Full review

The Explorer Group makes two big, twin-axle family caravans. Both are aimed at buyers looking for luxury. Equipment levels are high; they both have plush looks. And, at 7.96m long, they’re among Britain’s biggest family tourers. Size doesn’t always equate to luxury, of course, although it certainly helps; the luxury of space surely makes for harmonious holidays. But there’s much more to this pair of sizeable offerings than luxury.

One feature that sets these caravans apart from almost all other tourers is their wide dining areas, amidships on the offside; these veritable dining “rooms” are large enough to comfortably seat four.

The Elddis Crusader Tempest is now a well-established top-spec six-berth; its current layout was introduced in 2012. Building on its popularity, the Explorer Group decided to bring the layout into the Compass range, too; the Rallye 636 was launched for the 2016 model year and went on to win Caravan magazine’s award for Best Family Caravan over £15,500.

Why? Well, for one thing, size does make for practicality, and the layout is nothing short of brilliant, with bunks as well as two versatile dining-lounging areas to make into “bedrooms”. Other aspects of the 636 that garnered high marks from our four awards judges centred on level of equipment. The Rallye 636 has the hot-water-based, home-from-home Alde heating system, with the facility to control the temperature of both heat in the caravan and hot water remotely, from your mobile phone, via the caravan’s Phantom tracking system. The 636 also has a 40-litre water tank. Those two features combine to make this caravan an ideal choice if you’re planning on using it on a year-round basis. And the 636 is equipped with Whale’s twin-pump water system.
 

This is how it works: the system links the internal tank and your exterior water container. To fill the internal tank you simply flick the switch marked “fill tank”. A float switch automatically deactivates the fill function when the interior tank is full. The twin-pump system then gives you two options. You can use water directly from your external container, by selection “external” on the control panel. Or you can use the water in your internal tank, by selecting “internal” on the panel.

The clever bit is that when the internal tank becomes empty, the float switch automatically switches over to the external water supply, so that you get a continuous water supply of 40 litres from the caravan’s tank plus the capacity of your external container.

There are other features that contribute to this caravan’s ranking as a high-end family tourer. Among them is the large size of the fridge-freezer, with 155 litres of capacity. Another is the size of the kitchen.

The showering arrangements make their mark on this caravan’s efficiency as a top family tourer, too.

Showering

The shower room is an unusual shape. It spans the whole width of the caravan but has a chunk taken out of it to allow for the bunk bed module. But it doesn’t feel in any way cramped; the floorspace is 1.26m at its deepest point. The shower is fine for size, at 80x65cm. And there’s a lovely style feature here. The shower riser bar is mounted on a full-height black shiny panel that rises up into the ceiling, with a rectangular shape surrounded by LED lights. There’s an Alde heated towel rail on the rear wall, but there are no other towel hooks, bars or lops. Cue, a conversation with your retailer about fitting some… That apart, the 636’s washing department is lovely.

Sleeping

The pillow ends of the bunks are in cosy alcoves. And the forward wall that separates  them from the dining area makes them feel quite secluded. A nice refinement in this rear area is a tiny but bright floor-level light; perfect to leave on overnight if little ones don’t like complete darkness.

The dining furniture amidships transforms into a double bed. Wooden sections hinge up from their vertical day positions, to extend the bed width. There’s plenty of length, at 1.8m. The table forms the centre of the bed base.

Slats draw out from under the drawers to complete the base of the lounge double bed. Alternatively, at 1.84m, the settees are long enough to use as singles.

Storage

This caravan’s storage capability is pretty much unrivalled. Everywhere there are seats there’s storage below, and the 636 has more seating than most, plus an area under the bunks. Even though the water tank is here, there is a large storage area alongside it. There are seven top lockers (excluding the kitchen) and a wardrobe, in the shower room, with two rails, each 66cm wide, and four drawers at the front.

Dining

There’s dining space for 10 in a 636. More importantly, there’s versatility. Four at the side table and two at the pull-out small front table, or everyone together, three each side of the main table… The 636 gives you choices. When it’s not needed, the table goes into a cabinet on the rear end of the kitchen.

Lounging

On wet-weather days when everyone’s inside, caravans can suddenly feel well, too well populated. That’s not going to happen in a 636, and it’s all down to the four-seater dining area; a place for activities as well as mealtimes. There’s a mains socket low down just behind this area; cables fed towards the table would go across the seating, though. If we bought a 636 we’d be asking for an extra socket, on the slim dividing wall between the lounge and the dining area, specifically to power media stuff in use here, even though there’s a total of six sockets in this caravan.

Lighting is a style feature of the 636’s lounge, with a rim of light surrounding the panel that links the two skylights, reaching the entire length of the lounge.

Kitchen

Lighting style enhances the kitchen, too, with a light within the oven so that you can monitor cooking without opening the door, and a cascade of subtle yellow light shining down from under the rim of the kitchen surface. There’s also a light within the drinks cabinet.

Practicality is impressive, too, with a tower-style fridge freezer, excellent storage space and two surface areas and an extractor fan.

Two cabinets, each 30cm wide, with two shelves, are on the fore and aft end of the kitchen. The four drawers in the centre are 48cm wide. There are three top cabinets plus a fourth, on top of the microwave which sits above the fridge-freezer. And the microwave is at a height that people of most statures would find convenient.

The main kitchen surface is 52cm wide, alongside the large rectangular sink (32x40cm with a mini drainer beside the tap). A second surface, 34cm wide, is on the fore end of the kitchen, slightly lower than the main kitchen area. TV connections are high up on the panel behind it, so you could place your TV on the surface or, if you need it for kitchen use, you could get a TV bracket to take it up out of the way.

Towing

At this price you’d expect to find a caravan equipped with electronic stability control, even though it has to be said that twin-axle geometry vastly enhances stability anyway. We didn’t get a chance to tow the 636 this time but we have towed Tempests, of the same dimensions, and found them to be impeccable road performers.