There’s never been a better time to hit the open road and escape an over-crowded city, but why leave the creature comforts of home at home? Living out of a recreational vehicle can be quite luxurious, even if you’re not driving a bus, as the transforming SAIC Maxus Life Home V90 Villa Edition RV demonstrates.
Most of the over-the-top innovations in motor homes are seen with RVs that are as long as Greyhound buses, packing everything from built-in garages for compact sports cars to master bedrooms featuring king-sized beds and full ensuite bathrooms. But those looking for a home on wheels that’s easier to drive and cheaper to fuel often have to sacrifice such amenities, including ample living space.
The SAIC Maxus Life Home V90 Villa Edition, designed and built in China, appears to offer the best of both mobile worlds. The vehicle has a relatively small footprint (it’s only slightly larger than what you see most van-lifers driving around in), but it employs slide-out walls to greatly increase the floor space to around 20 sq km inside while the RV is parked. There’s a fairly spacious sleeping berth located above the driver’s cab which leaves more room in the back for a large L-shaped couch and a respectably sized kitchen.
Other top-of-the-line amenities include LED lighting throughout, touchscreen interfaces on the walls, voice controls, and even a transparent OLED TV backed with a window so that you can still enjoy a picturesque view outside while catching up on your Netflix queue. Where the V90 really wows, however, is the sunroom that automatically extends from the roof giving the RV an entire second floor of living space, including a walk-out balcony.
The sunroom features wrap-around windows for a panoramic view, but to maintain privacy they can all be electronically tinted using LCD technology. One of the drawbacks of features like this (you’ll often see custom-built schoolies, RVs created from old school buses, with a roof deck) is you either need to employ a ladder to get up there, or install stairs which can be a waste of limited living space. The SAIC Maxus Life Home V90 Villa Edition solves this with another obscene feature: a working elevator.
The inclusion of an elevator potentially makes an RV like this, and its second floor, more accessible to those with mobility issues who aren’t able to navigate a ladder. But SAIC Maxus’ implementation of the feature appears to be very limited and very cramped. It’s all but completely inaccessible to anyone requiring mobility aides, and its inclusion is seemingly just another luxurious talking point and selling feature adding to the V90’s steep price tag. You can potentially convince SAIC Maxus to build one for you if you’re willing to cough up a little over $US413,000 ($533,513), and whatever shipping costs are needed to export it outside of China, plus whatever additional upgrades are needed to legally drive it on US roads.