Why drive to your holiday house when you can drive your holiday house! We saddle up and hit the road in Jayco’s entry-level turn-key camper, and discover that touring fun is a lot easier to live with than you’d think.
- Excellent packaging with a stack of features – it’s a studio apartment on wheels
- Easy to drive, especially on tour
- Solid value off the lot, and there’s always a buyer at the other end.
- Renault transmission can be fussy at low speeds.
- Not a huge amount of storage for two
- Lack of modern safety features and no ANCAP rating
Introduction
I’ll put it to you, that Australia’s 7.69 million square kilometres are best explored from ground level. Sure, the view from above is stunning, but there’s something so much more majestic and involving in being right there, among it all.
Packing up and heading off into the wild blue, red or green yonder is almost a right of passage. The great Australian road trip, taking in every point of the compass from Abercrombie Caves, past the black stump, all the way to Zeehan, is the ultimate carefree lifestyle choice.
To really embrace things though, you need wheels, and so we turn our attention to one of the most respected names in the camping and touring game, Jayco.
The Melbourne-based caravan and camper builder now offers a turn-key home away from home solutions, with big-name vans providing the technical underpinnings to take you off and into the sunset.
Jayco’s range uses an option of Fiat Ducato, Mercedes-Benz Sprinter and, in the case of our van, Renault Master long-wheelbase vans as a base for their car licence ‘Optimum’ range of touring campers.
This means you can simply hop in and go, in a vehicle that closely matches the footprint of a showroom LCV, with a fully equipped mobile command centre at your disposal.
What’s more, at $89,990 (before on-road costs), the 2021 Renault Master Jayco RM19 makes the step to a home with wheels a surprisingly affordable one.
| Key details | 2021 Renault Master LWB Jayco RM19 Camper |
| Price (MSRP) | $89,990 plus on-road costs |
| Colour of test car | Crystal White |
| Options | None |
| Price as tested | $89,990 plus on-road costs |
| Rivals | Volkswagen California | Mercedes-Benz Sprinter |
Style and design
The facelifted Renault Master, which arrived in 2020, presents a much more modern, if not equally hard-working visage to Renault’s large van.
Standard features include LED running lamps, 16-inch steel wheels and side protection mouldings along the body.
The Jayco RM19 (no points for guessing what the RM stands for) uses the long-wheelbase, mid-roof Master as a base, with the ‘19’ referring to an approximate 19-foot length. Given the Master is actually 6200mm long, it could technically be called the RM20 (20-feet is 6.1-meters, where 19-feet is 5.8-meters), but we won’t hold anyone to semantics.
Four paint choices are available at no additional cost; Caribbean Blue, Urban Grey, Orange or Mineral White. We like the boldness of an orange one, but feel most of these will be white.
Given there is no option to add colour-coded bumpers or other snazzier trim pieces, Jayco’s most affordable camper is better thought of as a low-frills first step to open-road freedom than as an endlessly configurable canvas.
That said, dealers can fit items like tow, bull and nudge bars, for an additional cost, if you need them.
Inside
Being a campervan, this is why we are here. Right?
Up front, the cabin of the Master is strictly business. All grey, all hard-working surfaces, no-frills. It’s a bit of a pity that the Isringhausen driver’s suspension seat (normally an $800 option) is not available on the Jayco van, but then neither is the $1000 Business Pack which adds some extra storage, proximity locking, fog lamps and some chrome.
Nope, it’s just you, the most basic Master and the road.
It’s not all bad though, as automatic headlamps and wipers, a three-seater bench with a fold-down central table, five cup holders, a range of storage options, air conditioning and a small but functional 7.0-inch touch-screen media system are all standard.
That’s on top of comfortable cloth seats, a height-adjustable steering column and good vanny visibility.
The Master has never led the way in terms of technology or premium finish, but it’s set up and laid out like a working truck, and it’s that honesty and robustness on display here.
But enough about the cab, what about the fun stuff?
Jayco has done an impressive job of jamming a two-berth apartment into the Master’s factory footprint.
For those early starts, you have a full wet bathroom with a shower, toilet and basin.
When dinner time comes around you’ll find a twin-burner cooktop and sink, plus cabinet storage for all your cutlery and crockery, although our tip is to keep them all in containers to stop the constant rattle.
