This article may only be suitable for those who are retired or will be retired, have plenty of time and plan to convert their own bed or caravan to go on a slow trip. If you just like to drive short trips, or can't spare a long time, and don't plan to modify your car yourself, then this article is probably not for you.

Before I retired, I worked in the tourism industry, the nature of the work is flexible, more free time, so from the end of 2007, I started a self-driving trip, it has been 15 years, all over the motherland.

In the course of 15 years of self-drive travel, blue plate minibus models (except for small micro cars) have almost all driven: Jetta sedan (late 07 - autumn 12), Rui Feng business (autumn 12 - late 18), the old Qijun SUV (late 18 - early 21), the Royal Wind light passenger (early 21 to present).

The above first narrative of my self-driving experience is to illustrate that I have driven almost all models of blue buses from small to large. Having had different feelings brought by driving different models during the trip, I hope to strengthen the persuasive power of this article with profound experience of using the car.

Be careful when buying a car and consider the purpose. Because the manufacturers launch a new car each, in the prototype period on the use of targeted design. If the model is chosen wrong, later no matter how to rack your brain to modify again, but also can not fundamentally change the original limitations.

The author believes that, in terms of suitable for conversion of station wagon, there is no one in the blue bus can be compared with the light passenger, for the following reasons.

First, the light passenger space is unbeatable

Want to be more comfortable to travel to live, the basic material conditions and minimum living facilities must be available, in this point the light bus has an irrefutable absolute advantage - SUVs and other models are very difficult to arrange a bed, where there is a place to put other equipment and appliances?

SUV into a bed car can have a comfortable sleeping and sitting posture is already a luxury, the car activities can only be moved to a non-normal position, how to comfort and extra space to speak of?

Perhaps in the mainland environment and short trips and sunny weather, most of the time in the outdoors, the space disadvantage of small cars is less prominent. But if you encounter wind and rain and other bad weather, especially in remote, highland, alpine, rainy areas, the cramped space in the car will immediately bring out the sense of embarrassment.

I have a deep feeling about this - before buying the Royal Wind light passenger has an old Kijun, when just bought about two years, its handling, performance, fuel consumption, etc. are very satisfactory to me. Before replacing the car (early September to early November 2020) had driven it through Yu, Jin, E, Xiang, Guizhou, Qian, Sichuan, Qingjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi, Lu and other 12 provinces and regions traveled for more than two months. In order to travel more comfortable, before the trip also spent nearly 10,000 yuan to buy the autumn wilderness sand boat tent installed in the car roof.

Before the trip entered Qinghai, it was a beautiful autumn day. It was a great time to enter the attractions during the day, sleep at night in the top account, have three meals outdoors in the breeze, and talk with friends at leisure.

Entering western Sichuan, the altitude gradually increases, the temperature difference between day and night begins to become large and often windy, the comfortable and leisurely feeling comes to an abrupt end. Continuing westward into the desert and Gobi, the scene of living in the car became more and more and longer, and the roof tent gradually became an ornament. After entering Qinghai and Xinjiang, the high altitude + cold + sand + temperature difference, the so-called "eyes in heaven, body in hell" has a real experience! Although the scenery becomes strange and beautiful, but the body's feeling is getting worse and worse.

Although it was only around mid-autumn, the harsh climate of the plateau and the desert had already revealed its fierceness, and the huge temperature difference between daytime temperatures of more than 20 degrees and nighttime temperatures close to zero or even freezing was really torturous! Not only the temperature difference, the desert Gobi climate also often without warning wind or even gale!

The cold and wind force you to get into the car, the cramped space can be tolerated for a short time, but for a long time is unbearable! Not to mention the need to cook, wash up, get up at night for convenience, etc., often curled up inside the car cowering until you have no choice but to get up and go outside the car. In this environment, every day of the trip, you can't help but flash the idea of changing the car, stationed at night to meet the closed doors, bright lights of the caravan is beyond envy.

It was the bad experience that prompted me to return and stop thinking about the damage caused by the replacement, and quickly go to 4S for a test drive, and then take action to start the modification. It is recommended that car enthusiasts learn from my lessons, before purchasing a car, modification must be considered thoroughly, to avoid the thought of spending a lot of money to buy a car, with the chicken ribs, abandoned, too late to regret.

Car enthusiasts should be clear about two concepts: short trips and long-term sojourn although both are travel, but the two are very different. Short-distance travel on the car's dependence is basically limited to transportation, the highest level is only "car as a bed", temporary make up sleep. Long-term residence, in addition to transportation, your car has to take into account the food and drink, sleep, etc., is essentially "car as a home" - a mobile home!

Only sleeping with a bed is enough, home living space is too narrow to configure basic living facilities, not only no home feeling, no comfort to speak of, almost equivalent to wandering! Older people who have worked hard for most of their lives, don't be harsh on yourself at the twilight of your life!

Summary of this chapter: The larger space of light passenger provides the basic carrier for the configuration of the necessary living appliances and supplies for travel, which is the basic premise to ensure a comfortable and pleasant travel life.

