Full review

Three years ago a completely new layout invention grabbed attention throughout the caravan market.

It’s a six-berth, with a double bed in the near nearside corner and a full-sized shower room alongside it — plus a wide offside dining area, which makes into another double bed. This layout is only possible because the caravan is the eight-foot-wide. It was a truly revolutionary invention by the manufacturer of Compass and Elddis.

Now, inevitably, this pioneering brilliant six-berth layout has been broadly copied by other manufacturers. The twin-axle Compass Casita 840, though, is the original, along with its sister model, the Elddis Avanté 840, which has an identical layout, price and weight. The two models are differentiated by fabrics.

The Casita 840 has a monopod table. The base is telescopic, lowering to form the base of a double bed. Seating extends around the table. It’s a lovely, versatile arrangement that enables up to six to sit here.

Lower kitchen storage provision comes in the form of two large cabinets and two drawers. There’s a surface extension; it rises into the doorway but there is still plenty of room to walk around it.

The shower room, which is longitudinally aligned beside the double bed, is almost the same size as the one you would find across the width of the caravan at the rear.

Sleeping arrangements in the lounge and dining area offer flexibility. The central seating area can be made into a double bed (1.9m x 1.29m) by pulling out extensions at the ends of the U-shaped seating.

The lounge is long enough to make single beds as an alternative to a double.

Avanté models have the ATC stability control system as standard. Heating is the Whale 4 kW blown air system.

Verdict

A pioneering layout that made the industry — and buyers — sit up and take notice, the 840 has practicality in spades. It’s a maximum width, maximum length caravan that’s as good at accommodating six as it is four. And for just two? The luxury of space!