Full review

The Sprite Major 4 is the same body length as the Sprite Major 5, which has long been a mainstay of the Sprite range, offering compact, lightweight practicality in an affordable package.
In the Major 4, sacrificing that fifth berth compared with the major 5, makes for a slightly lighter caravan. The layout creates an end shower room and a nearside four-seater dining area that makes into a double bed.
Could it be that by concentrating on the needs of the traditional family of four, the new Major is a better caravan as a consequence? The aim of our test was to find out…
 

Showering

It has great washing facilities in the form of a full-width end shower room. The Major 4 seems like a great tourer for families who like to head off the beaten track in search of peace and tranquillity at a simple out-of-the-way CL or CS campsite. Although the shower room is comparatively narrow, there’s room for ablutions. The washbasin is pretty tiny and the narrow gap between the vanity unit and the bulkhead will make it tricky for parents to supervise smaller children. The words “end shower room” tend to imply an element of space and luxury in a caravan, but the Major is such a narrow affair that some families will decide a larger shower room might be a better bet. In reality, rather than use the caravan’s washing facilities, most buyers will probably choose to stay at large caravan sites with ample showering facilities so the tight proportions won’t be an issue.
 

Sleeping

Flexibility is the Major 4’s asset when it comes to sleeping. Who sleeps where is always going to be a problem in a compact caravan with an end shower room, but this Sprite makes a good fist of it. The shower room effectively steals a lot of centimetres from the lounge, so there’s little scope to use the front settees as single beds for older children. This is where mum and dad will likely bunk down and it does mean they also have somewhere comfy to sit once the children have gone to bed. Smaller kids could conceivably sleep singly in either the front or rear double bed areas, although the forward single in the rear dining area is very short. Options abound, therefore, depending in on the ages and heights of your children. Either way, the important thing is that children and grown-ups have their separate spaces thanks to a fabric partition and Venetian blind. Together, these divide the caravan into two areas.
Lighting is comprehensive throughout, with double spotlights above the head of both double beds and, assuming the children do sleep in the rear dining area, they have direct access to what is effectively an ensuite loo.
 

Storage

There’s ample space for the comprehensive catalogue of clutter that always accompanies families on holiday, although with a payload of just 180kg, it’s not unlimited. With plenty of low-down room under two sets of settees, bulky objects can be stowed quite comfortably. Factor in 10 eye-level lockers, a couple of shelves, plus cabinets and shelves in the shower room, and the Major is eminently qualified to meet the task of accommodating all that stuff.
 

Dining

As with the sleeping arrangements, flexibility is the key word when it comes to dining in the Major. Both the lounge and the dining area will accommodate four, so meals can be taken as a family in either, or separately across the two. This means the kids can have an early meal before snuggling down in bed and mum and dad still have somewhere comfortable to have a more leisurely dinner later.
 

Lounging

While the front lounge is compact, there is just about room for two adults and two children to sit down together to watch TV. It’s more likely, however, that older children will want to do their own thing. The dual living spaces allow the children to watch television or play video games in the rear dining area, while mum and dad relax up front largely unmolested. For anyone who has taken early or late season breaks with children when the weather is less than ideal, this division of the living space is an absolute boon.
 

Kitchen

The downside of the end shower room is the squeeze it places on the size of the kitchen, which is reduced to a compact galley. It’s equipped with a three-burner hob, separate oven and grill and a 107-litre fridge, but there’s no microwave and the lower storage space is small.
 

 
Towing

With an MTPLM which is comfortably the right side of 1400kg, the Major 4 can be towed by many family cars in the Focus/Astra/Golf class, meaning the running costs shouldn’t be onerous.