Elddis Avanté 576

The 2013 Elddis Avanté 576 has extra-long settees, a dining area for four, two bunks, a big shower room and a wardrobe with two rails

The Avanté range sits only one rung above Elddis’s budget Xplore    range – yet Avantés have more equipment than you’d expect in a mid-range caravan.
For 2013, they come with televisions as standard. Their water heaters have a 13-litre capacity. They have mains hotplates – and exterior looks that closely resemble Elddis’s higher-priced ranges, the Affinity and Crusader.
All Elddis models for 2013 are built using a revolutionary new system of chemical bonding, designed to eliminate water ingress – and there’s a 10-year water ingress warranty to back it up.
Elddis introduced two new six-berth layouts to its Avanté range for 2013, one on twin-axles, the 636 – and one on a single axle, the 576, tested here.
This twin-bunk model is packed with brilliant layout features that will, we believe, secure its position on the shortlist of a great many families.
The two most important of those features are the wide dining area on the nearside that’s spacious enough for four adults to sit to eat, and the long settees. Caravan Buyer gets a steady stream of questions from tall caravanners asking us which – if any – caravans have single beds long enough for over-six footers. Well here is one. The settees are 1.88m - that’s six feet two inches for those who prefer to measure their height in old money.
Also ranking high on the list of key features in the 576 is its shower room…
 

Showering

The shower room is large, yet it’s not the familiar across-the-rear configuration. This shower room sits between the two fixed bunks and the door. Its floor area seems enormous, given that it’s not a full-width shower; there’s plenty of space in here for parents and toddlers to do the showering and towelling stuff.
The shower is circular, which often means that it’s smaller than square or rectangular ones – but not in the case of the 576; this is one of the largest circular showers we’ve seen so far.
The big story continues with the basin, which has a good depth and width even though it’s basically oval. There’s a wide towel rail on the wall near the shower, although we can’t help commenting that, with six aboard, you’d need more than one place to hang towels to dry; at least two more hooks or loops would be a welcome addition.
There’s a cabinet on the wall and another under the sink, as you’d expect – but there’s an unexpected very simple bit of practicality here. The top one of three shelves alongside the basin cabinet has a toilet roll holder set into it.
 

Sleeping

So, the showering department excels (apart from the need for more towel accommodation) but do this caravan’s sleeping attributes match? We’d say totally.
The kids get their own space in the bunks section, with a pleated partition to divide it off – and a triangle of floor space within the area.
They also get their own TV bracket, so that the occupant of the top bunk can be entertained. We think the child on the lower bunk might have to crane his/her neck to watch because the TV is quite high – but kids will always find a way to watch their favourite TV programmes or DVDs.
A third bed makes from the dining area – and there’s a surprise here, for this bed is wide enough to sleep two; it’s a standard domestic three-quarter-bed width.
Those two extra-long settees make long singles, of course; the double makes up in the time-honoured pull-out slats fashion.
 

Storage

The closer we examined the 576 the more features we found to praise. Storage looks to be predictably fine, with nine head-height lockers and the anticipated areas under settees and the wide dining area. And the dining area storage has front, as well as top, access, which is unusual. But then the storage exploration got even better when we opened the wardrobe that sits between the bunks and the kitchen – and discovered that there are two rails, one above the other, so this wardrobe is truly up to the task of hanging clothes for six.
And there’s more. Under the lower bunk a great cavern of a storage area reveals itself when you hinge up the bed base. There’s a webbing strap to hold it up while you dig inside.
It might be very tempting to lodge your awning under this bunk because there’s clearly ample space even though you will have to manoeuvre it around the metal fixed ladder. But it’s best to keep in mind the need not to put too much weight rear of the axle. Awnings – especially heavy ones – are best stowed in the centre of the caravan, over the axle, for optimum stability and to make sure you don’t lighten your caravan’s nose weight by tipping the scales at the rear.
 

Dining

With seating for four opposite the kitchen, and four more using the freestanding table in the lounge (it’s stored in the wardrobe), dining options abound. And if you like to watch television while you’re eating, you’ll love the 576’s television options. The bracket mounted between the dining room and lounge enables the TV to be turned towards either area.
The side dining area gets two spotlights; four more are in the corners of the lounge and there’s a neat strip of light set into the base of the front two top lockers. Slightly cone-shaped corner lights are at each corner of the lounge…

 
Lounge

When you take a detailed look at the 576, area by area, as we did, it’s probably going to be when you come to analyse the lounge that you suddenly realise that there’s something missing – or, rather, hidden. Instead of a bulk of a Truma convector heater taking up layout space, all you see of the heating system are the outlets for the blown air. Avantés now have the Whale space-saving heater that’s located under a settee. The same unit heats the water – and it’s 13 litres in capacity, which means that at least two people can shower consecutively before warm-up time is needed.
The lounge is big on length and therefore practicality – and it’s also big on style, in a pale-shades, plain fabrics sort of way. Curtains and two cushions get a bit of colour interest with the injection of a very pale turquoise shade, and the lovely pale cabinetry also helps to ensure the whole area is light and airy.
 

Kitchen

Three substantial metal hinges hold up a big top locker fitted for plates and mugs – but it’s the positive catch design that will grab your attention here. A light upward touch on a chrome-look handle is all you need to open this robust (and very neat) bit of kit.
The microwave is set fl,ush into cabinetry alongside it; it has an auto-cook facility, with buttons for pasta, frozen pizza baked potatoes and other generic dishes.
To the left of the large circular sink there’s just about enough surface to prepare food – and don’t forget the dining table opposite is near at hand when you need extra kitchen space.
Between the (smart black-fronted Thetford) fridge and the (equally pleasantly plain black edged) oven and grill you find two drawers and a cupboard. If you need more space for the inevitable soft drinks bottles and juice cartons, we recommend you consider getting a couple of plastic boxes to slide under the seating areas; it’s a solution we’ve used may times in caravans with confined lower kitchen storage.
The hob has a hotplate as well as three burners. And there’s a double power point to the left of the kitchen in the ideal place for your kettle.

 
Towing

So far in this review we’ve come to love the new 576 for its many practical layout and equipment features. But it’s got to get to your holiday location, with the driver happy and relaxed… The road test revealed no surprises. We used our Kia Sorento which takes most of our test caravans out, but a car of lesser weight and power would cope well with the under-1500kg MTPLM 576.
Elddis caravans ride on BPW chassis and use the Winterhoff hitch-head stabiliser; it’s quite different in hitch-on action to the AL-KO hitch and stabiliser but, in our experience, does the same job in the same way and the 576’s road test was just fine in every respect.
 

The 2013 Elddis Avanté 576 has a brilliant layout that caters for varied family needs, a television as part of the standard equipment and a superbly spacious shower room. This caravan is a great option if you need to accommodate six and still want to keep under 1500kg.