Elddis Xplore 304
Image
Key Features
Model Year
2011
Product Class
Single Axle
Price from (£)
£11299
Berths
4
Full Review
WEIGHING only 893kg, the new Xplore 304 packs beds for four into less than four metres. It’s the shortest and lightest four-berth manufactured in Britain.
Beds for four are achieved with an L-shaped lounge that makes up into a double bed, plus two bunks forming from a dining area tucked away into the offside rear corner.
This diminutive tourer is a masterpiece of ingenious design which gives you a shower-toilet room that’s amazingly spacious considering the size of the caravan.
As also seen in the two-berth Xplore 302 launched 12 months ago, the designers had a helping hand in drawing up this layout, in the form of a new blown air heating system that does not impose a restriction on layout.
Whereas the Truma blown air system needs a heater unit to be integrated into the furniture, the new Whale heater in the 302 and 304 is installed beneath the floor.
Removing the layout constraint of a Truma heater enabled Elddis to put the fridge beneath the wardrobe where otherwise they would have had to make space for a heater. And that, in turn, means that the kitchen has a large cupboard.
Go Caravan’s first look was at the prototype, just before its unveiling to the public. We were invited to offer design feedback. Our main contribution was to suggest that the family dining area would be greatly improved if a window were to be put into the wall above the table. At present the only daylight comes into this rear area from one small roof light; there’s no window in the door.
There’s no window in the shower-toilet room either – but that’s not so much of an issue.
And we’d have liked a mains socket in the rear table area, recognising the need for electronic entertainment equipment for younger members of the family. But adding a mains socket is a minor point when you’re buying a caravan.
There are lots of small points in the 304 that help it to add up to a superb tourer. In the lounge a table shaped like a curved triangle hinges up from the wall of the wardrobe/fridge. It’s your TV position (aerial and mains and 12 volt power connections are nearby) – and it’s on hinges that are large, metal and substantial.
The shower-toilet room is larger than you might expect for a caravan of this size. The shower area is square, and bordered by a simple curtain.
There’s a cabinet on the wall and the toilet is the swivel type, rather than bench design often seen in small caravans.
And there’s a splendidly simple practicality in this little room: In common with the whole Xplore range, there is a rail running across the ceiling – ideal for hanging towels or garments to dry. Xplores may be Elddis’s budget range but this feature helps to give the impression that the designers have taken care with details that count.
The little 304’s interior looks and build quality belie its lowly budget-level status in the Elddis line-up; top cabinet doors have solid wooden, shaped surrounds.
The construction of the bunk is impressively robust, with two hinge-up guards to prevent the occupant from falling out. Uniquely, the bunk base folds upwards against the wall and secures with two spring-loaded bolts. The mattress and ladder fold up within the bunk. This bunk is far easier and simpler to put up and down than those that pull up from below table height; no lifting strength is involved.
Although lower kitchen storage is generous, with more cupboard space than you’ll find in many a family layout much larger than the 304, storage for clothing is tight.
The wardrobe’s fine but there are only four overhead lockers for fold-up items. But you can’t have everything – and you’d expect to sacrifice storage space in a caravan so light in weight and small in size.
Our verdict:
This unique four-berth configuration is utterly brilliant in its achievement of a holiday home for four in only 3.7 metres of body length and 893kg of unladen weight.
Even if you load this caravan to its maximum (which, with four aboard, you probably will), you’re only towing 1050kg, which puts this caravan comfortably into the Astra/Golf class.
Beds for four are achieved with an L-shaped lounge that makes up into a double bed, plus two bunks forming from a dining area tucked away into the offside rear corner.
This diminutive tourer is a masterpiece of ingenious design which gives you a shower-toilet room that’s amazingly spacious considering the size of the caravan.
As also seen in the two-berth Xplore 302 launched 12 months ago, the designers had a helping hand in drawing up this layout, in the form of a new blown air heating system that does not impose a restriction on layout.
Whereas the Truma blown air system needs a heater unit to be integrated into the furniture, the new Whale heater in the 302 and 304 is installed beneath the floor.
Removing the layout constraint of a Truma heater enabled Elddis to put the fridge beneath the wardrobe where otherwise they would have had to make space for a heater. And that, in turn, means that the kitchen has a large cupboard.
Go Caravan’s first look was at the prototype, just before its unveiling to the public. We were invited to offer design feedback. Our main contribution was to suggest that the family dining area would be greatly improved if a window were to be put into the wall above the table. At present the only daylight comes into this rear area from one small roof light; there’s no window in the door.
There’s no window in the shower-toilet room either – but that’s not so much of an issue.
And we’d have liked a mains socket in the rear table area, recognising the need for electronic entertainment equipment for younger members of the family. But adding a mains socket is a minor point when you’re buying a caravan.
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There are lots of small points in the 304 that help it to add up to a superb tourer. In the lounge a table shaped like a curved triangle hinges up from the wall of the wardrobe/fridge. It’s your TV position (aerial and mains and 12 volt power connections are nearby) – and it’s on hinges that are large, metal and substantial.
The shower-toilet room is larger than you might expect for a caravan of this size. The shower area is square, and bordered by a simple curtain.
There’s a cabinet on the wall and the toilet is the swivel type, rather than bench design often seen in small caravans.
And there’s a splendidly simple practicality in this little room: In common with the whole Xplore range, there is a rail running across the ceiling – ideal for hanging towels or garments to dry. Xplores may be Elddis’s budget range but this feature helps to give the impression that the designers have taken care with details that count.
The little 304’s interior looks and build quality belie its lowly budget-level status in the Elddis line-up; top cabinet doors have solid wooden, shaped surrounds.
The construction of the bunk is impressively robust, with two hinge-up guards to prevent the occupant from falling out. Uniquely, the bunk base folds upwards against the wall and secures with two spring-loaded bolts. The mattress and ladder fold up within the bunk. This bunk is far easier and simpler to put up and down than those that pull up from below table height; no lifting strength is involved.
Although lower kitchen storage is generous, with more cupboard space than you’ll find in many a family layout much larger than the 304, storage for clothing is tight.
The wardrobe’s fine but there are only four overhead lockers for fold-up items. But you can’t have everything – and you’d expect to sacrifice storage space in a caravan so light in weight and small in size.
Our verdict:
This unique four-berth configuration is utterly brilliant in its achievement of a holiday home for four in only 3.7 metres of body length and 893kg of unladen weight.
Even if you load this caravan to its maximum (which, with four aboard, you probably will), you’re only towing 1050kg, which puts this caravan comfortably into the Astra/Golf class.
- This review was first published in Go Caravan magazine.