Second, the light passenger is very cost-effective

Light passenger due to brand, configuration differences, the car price is mostly between 100,000 to 200,000, this price range basically overlap with medium and large SUV, but generally lower than the price of commercial vehicles.

SUVs are a good choice for daily family use, commuting, and short and short-term travel. A good sense of control, through the strong, moderate fuel consumption, space is greater than a car, carrying capacity can meet the general needs. The vast majority of bed cars seen on the road are converted from SUVs, which constitute the mainstay of current self-drive tourism.

However, it should be seen that there are inherent deficiencies in the SUV converted into a bed car. Can only cope with short-distance travel, if used for long-term residence, the limitations of the lack of space will be exposed, and even turn the journey into an ordeal. Although the luggage frame on the roof, or after the installation of overhead tents, to a certain extent to make up for this disadvantage, but this is not the way to fundamentally solve the problem.

SUVs can not be configured to meet the long-term, long-distance living facilities and utensils, supplies, and encounter bad weather in the car can not provide the basic space to move, not to enjoy the pleasure of travel - these have been fully analyzed in the previous article, not to repeat.

One thing that always makes people wonder is why non-operating family cars are priced much higher compared to medium and large operating vehicles. Luxury cars, special cars and other expensive materials, special research and development, production is also low, the high price is justifiable. Mass production, large-scale production of ordinary family cars in terms of materials, design difficulties, technical content and other aspects of comparison with medium and large cars, it seems to see little difference ah?

Take the light passenger (formerly known as urban transport vans) and ordinary SUV or car comparison, light passenger is the engine technology content is low? Or the poor materials used? The block is much larger, why is the price roughly the same as a small car or even lower? Thinking about it, I think it may be in the pricing mechanism and the tax ratio and other levels are different.

I'm not looking for an answer here, but I just want to emphasize that if you only spend the same amount of money as an SUV, less than a commercial vehicle, you can buy a large space light bus that is more suitable for travel and living, in front of the obvious high cost performance, why hesitate? Jump out of the inertial thinking limitations, broaden your horizons, put the mind far, and quickly go to buy a big block to drive home. Read here, car enthusiasts will probably then worry about the light bus body is large, heavy, questioning its driving comfort and handling, please see the following discussion.

This chapter summary: light passenger space, but no increase in the purchase budget, it is worth going to buy.

Third, light passenger handling is not bad

Have not driven a light passenger car enthusiasts often have a preconceived impression that it is more difficult to drive, bad handling, the author to their own cognitive transformation process to illustrate this is a serious misconception.

I once drove the Rafale diesel version 2.8T for 6 years, it is fuel efficient and durable, no major problems. But the handling is a little worse, there is always accompanied by a larger noise is annoying - this driving experience subconsciously let me form a "car is difficult to drive" inertia impression. Later, the Nissan Kizashi, may also be its widely acclaimed smoothness and low noise attracted me.

Inertia can harm people! Soon my overkill of suffering came down. Nissan SUV with a car feel really good, as a bed car short distance is also comfortable, but to remote areas of long trips SUV space shortage of shortcomings immediately apparent. Every day we have to pack and organize, backwards and forwards; every day we have to bend and arch our backs, drill up and down; in bad weather we have to sink and curl up in it and suffer! But it's too late to regret - 180,000 yuan of investment, drive two years to replace the car, it hurts!

The biased perception formed by driving the Rafale business has a far-reaching impact on the rest of the poison, and I still have doubts and misjudgments about its handling until I make a decision to buy a light passenger. My eyes were first on the new Transit, which is slightly smaller and closer to a commercial vehicle in appearance - because I decided that the smaller the car, the better it would be to drive. In addition, car reviewers always emphasize how good the handling and quality control of the new Transit is, which also subconsciously influences people!

Fortunately, when looking at the car brand 4s stores are not too far away from each other, test drive the new Transit, on the spur of the moment, also test drive the Datsun, Royal Wind, the new generation and other models. There is a comparison to identify - a slightly larger volume of light passenger in fact, the handling and the new Transit is similar, but are much better than the original drive Rafale business!

It was only after the above experience that I corrected my misconceptions, first giving up on the new Transit, which I had wanted for a long time but had the least space, and then examining the new generation, which had more space, but finally locking in on the long-axle Dongfeng Imperial, which had the largest volume.

Old thinking can not keep up with the new era, stagnant will suffer! In fact, through the introduction of technology and their own efforts in research and development, light bus models in recent years SUV and business trend is obvious. Whether the appearance, central control, interior have made great progress, the past criticism of the handling and driving comfort is not what it used to be.

In addition, due to the fierce competition in the market, the brands of light buses are scrambling to broaden their sales channels, all wanting to enter the family car market first to get a piece of the cake - with beautified appearance, new interior, improved handling, improved quality and other measures, hoping to win the favor of private car owners. Although this is the commercialization of the manufacturers in the face of the market, but very beneficial to consumers, but also the gospel of our DIYers.

