Full review

There are several big six-berths with fixed beds around for 2010. Examples include Swift’s Challenger 625  and Lunar’s offering, the Quasar 626.

They’re the same layout. But there the comparison ends. For the Quasar 626 has character of its own. And it’s all in the detail. Two of the biggest plus-points of this model are in the bedroom arrangements. More specifically, it’s the way in which the bedroom and offside dinette-bunk areas are divided from the rest of the caravan. The corridor between bedroom and kitchen area is narrow. Disadvantage at first glance? No – it’s a positive point. From the living area, even with the concertina divider open, you feel that the bedroom is a totally separate room. And when you’re in the bedroom you get the feeling this is a cosy, cohesive en-suite area.

The second plus-point is the curtain that runs around the single-with-bunk-above on the offside. It tracks into its own slim cupboard, giving a neat appearance. And this little cupboard has another function. It helps to make that division between bedroom and living area even more distinct; it juts out in an L-shape to cocoon the rear end of the dinette, making this, too, feel like a cosy bedroom at night.

We’re at Woodland Waters Caravan Park at Ancaster. It’s lunchtime – time to explore the kitchen. A simple, quick chicken, cucumber and salad platter is on plates in seconds but it’s easy to picture family-meal requirements in this ample-sized kitchen. Cooking for six? No shortage of surface space here. You have a metre of space to the right of the (rectangular) sink, and another surface to the left of the three-burner hob, grill and oven – and even more when you hinge down the divider between bedroom and kitchen.

Kitchen storage space gets our praise, too. The central kitchen cupboard is a sensible size and has a large cutlery drawer above it. You also have a two-shelf cupboard to the left of the cooker. This unit forms a part of the room divider that makes such a great contribution to the character of this caravan.  

Specification gives you all you need – spare wheel, microwave, speakers and housing for a radio-CD. But you only get three mains sockets – and one of those is in the television cupboard. Importantly, the 626 gives you a socket to the right of the kitchen surface - perfect for the toaster and kettle. The third socket is at floor level on the front central chest of drawers. What’s lacking is a fourth socket in the area of the offside dining area. If this caravan is your choice, ask for an extra socket here and you’ll have a pretty much perfect big-family caravan.

 On the road, with our Kia Sorento in charge, it took a hill-and-dale route to and from Grantham Caravans, who loaned us this caravan for the review, in its stride, demonstrating the impressive corner stability we’ve come to expect from big twins – but this one seems to be more stable than most. Why? Not sure. We can only assume the Quasar 626 is an exceptionally well-balanced caravan. Well specified, well priced and well styled, too.