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Bailey Unicorn Cadiz
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Key Features

Model Year 2015
Class Single Axle
Price From (£) 20,745
Internal Length (m) 5.83
Shipping Length (m) 7.37
MRO (kg) 1345
MTPLM (kg) 1,491
Max Width (m) 2.28
External Height (m) 2.61
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At a glance

The twin-bed Bailey Unicorn Cadiz is a trend-setting tourer, with in-built tyre pressure sensors, its battery under the floor and a new-style slim, tall fridge.

Full review

The Cadiz arrived in Lincolnshire for its review fresh from a far more spectacular assignment. It had been whizzing around the Milbrook test track, behind an assortment of tow vehicles which were being judged for titles in the Caravan Club’s Towcar of the Year Awards. The Cadiz was a mere accessory to the towcars that are the focus of these annual assessments, of course. But the fact that it was picked for this role serves to highlight that this caravan is suitable for a wide range of cars.

The caravan that shares its name with the oldest inhabited city in Spain (founded by the Phoenicians in 1104 BC) also distinguishes itself by being one of the lightest in its high-spec class. Even though it’s well laden with equipment including Alde heating, its MTPLM is under 1500kg.

There are more distinguishing features about the Cadiz. It features three firsts in the marketplace. It has Dometic’s new 133-litre Slim Tower fridge-freezer. It has in-built tyre pressure sensors, in common with all Unicorns for 2015 (although you have to buy the £90 monitor unit in order to activate this feature).

Another unique Unicorn feature it shares with its Unicorn siblings is a new position for the battery, under the floor, close to the axle, for optimum stability. You lift the carpet that runs between the twin beds, and then raise a section of flooring (by lifting a substantial ring-pull handle) to get into the compartment.
And if you’re looking for a caravan to use off-grid, you might like to know that there is a 100-watt solar panel on the roof to keep your battery topped up.

The Cadiz is the Unicorn range’s single-axle twin-bed offering, now in its third generation and with changes to its layout enabled by the arrival of the new slimline fridge. The previous Cadiz had its fridge within the kitchen. Moving it opposite has transformed kitchen storage from being meagre to generous. It’s one of a number of improvements which have moved Unicorns on in leaps and bounds. Another is in the shower room…
 

Showering

For 2015 the Cadiz has a panel radiator (part of the Alde system) mounted on a section of wall that is the perfect dimension for it, linking the wardrobe with the door to the shower room. Bailey introduced these panel radiators in the interests of greater space heating efficiency compared with the heated towel rails in previous Unicorns.

But there’s more than space heating function to consider in a shower room. Towels need dry here. And, in the Cadiz, Bailey has got this right, with two hooks on the wall directly above the radiator.

The wardrobe packs in a lot of accommodation. It has a 73cm rail, with a shelf above that’s 42cm deep. And a section of the base lifts up to reveal a cotton bag suspended on four hooks. It’s primarily designed to contain stuff waiting to be washed. It’s so big that if you filled it there would be more than a washing machine load. We’d put it to a different use, though; it’s a perfect place for shoes.

If there’s one criticism of the Cadiz’s keeping-clean department it’s the small amount of shelf and cabinet space. There’s only one cabinet (under the basin) and it’s barely big enough for the washing essentials for two. There’s very little space to put stuff around the washbasin and only one shelf (along the rear wall).
 

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Sleeping

The beds are very different lengths, 1.91m and 1.78m. Both are 70cm wide. The mattresses are deeper than many, at 19cm.

If you’re looking at a Cadiz in terms of using the lounge as a bedroom, the dimensions here are important, too. The settees are slightly longer than those in previous models. There’s one single at 1.82m and the other very slightly shorter, at 1.79m, which puts the Cadiz into the category of twin-bed tourers which are suitable for families as well as couples.

 
Storage

There’s ample shoe space in the base of the wardrobe but there is an even better design by the door: a hatch opens into the space under the nearside settee, so you can put your shoes in here as you step inside, rather than creating an obstacle course of footwear on the doormat.

This aperture into the under-settee storage space leads directly onto a plastic tray. There’s an outside entrance, too, so this is the ideal place for anything muddy including a wheeled waste water container and your mains cable.

A second waterproof tray is under the nearside bed, again with exterior access.

There’s no drop-down front access to the under-bed compartments but the tops self-support on gas-filled struts even when there's the weight of duvets and pillows on the beds.
 

Dining

The table is stored in clips on the rear wall of the wardrobe, which means you have to reach around garments to get it in and out.

In the Cadiz the freestanding table will get more use than in a side dining area layout, because the front central pull-out table doesn’t create a level surface with the windowsill; it’s 4cm lower. That means your eating surface is only 32cm wide, which is ideal for coffee and cakes but less ideal for a meal.
 

Lounging

Push back the coffee table and you have enough seating length for three per side. Open the central skylight front window which reaches high into the roofline and you can let in a gentle breeze. Switch on the DAB radio.

And later, when the sun sinks and the Alde heating takes off the chill, you can switch on seven little bright spotlights, four above the lockers and three more set into the panel that surrounds both the skylight window and the rooflight. Sit back and relax. And as you do so you’ll notice that the backrests are slightly angled, for greater comfort; that’s another new feature for 2015.

TV points are in the front nearside corner and the windowsill is of an ample depth for your TV. More TV points, plus a bracket, are in the bedroom so you can turn that area into a feet-up, lounging environment, too. The Cadiz does lounging well.
 

Kitchen

The Cadiz’s Dometic Slim Tower fridge-freezer looks almost industrial in its ultra-plain design, with a chunky, metal-look handle and one-piece, plain cream door. Four shelves, each 33cm wide, and a salad compartment beneath, plus four shelves in the door, provide plenty of versatile accommodation. The freezer compartment can be removed, which you would need to do in order to fit in tall items such as two-litre soft-drinks bottles. Compared with standard fridge dimensions, its advantage of 30 litres more capacity, plus the flexibility its narrow width offers in terms of caravan layouts, mark this style out as the fridge of the future.

In the 2015 Cadiz, removing the fridge from the main kitchen area, compared with previous models, has created space for a 43cm-wide cabinet and drawer, and enables the four-shelf cabinet alongside it to be wider.

With the hinged extension in position there is a 1.2m stretch of cream matt rock-effect surface; it’s 75cm deep at its deepest point. That’s ample for culinary creations of an ambitious nature.
 

Towing

Our Cadiz test tow was always going to be somewhat tame by comparison with its previous assignment. And in the high-wind conditions of our tow we had to be extra careful because the ATC stability control system, which would snap it back into line if wind tried to deflect it, had been disconnected for the Milbrook car testing.

So the Cadiz progressed along busy A1, amid lorries which could potentially disrupt its equilibrium, in a relatively sedate fashion. The test tow was, of course, fine. But the fact that ATC was out of action served to highlight how much it’s valued the moment the wind picks up.

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Our verdict

The 2015 Bailey Unicorn Cadiz’s long list of new features greatly enhance its appeal compared with the previous model. The greater kitchen storage space and bigger fridge are key toi this. The shoe cabinet by the door is simply brilliant. The longer settees, with angled backrests, the waterproof trays in the two lockers with exterior access, the deeper-pile carpet (55-ounce pile weight rating) and the addition of a DAB radio all help to create a Cadiz with stronger appeal than its predecessor.

Advantages

The shoe hideaway by the door!
The angled settee backrests
The deep-pile carpet
The tall fridge with larger capacity

Disadvantages

Lack of front access to the under-bed storage areas
Shortage of cabinet space for washing paraphernalia

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