Elddis Avanté 636

Elddis gives its customers a range of options this year,including wrap-around seating instead of parallel settees

We first saw this layout in Elddis’s pricier (and heavier) Crusader range, in the form of the Tempest. For 2013 the Tempest, layout has got even better, with a tweak or two. But if £23,999 and 1780kg MTPLM don’t meet your criteria, the similar-layout Avanté 636, at less weight and less money, may well appeal.

The spec is less than on the Tempest, but there’s no compromise on quality anywhere. And confidence in the Elddis brand is reinforced with the introduction of a 10-year water ingress warranty, following the launch of a revolutionary new construction method involving bonding, rather than screwing, the body together. Elddis calls its new-for-2013 build method SoLiD, standing for Strong, Light, Dry – and meaning that the new system builds a stronger structure that’s lighter and has an enhanced resistance to water ingress, which is why the manufacturer is now able to back all its caravans with a 10-year warranty. Avantés have the Whale blown air heating system, with quiet night-time setting when you want to lessen the audibility of the fan. In the 636 there are three outlets for the warm air, including, importantly, in the shower room.

The 636’s layout gives you two bunks, lounge single beds (or a double) and a second double making out of the dining area. The kitchen is a real star in terms of storage. The showering arrangements are relatively compact for a twin-axle, 7.9m caravan, but all you need is here...

Showering
The shower room is across the full width of the caravan – but it’s not rectangular as you might have assumed; there’s a chunk taken out of its shape to accommodate the bunks, so it’s not enormous in terms of floor space. But it does achieve a deep washbasin, a square shower – and, importantly, the wardrobe is within the shower room. Equally importantly, there’s an outlet for the Whale blown air heating system here, which means towels hung on the wide rail on the rear wall will dry. There’s a double hook that could be used for towels on the back of the door – but we’d say, for six people, more towel accommodation would be appreciated by most buyers. That’s not hard to achieve, with the addition of a couple of hooks, though. There’s a long mirror on the wall that backs onto the bunk area, and a mains power socket on the outside wall of the shower room, well within hairdryer cable reach. Sleeping The bunks feel very separate from the rest of the caravan; that’s because there’s a wall between here and the dining area. Each bunk has a curtain. The ladder is fixed, and its structure extends along the top bunk to create a roll-out guard. A double bed can be created from the side dining furniture. Each seat base has a wooden hinged extension. The table provides the centre section of the base (its leg hinges to become flat with the table), plus a wooden piece that sits on the same ledge as the table. During the day this piece slides back over the box section that covers the wheel arch. The bed measures 1.8m x 1.19m (that’s a three-quarter sized bed in domestic parlance). The lounge is long enough to create single beds (1.8m) or a massive double across the width of the caravan.

Storage
In a 7.9m caravan you’d expect storage to be excellent – and in the 636 it certainly is. The two front overhead lockers are deep; the seven on the sides are almost as capacious. Some have shelves, but if you want more, £40 buys you an optional shelving pack. Full-length hinge-down doors give you access to all four of the under-seating storage spaces. The space under the lower bunk is accessed by raising the top; there’s no hinge to support it, though. The wardrobe (in the shower room) has two rails, one above another; it’s a feature we see in many Elddis models for 2013. Each rail in the 636 is 54cm wide – so that gives you over a metre of hanging width. There’s ample room for footwear in the base of the wardrobe.

Dining
The freestanding table stores in its own cabinet on the rear end of the kitchen; there’s space in here for the side table, too, when you want it out of the way. Dining, 636-style, is a spacious affair, with seating for a total of eight, comfortably, or 10 slightly less comfortably (three can sit on each of the long lounge seats); this is a caravan to consider if you’re going to be entertaining friends and family on holiday.

Lounging
Elddis gives its Avanté buyers an Avtex television when they buy the caravan. It’s a 16-inch model, with integrated DVD and CD player, plus Freeview and USB port. In the 636 it can be mounted on a bracket on the forward wall of the kitchen, and can be turned towards the lounge, the dining area – and even towards the bunks. A second set of TV connection points is at the front nearside corner, so that you can put the TV on the centre-front cabinet if you wish. Elddis gives its customers a range of options this year, including wrap-around seating instead of the standard parallel configuration. In an Avanté, that option costs £179. And, in the unlikely event that the delightful cool fawns and creams trimmed with pale turquoise don’t meet with your taste, there are two others to choose from, at an extra £225, plus a third option, which is treated with Aquaclean coating, designed for easy removal of stains. (Other optional extras include an alarm system at £249 – and even a bike rack, at £339.)

Kitchen
There’s an option available for the kitchen, too; you can have an extractor fan in place of the rooflight, for £159. This kitchen is exceptionally well equipped with cabinets. There are three; one the full height of the kitchen units, the other two lower. Altogether, this gives you enormous storage capacity by any caravan standards. There are two goodsized drawers, too. Top storage is great, too – and these cabinets have delightful touch-and-pivot releases for the positive catches. One of the cabinets has a rack for plates and fittings for six mugs. An additional cabinet is above the microwave, in a unit that also houses one of the 636’s greatest assets, the 189-litre fridge with removable freezer compartment. Food storage in the 636 would never be a challenge! Towing With the enhanced stability factor of twin-axles, we were always destined to enjoy the 636’s test tow. On its test it seemed the perfect partner for our Kia Sorento. Buyers of this model have the opportunity to enhance stability even further; the BPW iDC electronic stability control system costs an extra £549. It’s by no means necessary, given the inherent stability of twin axles – but if we bought this caravan we’d go for it anyway, because safety features are priceless in value terms.

It’s a comprehensive package in equipment terms, it comes with a 10-year water ingress warranty, there’s a GRP underskin to keep road spray off the underside – and it creates spacious family accommodation. The 636 is a strong contender for your shortlist if you’re looking in this length, price and weight bracket – and, keep in mind, the 1639kg MTPLM of this model puts it within range of a wide variety of vehicles that won’t cost you a fortune.