2020 Caravans: What’s new for the UK from Erwin Hymer?

Three new caravan layouts — two for couples and one for families!

The Erwin Hymer group, which produces four caravan brands in Britain, unveils its three new layouts for 2020.

There is a new island-bed layout in both the Elddis Avanté and Compass Casita ranges, a new two-berth layout in the Elddis Affinity and Compass Capiro portfolios, plus a new eight-foot-wide family layout in both the Avanté and Compass Casita line-ups.

New Elddis Affinity and Compass Capiro 520

The new 520 models have a classic two-berth, end shower room layout, with Alde heating and a long, slender skylight stretching the whole length of the lounge.

The stunning aspect of this new layout is the shower room, which is huge, and of an unusual layout, with the shower positioned in the offside corner and the toilet beside it and the basin in the centre of the rear. A suite of wardrobes occupies the whole wall on the nearside. One wardrobe has a double hanging space, with one rail above another.

Above: Elddis Affinity 520

The table is stored in this sector. The central cabinet contains jacket-length hanging space plus three deep drawers and the third sector has five open shelf spaces. There’s a heated towel warmer, part of the Alde system.

Above: Compass Capiro 520

The kitchen sink is large, steel and rectangular, with a cover which sits flush with the surrounding surface.

All the five side lockers have tilt catches set behind the handles.

A long mirror by the door is bordered by a white panel of the same subtle herringbone pattern as the finish on the top kitchen lockers.

Kitchen storage consists of two drawers and a cupboard beneath and, opposite a dresser with a large double-doored cabinet and two drawers. There’s also a locker above the microwave.

Fabrics are close weave pale grey teamed with pale grey curtains and cushions with a white pattern.

New Elddis Avanté and Compass Casita 454

Above: Elddis Avanté

The two-berth 454 layout has an L-shaped lounge, a combined shower-toilet room on the offside amidships, and a rear bedroom with a transverse island bed and two triangular dressing tables. Wardrobes of equal sizes are on each side of the bed, with four drawers beneath.

The lounge has a television wall on the nearside, with connections in the corner.

The kitchen is compact and cleverly designed to make the best use of space with the fridge under the sink and a cutlery drawer on the forward end of the kitchen. Kitchen storage is a top locker alongside the microwave and a locker beneath the oven.

The combined toilet-shower has a key difference from those of bygone days. The toilet is on a raised section of flooring which is almost level with the wheel arch that runs under the sink, so the shower tray is effectively a rectangular lower section which means water will be confined here and you’ll only have one area to dry after each shower.

ABove: Compass Casita 454

New Elddis Avanté and Compass Casita 868

Above: Elddis Avanté 868

This new family eight-foot-wide layout has a rear bedroom containing both a fixed double bed and two bunks. A sliding door divides the bedroom from the shower and washing arrangements which are forward of the bedroom.

The shower is on the nearside and the toilet and washbasin are on the offside. The hinged door of this compartment closes across the caravan to separate the entire bedroom and washing area from the kitchen and lounge.

The bedroom layout is one which has only been made possible by the extra width of the caravan.

This model has the Dometic 145-litre fridge with removable freezer compartment.

The lounge is long enough to make single beds.

Above: Compass Casita 868

Equipment in the Compass and Elddis versions of this model are the same. The Elddis seating fabric has a subtle herringbone pattern and the four cushions have a pastel mauve-fawn hexagonal pattern outlined in paler fawn.

Casita fabrics are pale fawns with near-white cushions that have a white mauve and green sprig pattern.

New heating system for the Avanté and Casita ranges

A new Whale heating system has arrived in the Avanté and Casita ranges. This is the Whale CompleteHeat system which, like the similar system which has been fitted to the Erwin Hymer Group’s Xplore range for some years, is mounted under the floor.

The new system, which has taken three years to develop, is lighter than the original Whale blown air system; the unit weighs 8.7 kg compared with 11 kg for the standard 4kw unit. One reason for this is that the casing is plastic, rather than metal.

The new system has three electric settings, low, medium and high. The low setting is 0.75kw; medium is 1.5kw and high is 3kw. The system can be used on a combination of electricity and gas; that option delivers 5.45kw. When the gas-electricity combination is used, warm-up time is increased by 40%; that figure is derived from Grade III testing, in which caravans are taken from -15 degrees to +20 degrees.

Avanté and Casita caravans now have Whale’s water heater, which is mounted under the floor.

New catches and sockets

Concealed catches are introduced on locker doors in Elddis Avanté, Affinity, Crusader, and Compass Casita, Capiro and Camino.

A new feature on Xplore, Elddis, Compass and Buccaneer models is Whale exterior sockets (for barbecue points and water inlets). These have covers which slide vertically upwards to sit against the caravan side.

Xplore

Above: Xplore 304

The lightweight Xplore range goes into 2020 with four layouts — the compact four-berth 304, the two-berth 422, the transverse islands bed 554 and the six-berth 586.

New styling features for 2020 include taupe grey laminate surfaces in shower rooms and ‘anthracite’ colour metal effect surfaces in the living area.

The Xplore range traditionally has bright, sunny colours for graphics and cushions and, for 2020, the shades are yellows combined with pale turquoise, in a triangular pattern, creating a lively, fresh look, combined with pale upholstery and light wood.

Above: Xplore 586

Elddis Avanté line-up

Above: Elddis Avanté 454

There are four single-axle layouts, the island-bed 550 and 554, the six-berth 586 and the new 454. There are also three twin-axle, eight-foot-wide layouts, the 840, with a rear side double bed and the shower room alongside it; the 860, which has a rear island bedroom, and the new 868.

Affinity goes into 2020 with four models, the island bed 550 and 554, the twin-bed 574 and the new 520.

Above: Elddis Affinity 520

Elddis Crusader line-up

Above: Elddis SuperCyclone

Crusader layouts are unchanged for 2020. These are the single-axle Mistral and Aurora, both with island beds, and the twin-axle Supercyclone (twin beds), Storm and Zephyr, which both have island beds.

These models have a new lighting design including low-level strip lighting in bedrooms.

Compass Casita line-up

The layouts and equipment in the Casita range are identical to those in the Avanté range; the difference is in the fabric schemes.

Compass Capiro line-up

Capiro mirrors Affinity in both layouts and equipment. Fabrics are close-weave pale grey, teamed with pale grey curtains and cushions which have a white pattern.

Compass Camino line-up

The Camino range has four layouts -  three with island beds; these are the single-axle 550 and 554 and the twin-axle 660. The twin-axle 674 has twin beds in a separate rear bedroom.

Buccaneer line-up

The Erwin Hymer Group’s British flagship, twin-axle Buccaneer range offers five unchanged layouts for 2020, all with the E&P LevelSystem which automatically levels the caravans, controlled from a handset. The Clipper has twin beds, the Cruiser, Barracuda and Commodore have island beds and the Aruba has a nearside double bed.

New lighting design is introduced, including low-level strip lighting in bedrooms. The two-tier kitchen worktop arrangement which was introduced for 2019 has now been replaced by a one-level kitchen.

Find out more about the 202 caravans from the Erwin Hymer Group here: www.elddis.co.uk