Full review

THE 535 isn’t a new caravan, of course – French bed layouts have been around for years, in fact – but it’s arguably one of the more impressive examples of the breed.

Where some rivals sport intrusive bulkheads and cabinetry in a bid to split the floor plan up and render the end bedroom fully self-contained, the Swift feels pleasantly open-plan, something that’s assisted ably by the windows in the en-suite area and habitation door, something not all rivals can muster.

Factor in the large Heki rooflight in the lounge (and the two smaller opening sky lights in the kitchen and bedroom), and you’re left with a caravan that feels bright and airy even on a gloomy day.

There are some unfortunate blots on the 535’s interior landscape, most notably the possibly too-inoffensive new upholstery, the too-short (at just 4ft 5in long) lounge and the oddly-designed corner pod lights (changing their bulbs requires the unscrewing of a wooden access panel inside the roof lockers over the front windows), but none is especially irksome, overall.

The 535’s central kitchen impresses with its decent worktop space (which becomes positively astonishing with the privacy flap to the right of the cooker folded down), spark-ignition dual fuel cooker (now allied to a Sharp 800W microwave) and 107-litre Thetford digital fridge, although the pedant might point to the fact that the microwave steals valuable roof locker space, and that space in the remaining roof locker might possibly have been better used were it not equipped with fixed crockery racks.

On the plus side, general storage space is pretty good.

Moving rearwards (past the large double-fronted wardrobe, which sports that rarest of sights: a fully insulated gas fire flue), the French bed is both comfortable and supportive, and rises effortlessly on two gas struts to reveal a substantial metal bed base and storage void that – boiler aside – is entirely uninterrupted by fitted services.

You can access the area from the outside, too. In night use, the bed sports a handy padded headboard, his ’n’ hers reading lights and knick-knack shelves, together with a pair of deep open shelves in the corner. Roof locker storage herein is better than average, too.

Next door, the en-suite area is well-served by both natural and electric light, together with myriad fittings to hold soap, towels, tooth-mugs and the like, with a double mirror and adjacent window making the area feel bigger than it actually is.

The fully lined washroom beside the bedroom is more four-square than is often the case in such layouts, and the access door is reassuringly thick and blessed with a substantial metal handle.

It’s well-lit, too, and sports moulded-in shelves, two metal towel pegs and Thetford’s latest C-250 swivel toilet, this latter sporting a holding tank fitted with twin wheels.
Such a pity the toilet is slung way out back, though – what are you supposed to do if you urgently need to spend a penny and your other half’s brandishing the loofah in the shower?

Outside, the 2009 Charisma is blessed with new graphics, smart alloy wheels and services clustered sensibly together out of the awning. Top marks to the one-tug handbrake, high-set front running lights and hitch stabiliser, too.

Verdict:

Both the cynic and the ignoramus might opine, with a suitably childish snigger, that the hardly stand-out-from-the-crowd Swift Charisma is rather ill-named.

And yet, it’s indecently well-equipped, these days, sports a provenly popular layout that’s better executed than most, feels like a genuine quality product and only Bailey’s latest Pageant Bordeaux gets close to it on price.

The 535 drops a few marks for its too-short lounge, illogically laid-out washroom and new upholstery that is perhaps a little too play-it-safe, but if there’s a better executed compact French-bed caravan on the UK market today, then we’d love to see it.

C

•    This review was published in the November 2008 issue of Which Caravan. To subscribe to the magazine, click here.