MB Campers Caddy Maxi Camper
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Description
PRICE FROM £19,000 Berths/travel seats 2/2
Key Features
Model Year
2015
Product Class
Rising Roof
Product Model Base
Volkswagen Caddy Maxi
Price from (£)
£19000
Length (m)
4.70
Berths
2
Belted seats
2
Main Layout
Campervan
Full Review
PAULRender’s commute takes around 20 seconds as he only has to walk five metres or so from his front door to the workshop where MB Campers’ conversions are constructed. With wife Angela producing upholstery, MB uses local craftspeople to make components such as furniture and metalwork.
All is then brought together by Paul. MB currently produces campers based on Volkswagen’s T5 and Caddy and can customise its designs according to clients’ wishes when ’vans are built to order.
This example was built on a used – 2010, 34,000-mile – Caddy and a rather unusual one at that. Plenty of extras are fitted here, including fancy 17-inch alloys, stainless-steel side bars and lowered suspension. Inside a double-height stereo includes sat-nav, while factory-fit kit includes traction control, central locking and electric windows and mirrors, but no air-conditioning. The 102 horses available proved more than adequate as performance was sprightly and the whole vehicle very easy to drive.
Ride quality is rather hard and jiggly, however, thank the lowered suspension and ultra-low-profile tyres for that! Ground clearance, too, might create some challenges on some campsites. But that only applies to this particular Caddy; MB had another in stock with more sensible suspension and the luxury of a DSG automatic gearbox.
Popping the top is as easy as releasing two straps, and once up, there’s plenty of standing headroom in the kitchen/lounge area.
The rear bench is the only living area seating as the cab seats don’t swivel – the reason being that the rear floor is quite a bit higher than the cab. Thus, the driving department can function as a separate seating area, or more likely, a place to stow stuff when on site. And this will probably be important as there’s not a huge amount of stowage space in the rear: get pitched and move gear such as bedding and clothes bags into the front where they’re easy to reach without needing to go outside.
Other stowage space consists of a cupboard in the kitchen and a shelved wardrobe-style cupboard, enclosed by a tambour door, in the rear offside. There’s more capacity behind the bench – the best place for bedding – and underneath, where hook-up lead and portable loo are stowed.
The small table stows here too, but like other kit must be extracted via the rear doors – another candidate for life in the cab once settled on your favourite campsite. The table mounts on a rail on the kitchen and meals are taken from the rear bench and a little ‘jump seat’ that slots in behind the pushed-forward cab passenger seat.
The bench seat flattens easily to provide a firm-but-comfy, long-but-narrow bed that will be spacious for one (it’s just one-and-a-half inches wider than a standard domestic single), but rather cosy for two. Life support systems are simple, with two 10-litre containers, one each for for fresh and waste water, and the sealed steel gas locker filling the biggest cupboard in the kitchen.
Space heating is via a mains-operated fan heater built in to the front face of the rear bench base. There’s no water heater, but in this situation a kettle is the best solution when hot H2O is required. Lighting is all LED, with current-fashion blue ‘mood’ illumination under the lip of the kitchen worktop. Controls are via a no-nonsense, simple-to-use management panel fed by a 90Ah leisure battery – plenty of grunt for a conversion such as this.
All is then brought together by Paul. MB currently produces campers based on Volkswagen’s T5 and Caddy and can customise its designs according to clients’ wishes when ’vans are built to order.
Daily driver
The Caddy makes a very compact camper that’s akin to an estate car, so potentially great as an every day vehicle that’s a doddle to park. Here, the conversion applies the classic VW camper layout to a smaller space, with rear bench seat and furniture all down one side.This example was built on a used – 2010, 34,000-mile – Caddy and a rather unusual one at that. Plenty of extras are fitted here, including fancy 17-inch alloys, stainless-steel side bars and lowered suspension. Inside a double-height stereo includes sat-nav, while factory-fit kit includes traction control, central locking and electric windows and mirrors, but no air-conditioning. The 102 horses available proved more than adequate as performance was sprightly and the whole vehicle very easy to drive.
Ride quality is rather hard and jiggly, however, thank the lowered suspension and ultra-low-profile tyres for that! Ground clearance, too, might create some challenges on some campsites. But that only applies to this particular Caddy; MB had another in stock with more sensible suspension and the luxury of a DSG automatic gearbox.
Compact camping
Access to the living area proved easy via the nearside sliding door, while there’s one on the offside, too. This merely opens to let you view the back of the kitchen unit, but could also be useful for providing excellent ventilation in hot weather (or even act as a serving hatch when eating outside).Popping the top is as easy as releasing two straps, and once up, there’s plenty of standing headroom in the kitchen/lounge area.
The rear bench is the only living area seating as the cab seats don’t swivel – the reason being that the rear floor is quite a bit higher than the cab. Thus, the driving department can function as a separate seating area, or more likely, a place to stow stuff when on site. And this will probably be important as there’s not a huge amount of stowage space in the rear: get pitched and move gear such as bedding and clothes bags into the front where they’re easy to reach without needing to go outside.
Other stowage space consists of a cupboard in the kitchen and a shelved wardrobe-style cupboard, enclosed by a tambour door, in the rear offside. There’s more capacity behind the bench – the best place for bedding – and underneath, where hook-up lead and portable loo are stowed.
The small table stows here too, but like other kit must be extracted via the rear doors – another candidate for life in the cab once settled on your favourite campsite. The table mounts on a rail on the kitchen and meals are taken from the rear bench and a little ‘jump seat’ that slots in behind the pushed-forward cab passenger seat.
Cooking and sleeping
Kitchen facilities continue the compact theme with just a single-burner hob/sink combo, although a two-burner unit is in the pipeline. The fridge is a 40-litre compressor type sat high up and easy to reach.The bench seat flattens easily to provide a firm-but-comfy, long-but-narrow bed that will be spacious for one (it’s just one-and-a-half inches wider than a standard domestic single), but rather cosy for two. Life support systems are simple, with two 10-litre containers, one each for for fresh and waste water, and the sealed steel gas locker filling the biggest cupboard in the kitchen.
Space heating is via a mains-operated fan heater built in to the front face of the rear bench base. There’s no water heater, but in this situation a kettle is the best solution when hot H2O is required. Lighting is all LED, with current-fashion blue ‘mood’ illumination under the lip of the kitchen worktop. Controls are via a no-nonsense, simple-to-use management panel fed by a 90Ah leisure battery – plenty of grunt for a conversion such as this.
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Our Verdict
This car-like Caddy conversion is billed as a four-berth, but with limited storage space and a narrow bed it’s probably best seen as a one-person campervan.
