What is the difference between A Campervan and An RV

The Difference Between a Motorhome, Campervan & RV

Understanding the distinctions between a motorhome, campervan, and RV can enhance your travel experience. These three terms are mainly used interchangeably for a specific type of vehicle. But are they the same thing? Let’s understand the meaning of a motorhome, campervan, and RV.

A campervan and an RV cater to different travel preferences and needs. A campervan is a smaller, more maneuverable vehicle, typically built on a van chassis, and offers basic living amenities such as a compact kitchen, sleeping area, and sometimes a small bathroom.

What Is an RV?

RV is a short Recreational Vehicle, a blanket term for all vehicles used for travelling and camping. RV is used widely in North America to describe motorhomes and campervans. Unlike motorhomes and campervans, a few RVs also require towing. Fifth wheels, travel trailers, camper trailers, and pop-up campers may need a pickup truck or towing vehicle to be moved around.

What Is a Camper?

Unlike RVs, campers do not have built-in driving systems; they are specific towable units that offer living accommodations for camping and travelling. Many types of campers are made to meet different budgets and needs. Many kinds of campers include truck campers, travel campers, fifth-wheel campers, etc.

What Is a Camper Van?

This term is mainly used to refer to vehicles that started simply as regular vans and were converted to make them ideal for sleeping inside. Campervans are more compact than motorhomes and mostly have the basic fit-outs. They mostly let 2-3 people sleep in them based on the size, having a double bed on the bottom and sometimes a single bed built into its high-top roof. These campervans can have microwaves, fridges, double cookers, rooftop solar panels, and USB ports.

What Is a Motorhome?

A motorhome is mostly a bigger vehicle, a standard than the campervan, built over a long wheelbase. Motorhomes sleep from 2-6 people based on their size, and they are also always big enough to let people stand up and move around quickly. Motorhomes also have fully equipped kitchenettes, a proper living space, a shower, and a toilet. Certain motorhomes come with some other luxuries that you can find in your usual home, such as air conditioning, television. However, this is only a standard for some rental motorhomes. Motorhomes also have 1-2 slide-outs to expand the living portion and the sleeping quarters, and they also have additional space for storage accessed over the outside of the vehicle.

How Much Do You Have to Budget for This Trip?

A motorhome is a large, self-contained vehicle with living accommodations. A campervan is smaller, more maneuverable, and often lacks full facilities. An RV, or recreational vehicle, is a broad term encompassing both motorhomes and campervans, as well as trailers and other travel vehicles equipped for living.

Van Life

You must budget for your trips beforehand to stay supplied with money on your journey. This is why it will be best to go no for the van rental if you are on a low budget. Your daily rental rate will be a lot cheaper. Over this, better quality campervans boast an average of 17 miles per gallon to fuel the economy. Campground spots will be cheaper as well. Since these vans don’t have power cords to plug in or even bathroom wastewater for dumping, you may also choose to have affordable parking options.

RV Life

In an RV, you will enjoy many more amenities and pay more. However, RV rental will be costly in some other ways as well. You will run out of gas quicker and will So you should note that the campsites you are looking for, with fewer connections and electricity, will be much more expensive.

What Driving Experience Do You Want?

Van Life

If you are already familiar with the driving experience, you should get a van rental. Vans can fit in almost all parking sports, which isn’t anything to write off. You will have many more road trip adventures from a vehicle of this size. Whereas most RVs urge people to stop and explore the space on foot. This is why most of the adventurous spots get missed out because one can not stop and get out of the vehicle on each one of them,

RV Life

RVs will be much longer than most vans. Navigating through when you tow or drive a larger vehicle will be trickier. Other than this, it will also cause you to have worse gas mileage. It would help if you also considered that you will benefit from having bathrooms always with you on the road, which might be a major plus for most people during this time of social distancing and closures. This facility, along with your kitchen, also means that you can make fewer stops other than refill your gas tank.

What Kind of Lifestyle Do You Want to Enjoy During This Trip?

Van Life

In a van rental, you will never be able to enjoy as many amenities or rooms as you have in an RV. But it isn’t the same way. You can find specific vans that have a lot of storage space. Even if you are someone who overpacks for your trips, you still won’t find an issue to keep this luggage in certain types of vans. These vans also don’t come with a bathroom. Hence, you will rely on public campground restrooms and facilities. The trade-off here is that it forces you to stay outdoors much more.

RV Life

Conversely, an RV offers a space that almost gives you the feeling of a home. Even if you had a full day of adventure or a work day, you can return to an RV to feel like you have stepped into your usual house. There isn’t a need to convert the dining area to a bed by the end of the day. You will always have a couch, a huge refrigerator, a full bathroom, and a TV ready for use.

Embracing RV life means enjoying the freedom of the open road while bringing the comforts of home with you. There are separate living rooms and bedrooms in the RVs so that people can live their separate lives if they want to in an RV.

How Long Is Your Trip?

Van Life

As vans are smaller and can only hold a little of your storage, you must pack less for smaller trips. You can not go on a month-long journey in these vans as you will only be able to carry some of your luggage with you. You will have to travel back home to get different clothing and luggage of your choice for your new adventure.

RV Life

RVs are primarily large enough to be called tiny homes for people travelling in them. They offer much storage space and empty rooms to convert into additional storage for your longer journeys. You can plan long trips if you have an RV rental or the one you own. This freedom of many storage options for your essentials and even water and fuel will give you a choice to go far from your home and enjoy peaceful trips.

Which One Is Better?

Considering the above points, these vehicles are fit for different people and their trips. RV life is ideal for people who want some of the amenities of their house to come with them to the road. It is also suitable for people on an extended trip or destined for places with undetermined weather. It is also suitable for people who know they must spend most of their time indoors, relaxing or working.

But for people who want an affordable summer rental for a few weeks, a van is all they need. Van life is more straightforward and smaller, ideal for people who wish to have more outdoor adventures. If a campervan summer is what you want to enjoy, then a campervan is what you should look for.

You will have to look for ideal prices in these rentals to find the proper campervan kitchen and other amenities at an affordable price. In this case, you will find many options, and knowing about both will help you find the right fit.

Also, you like the sound of having a van rental, except for the loss in the amenities department. In that case, you can find specific caper rentals offering you extra amenities compared to the usual vans. You can get a toilet, shower, AC, and microwave in some vans for additional rent.

Once you enjoy the RV life, you will always like to enjoy the RV rentals and want a similar experience every time. You only have to be sure of the budget, lifestyle and driving experience you are more comfortable with for your trip ahead. You can plan your getaway and rent a suitable vehicle for your trip. This can be much more feasible for you and make your trip memorable and enjoyable.