comes from the logistics industry and has driven a Maxus V80 before, saying that he has no pressure at all, the other two dads - including me, really I have never driven such a big car.

Although I have test-driven cars with at least 600 models, the largest cars I have ever test-driven are the Maxus G10 and the 9-seater Volkswagen Kailuwei. For RVs with their own bathrooms and living rooms, It’s also the first time to experience it.

However, the overall experience is very similar to the driving experience of Maxus G10. There is also a camera for reversing. The only thing you need to pay attention to is the height limit warning sign on the road - if it is less than the height limit of 3.2 meters, don't Rushed hard.

When picking up the car, the staff said that a previous customer was used to driving a small car. When driving the RV, the height got higher and higher. He forgot about the height limit while driving, and ended up crossing a certain bridge. At that time, "the roof of the car was cut off"...

The staff admitted that they would tell this story "in accordance with the process" to every customer who went to pick up the car.

All in all, this C-type RV is not difficult to drive.

To pick up the car at the Chase RV Park next to Disneyland, you need to pay a deposit of 10,000 yuan in advance, and when you return the car, you need to pay a 5,000 yuan violation deposit.

The car is very clean, the bedding is basically hotel standard, there are disposable slippers, you can take a shower in the car, but there is no toothbrush, toothpaste and toiletries, you need to bring your own. In addition, you need to bring your own mosquito repellent water. Although the lawn is good, there are already mosquitoes in early May.

After driving out, the first problem I encountered was where to put my carry-on luggage. If you place it on a chair or table in the living room and make a turn or brake, you will definitely hear a ping-pong-pong-pong in the back of your head.

It is recommended to put odd luggage in the small lockers on both sides of the head. As for suitcases or large luggage, it is best to put them on the floor or behind the last row of seats.

In addition, you need to consciously keep a sufficient distance from the car in front. After all, the braking distance required for such a large car is not the same as that of a small car.

The car is equipped with long enough wiring and water pipes. After arriving at the camp, the first task is to connect the 220V AC power. There are only three parking spaces in the camp with an exclusive electric pile and wash basin, and we happen to have three cars.

As mentioned before, a family temporarily withdraws. If four cars come, one car needs to use an adapter to connect to the AC power.

After connecting the electricity, when you see the "Main Power" green light on the control switch on the top of the side door, you can use the air conditioner remote control to turn on the air conditioner - just like at home.

However, there was still an episode that day, that is, after a car was connected to an external power supply at the campground, the "mains" green indicator light of the control switch did not come on, which meant that the car was in the off state. No air conditioning. The temperature that day exceeded 30 degrees Celsius. The person driving the car was the father who worked in the logistics industry. He said that the life of their family in summer was saved by the air conditioner.

Each car has a small "warm reminder" sign with a suction cup on the base. It has the contact number of the parent-child agency. We called this number to report the problem, and the engineer there contacted us on WeChat. Video, I tried many methods but could not solve the problem of external power supply. Our three families are even discussing how to use the remaining two cars to arrange accommodation.

But in the end, this parent-child agency simply changed our car for us - although we did not ask to change the car because we felt it was too far.

The driver drove more than 100 kilometers to deliver the car. It was already 10 o'clock at night when he arrived. Then he drove the car back that could not connect to AC power. This kind of service attitude is really nothing to say. I specially put a small advertisement for them here to express my gratitude.

The car is equipped with a touch-screen smart TV with Android system. Turn on the TV WiFi switch to connect to the mobile phone's data sharing, and then open video software such as iQiyi to cast the screen directly. Originally we thought this was the best way to calm down the children, but several of them were always in a state of high excitement. After watching the cartoon, they would eat supper, play again after eating, and watch the movie again when they were tired. Don't give up until early in the morning.

Although there is an anti-mosquito curtain on the side door, many mosquitoes enter the car due to the children coming in and out. There is no mosquito net in the car, so we can only rely on mosquito repellent water...

Of course, there are places to complain. Of course, it’s all about the car.

The first is the interior rearview mirror. Since the cabin is closed, this thing cannot see behind the car at all. It can only be used as a "chatting mirror" to observe the family members behind. Therefore, for this car, I personally think that streaming rearview mirrors are essential.

Secondly, there are no makeup mirrors in the car either in the bathroom or in the living room. When mothers wake up in the morning, they have to use the exterior rearview mirror to do it, which is very inconvenient.

Furthermore, many edges and corners in the car are not covered with anti-collision foam, making it easy for children to knock their heads.

Finally, there is a problem with the design of the bathroom door. The water spilled on the inside of the door when taking a shower will flow directly down the door to the floor outside... After all, in many humane In terms of design, Maxus RV80 still has a lot of room for improvement.

However, in any case, RV tourism is still a new thing in China. I am thankful to be able to have such an experience with my children in China - especially during the epidemic.

This article comes from the author of Autohome Chejiahao and does not represent the views and positions of Autohome.