Full review

This miniscule 2012 Elddis has been designed to meet the needs of the thousands of caravanners who want to down-size from a big outfit to something easier to manoeuvre and economical to tow. Or venture into touring for the first time with a tiny caravan. And it fulfils those needs brilliantly.
From the outside, the 302 looks almost unfeasibly small, but folk with long memories will recall the more modest expectations of the 1960s and 1970s, when caravans of the 302’s proportions were much more the norm.
The 2012 302 weighs just 930kg fully laden and, in basic form, costs under £11,000. The similarities with tourers of the 1960s and 1970s end there, because Elddis has used almost every innovation developed since then to make the 302 as practical and user-friendly as possible for a couple who don’t want or need anything bigger.
For 2012, the 302 is 20kg lighter than its initial version, at just 930kg fully laden, and it has an updated interior and a GRP underskin to protect the underside.
 

Showering

The Xplore 302’s small offside shower room packs in more than you’d expect. We love the external hatch giving you access to the shower tray to store your wet shoes. The hanging rail is another thoughtful feature. There are separate mixer taps for the shower and basin but only a bit of storage space in the corner cabinet and narrow shelf above the loo. A pull-around curtain will keep most of the shower spray off the walls, loo and door. The washroom’s biggest failing is that the warm air doesn’t get this far – which means damp waterproofs will stay that way on cooler days.
 

Sleeping

The pull-out slats create a large transverse double bed (2m x 1.31m) in the lounge. The L-shaped configuration is a great space-saving innovation and the mechanism works just fine, but it does mean clambering over your partner to get in and out of bed. There are independently switchable reading lights under pelmets at the nearside end of the bed.  
 

Storage

Storage space is always going to be at a premium in such a small caravan, but the compact Whale heater mounted under the floor frees up extra space. This allows the fridge to be relocated under the wardrobe and freeing up loads of low-level storage in kitchen.
There’s a large double-doored cupboard below the kitchen, with an integrated cutlery drawer and big pan store under the combi oven/grill. Seven eye-level lockers are slotted into the main living areas. There’s a neat little drawer below the front settee, further under-settee storage, and a shoe locker under the deep offside lounge window. With a reasonable payload of 132kg, the 302 has ample storage for two.
 

Dining

The L-shaped lounge will seat four or five easily, but it’s more difficult to get four around the stand-alone table, although it’s fine for just two. There’s only really room for one to perch on the remainder of the settee when the bed is made up, so you’ll be having breakfast in bed or a spot of cushion-shuffling before you tuck in to bacon butties in the morning.
 

Lounging

Despite its modest proportions, the interior feels huge thanks to the appealing L-shaped lounge layout ‘borrowed’ from Elddis’ flagship Crusader range (you’ll find it in the Crusader Hurricane). There’s plenty of room for two to sprawl out full length on the settees and the flip-up television shelf on the side of the wardrobe means a TV should just about be visible from both settees. Clever utilisation of its limited space means the 302 has a wonderfully light and airy feel for such a small caravan, thanks also to the unimpeded view out of the single-piece front window.
 

Kitchen

The end kitchen is well suited to cooking, but instead of locating the fridge on the other side of the door – as is usually the case with this layout – it sits under the wardrobe. This adaptation is made possible by using Whale’s under-slung space heater instead of a Truma unit that eats up quite a lot of space.
The 302’s kitchen puts galleys in some much larger caravans to shame. It has a three-burner gas hob and combination oven-grill; there are two 230v sockets for a toaster and a kettle, and large circular sink. Worktop space is a bit tight but there’s loads of storage. The only other negative is the absence not only of a microwave oven, but also the room to install one.

 
Towing

As long as the car’s warranty doesn’t expressly forbid it and you can find a towbar to fit it, this tiny little tourer can, in theory, be towed by just about anything.
     Weighing in at 930kg fully-laden – 20kg lighter than when it was first launched – the Xplore could possibly be comfortably hitched to economical cars such as the Vauxhall Corsa and Ford Fiesta.