Wind out the 3.7-meter awning and sit outside to eat, basking in the serenity that you have created.
After dinner, you can settle back on the banquet couches on either side of the dining table to do some work or watch TV. From here you can grab a cold drink from the 60-litre fridge and fire up the microwave for some popcorn, or crank the CD player and integrated sound system for a remote rave.
And when it’s time to hit the hay, perform a little bit of transformer Tetris to convert the couches and table (plus another solid chunk of wood that lives behind the shower) into the base of the double bed.
You can open the windows and close the integrated flywire screen for a little extra outdoorsy feel too.
It really has everything you need for a two-person getaway, or one-person escape, from the madness of wherever you just were.
Furthermore, when you’re living off the grid, there’s a telescopic antenna, a 60-litre fresh water tank, and a 45-litre grey water reservoir for waste.
Power comes from a 100Ah battery and a 160-watt solar array which can run the 12-volt items, but you’ll need a camp-site tether to get the bigger draw items online.
And yes, this did shatter my dreams of cooking a roast chicken on the move like Homer does in Flanders’ van.
Considering this is Jayco’s entry-level camper it really is remarkably well featured. The only real issue we had was storage, and perhaps a bit of privacy.
While the 180-degree rear barn doors offer a lovely viewport to your remote destination of choice, there are no window coverings whatsoever. This not only means you’ll be up with the birds, but the birds and whoever else may be around, can see right inside.
The privacy implications may be a bit of a moot point if you’re in the middle of nowhere, but the security concerns are very real as soon as you head back through somewhere.
I’d suggest you simply pack all your belonging away but… where?
Sure there are overhead cupboards above the couches, but when you consider the six compartments are already half occupied by the toaster, towels and other cooking utensils, it doesn’t leave much room for your clothes.
The same can be said for underneath the banquets themselves. During the day, that’s where the doona and pillows tend to live, and even then, that’s a squeeze.
You can put a few things above the cab itself, but if you’ve got an outdoor setting or perhaps even just a comfy chair or banana lounge, that’s going to fill up quickly too.
Simply put, the RM19 is a great starting point for leaving it all behind, because you’ll likely have no choice but to leave it all behind.
Between us though, when I go camping I tend to wear the same clothes every day anyway, so keep things light and you’ll do fine. And maybe see if the dealer can help with some custom blinds or even a blackout tint on the rear doors.
| 2021 Renault Master LWB Jayco RM19 Camper | |
| Seats | Three |
| Sleeps | Two |
| Length (overall) | 6200mm |
| Width | 2150mm |
| Height | 2770mm |
| Wheelbase | 4332mm |
| Interior space | 3740mm long / 1880mm tall |
Infotainment and Connectivity
This is a pretty short section, as the 7.0-inch touch screen is pretty short on features.
It works well enough, with an integrated rear-view camera, a native navigation offering as well as support for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, but that’s basically it. There’s just one USB port too.
The camper has a separate stereo and a TV with an inbuilt DVD player though, so if digital entertainment is your thing, you’ll need to wait until you arrive to get the most out of the RM19.
Safety & Technology
Renault hasn’t tested the Master III in Australia, and as such the van has no ANCAP rating. A quick glance at the European testing counterpart, Euro NCAP, and there’s an even more telling story, with the Master listed as a ‘not recommended’ vehicle among the light-commercial segment.
Without the most modern list of high-tech safety equipment, the base Renault Master comes with expected features like anti-lock brakes, electronic stability control, and hill start assist. Auto lights and wipers, LED running lights, manually height-adjustable headlights, front and side airbags, and a rear view camera are also included, along with cruise control and speed limiter.
| 2021 Renault Master LWB Jayco RM19 Camper | |
| ANCAP rating | Not tested |
Value for Money
Taking all this into account though, the Renault camper is still very well priced.
Jayco offers a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter chassis, which is slightly larger but generally similarly configured, for $117,500 (before on-road costs). This is a 30 per cent or $27,510 step up from the RM19, which although offering a better equipped and more modern chassis, only highlights what good value the Renault is.
Servicing is capped at $599 each year, except every fourth service which climbs to $1259 as the van requires a belt replacement, coolant and full fluid flush on top of the regular maintenance.
Downstream too, a well-equipped camper like this always has a buyer, so resale will stay strong.