In addition, middle-aged and older adults need to realize that a large percentage of us have difficulty adapting to the ever-changing nature of modern society. We do not realize that the product replacement cycle has become increasingly short, the car in the past may be decades are the same old face, today may be a few years or even a few months will be a big change, or even qualitative changes. To overcome the limitations of thinking, you can not use the old vision of the new era!

Back to the topic, after changing the car last spring and completing the modification, my Royal Breeze station wagon has been driven more than 10,000 kilometers. The driving feeling is good, the gears are smooth and clear, the direction is light and flexible, the view is more open, the sitting position is more comfortable, and the driving feeling of the human car is initially formed. If I were to switch back to a small car, I would have 120,000 reluctance inside!

If you continue to ramble on, I'm afraid you'll be labeled as a hired gun for light passenger manufacturers. In fact, it is very simple, car enthusiasts can not just listen to my chatter, a little effort to labor a little bit of God, move the big drive personally to the 4s store test drive it! The truth, lies immediately be punctured. In short, do not stay at home to speculate.

This chapter summary: to correct the misconception of inertia - a slightly larger light passenger handling difficulty is not as horrible as imagined, it is almost as good as SUV driving, up to a few dozen kilometers will be comfortable. Don't forget: we seniors are also old and experienced drivers!

Fourth, light passenger modification creativity is unlimited

When it comes to modifications, space is always the hard truth, SUVs and other models, even if deep excavation, can provide the stage to show their talents how big can it be? The layout of a longitudinal bed are stretched to the limit, get a good sleeping bed and no place to carry things. Not to mention the built-in kitchen, built-in meeting area, built-in bathroom and so on.

Unlike light buses, which are generally about 1.8 meters wide inside, 5.3-meter short-axle vehicles are about 2.6 meters long from the driver's compartment to the tailgate, with an area of nearly 5 square feet. 6-meter long-axle vehicles are 3.3 meters long from the driver's compartment to the tailgate, with an area of nearly 6 square feet. Inside the car, not only the vertical bed and horizontal bed can be chosen at will, but there is also enough space to add a hammock to the bed or convert it into a folding bed with a high or low bed. Built-in kitchen, built-in meeting area, built-in bathing area, as long as you want to have, are not difficult to achieve.

Not to mention the modification in highlighting the personality, SUV can snail the relative comfort are difficult to do, the rest are bullshit. The light passenger is much more relaxed and calm - for example, the owner is a music fan, purchase upscale audio equipment, do a good job of sound insulation and noise reduction, carefully debug the parameters, and arrange the location of the high school and bass speakers. In addition, the light passenger has a sound field several times larger than the SUV, in the car listening to enjoy music, no less than the hi-fi music box.

For owners who like to sip tea or write, they can comfortably customize their seats to create a tea table cum writing desk. When inspiration comes, you can write, and when you meet friends in the car, you can bring out fragrant tea and invite them to a seat for warm interaction.

Those tireless pursuit of food owners, mobile home will bring you extraordinary convenience, seasonal seasons at any time you can drive the car to the origin of the ingredients to purchase, you can also turn on the stove at any time and any place to cook, taste fresh and tender, feast. If you only have a small car, I'm afraid the convenience will be greatly reduced.

Assuming that you are a photography enthusiast, you may want to create a much larger roof platform than the SUV, to the ethnic or folklore areas, can be parked in the streets and villages, in the roof platform relatively hidden environment, the use of telephoto cannon to capture the moving moments; can also be in the night of the moon and stars, climb on the roof, watching the stars and enjoying the moon, enjoy the romantic night; such as the summer heat, you can also set up a tent on the roof of the car, cool off.

In a word, many unimaginable modifications in the bed car modified with SUV or commercial models can be easily realized in the light passenger, which brings endless creative ideas and modifications to improve and enrich the life of travelers.

Summary of this chapter: light passenger space is large, expandable, can achieve diversified creative modifications, to highlight the unique personality, to meet their own hobbies, to fully display DIY talent.

Conclusion of this article

This article provides a detailed analysis of SUVs and light buses in terms of space, price, handling, and modifications to choose which model to use to modify the station wagon. From the four aspects of comparison, we can see that, in addition to the handling (large and long) is not as flexible as the SUV and parking convenience, the rest of the items are light passenger wins.

What is the most important thing to buy a car for? Always do not forget is to travel! This is the point that SUVs represent the small car can not be reached. Only a small pattern of "changing the car into a bed" can be achieved, while the light passenger can be less bound to achieve "changing the car into a home", thus shaping a larger pattern.

The difference between "change the car into a bed" and "change the car into a home" determines the pattern and quality, which can make a subversive change in travel life, from "just get by" to "comfortable and cozy".

I also have several articles and videos that objectively record my own modification process and experience gains and losses, car enthusiasts who are interested, welcome to my home page to read reference. I also sincerely welcome car enthusiasts to interact with the author, you can always exchange private messages.