Elddis Avanté 515

The Elddis Avanté 515 has a surprising amount of kitchen storage, beds for five, a full-length lounge and a separate shower – this is a caravan that looks bigger than its five-and-a-half-metre length

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t’s a pip under 1500kg at full-weight stretch, yet the Avanté 515 feels like a big, spacious caravan. That’s because this five-berth has a lounge at each end. This classic, successful layout gives the kids their own space by day and by night at the rear – and the long lounge at the front provides both lounging and dining space for all five occupants when you need it.
Lots of caravans have twin-lounge layouts but not all have as large a kitchen as the 515. Of all its features, perhaps this is its most important. Feeding up to five, we all know, requires five plates and a lot of food. The 515’s surface space excels in its aim of catering well for its brood.
And there’s more to admire in this kitchen. It’s the amount of storage space, which comes in the form of a floor-level cupboard with two shelf areas plus two good-sized drawers. Again, bearing in mind that this is neither a long nor a heavy caravan, this kitchen accommodation is amazing. Upper storage is great, too. The two cabinets are deep and wide. One’s fitted for plates and mugs (although we did wonder why, in a five-berth caravan, there are only fitments for two mugs). The other is just a great big, useful void. Some might say a shelf to divide the space would have been preferable but we decided this is the perfect place for tall boxes of cereal, pasta and other cumbersome objects of culinary necessity.
One look at the shower compartment, with its separate shower is enough to convince us, get again, that the 515 achieves a lot in a short length. There’s a substantial bi-fold door that glides on robust runners and there’s ample space for washing and dressing .
We were well into our second day of the Avanté 515’s evaluation time with us before our thoughts crystalised on the reason this model seems more open-plan than many of this traditional layout. Was it the pale cream kitchen lockers and microwave housing that makes the centre of the caravan look lighter and brighter than wooden-fronted lockers? Was it the pale cream curtains with a sheen that reflects the light? Certainly those are factors. But the main reason is the shape of the wardrobe, angled to create more floor space. It minimises the effect of a bulky shower room and wardrobe. These often conspire together to cut a layout like this into two sections.
There is, though, something lurking under the wardrobe that might present a challenge to the desire to get this caravan toasty in winter. It’s two ventilation holes. They’re large enough to allow you to take a view of the grass under your caravan – and allow chill air to penetrate. We know ventilation is a necessity of caravan design but we also know that, if they are too large and let in too much cold air, caravan owners block them up. Just maybe there’s a way to provide enough ventilation under this wardrobe without allowing cold air to diminish the effects of the Truma central heating. Call us picky if you wish – but our tests are about looking in every corner…

The Avanté 515 sets out to put ticks in boxes marked light, bright, modern, inexpensive and practical. Our ticks go in all those boxes in great, big, bold type. We love the carpet, the colour of darkest chocolate that would refuse to exhibit dirt. We think the carpet stands a good chance of still looking new in 10 years’ time. Both the décor and the light weight take care of the “light” box. And inexpensive? You get a lot for your money in a 515 – a lot of space and a lot of build quality.