If you aren’t quite sure about putting 90-grand on the table for a road trip dream, as indicated by the ‘Lets Go Motorhome’ stickers on our van, you can even rent one to get a taste of the big-box nomadic life.
| At a glance | 2021 Renault Master LWB Jayco RM19 Camper |
| Warranty | Five years / 200,000 km (van) Two years manufacturing, five years structural (camper conversion) |
| Service intervals | 12 months or 30,000km |
| Servicing costs | $1797 (3 years), $3655 (5 years) |
| Fuel cons. (claimed) | 6.0L/100km (European claim for standard van) |
| Fuel cons. (on test) | 10.6L/100km |
| Fuel type | Diesel |
| Fuel tank size | 100L |
Driving
So, you’re packed, settled and ready to hit the road. You know the van is 2.8-meters high because that’s the first thing you ask and you literally repeat it to yourself daily, the tank is full, the playlist sorted, which makes it time to introduce yourself to Renault’s automated manual transmission.
I don’t want to be too harsh here. We got very used to the transmission in the RM19, and when you’re on the hop on the open road, things are fine. It’s just low-speed environments you need to be mindful of.
You use it as a joystick of sorts. Tap it across and down for reverse and it springs back to where it was. Tap forward again to engage drive, and boing, it’s back to where it was. This makes it sometimes hard to know what gear you are in (there is a readout on the dash) or even to accidentally knock the car into manual mode or even neutral.
The van’s take-up is almost as carefree, meaning the process of a three-point turn needs to be very methodically considered, ensuring you’ve come to a complete stop before changing drive direction and moving again.
Sometimes, at low speeds up a hill in its automatic setting, the transmission will not change down where you would hope it should, and things almost come to a stalling halt. You tend to get a feel for this after time though, and quickly move between the self- and manual-shift settings to get the best performance for the environment.
It all sounds far more complex than it actually is though, and it shouldn’t take long before you’ve got your rhythm and are happily on your way.
The driving position is not how I would normally position myself, as you’ll tend to sit a little further back with a more ‘relaxed’ posture, but it works.
Visibility is good, thanks to the towering windscreen and large side mirrors.
It’s a very easy thing to drive, and it’s even an easy thing to park.
The steering is light, and you become accustomed to the length of the Master very quickly. Your driving behaviour will account for wide turns and cautious approaches to low trees and signage, less of a problem away from the city, sure, but the van life requires constant vigilance and concentration, especially when you consider the awning, solar array and air conditioning unit on the roof are rather expensive items to put in harm’s way!
Renault tweaked the 2.3-litre turbo-diesel along with the update in 2020. The unit offers 110kW and 350Nm which works well enough for the near 3-tonne camper (2750kg tare, 3510kg GVM). It’s not fast, but it cruises at 100km/h very happily and we saw a total average fuel consumption of 10.6L/100km for the week.
There’s no claimed combined cycle consumption for Australia though, and while we noted a UK spec sheet quoting a rather ambitious 6.0L/100km, the 100L tank and our 10-ish churn rate means a near 1000km range. Longer touring runs will see fuel use improve too.
If you need a hand to maintain pace up a hill, there is a switch marked ‘kg’ on the dash which essentially tells the gearbox you are heavy and so to rev things out a bit longer.
| Key details | 2021 Renault Master LWB Jayco RM19 Camper |
| Engine | 2.3-litre four-cylinder turbo diesel |
| Power | 110kW @ 3500rpm |
| Torque | 350Nm @ 1500rpm |
| Drive type | Front-wheel drive |
| Transmission | Six-speed single-clutch automated manual tranmission |
| Power to weight ratio | 40kW/t |
| Weight (tare) | 2750kg tare |
| Tow rating | 2500kg braked, 750kg unbraked |
| Turning circle | 15.7m |
Conclusion
These are all finding holes. Point the RM19 at the horizon, with a special or secluded destination in mind, and you’ll find it a comprehensive and effortless tourer.
It’s light on frills, and as noted, pretty light on storage, but as a gateway or a stepping stone into a recreational vehicle lifestyle, the Jayco RM19 LWB Renault Master camper fit out gives you a veritable tasting platter of everything which lies in store.
The Master itself isn’t trying to be a cutting edge chassis, but the beauty of the Jayco product is that if you want to spend more on a different platform, the option is there.
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