Swift Charisma 565

The Charisma range’s triple bunk offering, the Swift Charisma 565, is one of the smaller versions of this layout. We explore its fantastic features and a few foibles of Swift’s best-seller that goes into 2010 unchanged

A bunk stack opposite a children’s dining/activity area at the rear, a central offside washroom, a lounge/diner for the parents up front... aren’t the current crop of triple-bunk layouts all the same?

Actually, yes, they share those basic layout features. But there the commonality ends. Some are better at some things than others; some are less good in some ways. All of them, though, keep the younger family members out of the lounge (that will appeal to strict parents) and they give the children their own room for them to enjoy (that will appeal to parents who put the children first). Whichever way you look at a triple bunk caravan, whatever your parental policies and ideas on control/quality family time, the triple bunk layout is a fantastic concept. That’s because this layout enables you all to live in your own space.
The Swift Charisma 565 is among caravan-choice’s more compact triple-bunk options. Its body is only 5.5 metres long, and we have six days of travel through six counties and a stay on two sites to find out its fantastic points and its foibles.
We had overnighted at the Camping and Caravanning Club’s Blackmore site at Hanley Swan, near Great Malvern. Destination: Cornwall. Ahead of us in the morning: four-plus hours of easy motoring...

All modern caravans tow stably. And a few single-axle caravans tow outstandingly well; the Charisma 565 is one of them. Why? Was it skilful loading? No – the Charisma had been totally empty save for two gas cylinders for the first, 200-mile, leg of this journey. Then, the same exemplary tow characteristics had been evident as today, with haphazard loading resulting from speed of packing. But the Charisma is now bowling along the M5 in the centre lane towing almost as stably as its twin-axle bigger cousins. Could the towcar be contributing to this exceptional stability? Well, yes. It’s our own Kia Sorento. Yes, it’s a solid, heavy towcar. And it’s a good yardstick, for this car tows, at some point, almost all of our test caravans. Conclusion: it’s the way this Charisma is built and balanced.

Corner steadies reach turf beside the sea, on the south coast of the peninsula county. This part of Cornwall has its fair share of beaches but only one has a caravan site on it and we are privileged to get a beach-side pitch at Pentewan Sands Holiday Park near St Austell for this test.

All triple-bunk, rear-family room layouts work superbly as family layouts. What distinguishes the Charisma is amidships. It’s the washroom. The door is as thick as a house interior door and it has a big chunky knob to match. Inside, in a gleaming-white environment, is a superbly-styled circular washbasin set into an egg-shaped unit that incorporates a storage area for shampoo bottles and the like. No hinges to get wet and risk rust, only a small turn-button to lock it in place.

Above, a grey mug-holder and shelf unit for shampoo bottles climbs up the corner like honeysuckle, the mirrors on each side of it creating the impression that it’s circular. It’s stylish in appearance – and practical, too. We liked, also, the folding two-part plastic screen that’s designed to shield the loo and your towels from splashes.

So, the Charisma passes its tow test with marks that go off the top scale, its shower room test with top marks, too... we like the rear family area... the long-settee lounge gives you all the comfort you’d expect and more besides...

Why more? It’s because the upholstery is especially firm. And when you construct the double bed the result is exceptionally flat and firm. No ridges, no difference in thickness or density between backrests and seating sections. It creates a solid mattress as close to fixed-bed comfort as we’ve found in a caravan. Add mattress to tow characteristics and washroom, then.
More stuff to like: The Charisma isn’t Swift’s top-echelon range but it nonetheless gets AL-KO Secure Wheel Lock receivers that enable you to buy the lock (about £200) and save on your insurance. That’s because most caravan specialist insurance companies give you a hefty discount for this security device. Towergate tells us to date they know of no thefts of any caravan secured with an AL-KO wheel lock.

And more: Each bunk has its own window, making the rear area light and airy. The rear window gives you more than its primary function of letting in the light. With a vehicle of the height of our Sorento, the driver gets a useful-sized through-view of vehicles behind... Now that’s a rarity we appreciate.

While we’re still examining the rear family area, it’s worth mentioning that triple bunks are not redundant if you don’t have your entire family aboard. They’re the perfect storage solution. As I type these notes for you, laptop on rear table, the top bunk is a shelf for duvet and pillows. That frees up the front seat-base lockers for our small folding chairs which slide in easily through the front apertures. The centre bunk forms the perfect shelf for the photographer’s array of camera bags and tripods. (Yes, I know most holidaymakers don’t come so comprehensively equipped but, for photo gear, read windbreaks or lightweight sun-loungers, perhaps.) And the lower bunk? It’s the perfect place for Fido’s bed, for the bottom bunk folds upwards against the wall. No Fido? Or Fido in kennels? Awning transport, perhaps – but be careful to counterbalance weight at the front if you put something heavy here, rear of the axle.

Cereal and fruit juice in the spacious rear “breakfast room” set us up for a day away from our Charisma focus to explore this corner of Cornwall.

We return to our Charisma base, appetite for achievement satisfied for a day, and sink into upholstered comfort. The next challenge? Charisma kitchen in dinner action. You have three burners, a mains hob, a microwave and the usual oven and grill. But this evening I use only the mains hotplate. Fresh whole garlic gloves, button mushrooms, tomatoes, olive oil, fish bought from a quayside kiosk at Mevagissey two miles away, parsley, big juicy prawns and a dash of white wine... Ready in minutes. The microwave’s task? I cheated and bought mashed potato. A fair test of the Charisma’s kitchen? No, probably not – but it worked, and demonstrated that, if you run out of gas in a caravan equipped with a mains hob and a microwave, you can still make a tasty meal.

Another dinner and a more comprehensive test: this time the oven gets involved, and so does the food preparation space which I quickly decide is ample for meals for two but would be a tight squeeze for six portions.

As in previous Swift tests I find myself praising the hallmark large circular Swift sink; there are washing-up facilities at Pentewan Sands Holiday Park but this evening I think I ought to put the Charisma to the test for the boring job. With plastic clip-on drainer in place there’s enough room to splash about meaningfully and the task is done easily.

Time to investigate the in-caravan entertainment facilities. The Charisma usefully has two television areas. It has one set of mains and aerial points below the front central chest of drawers and a second – importantly – in the young persons’ area at the rear. But the power point here is deep in the far corner of the bedding locker, difficult to access. And the aerial point is high amid the head lockers, meaning that you have to stretch the coaxial cable across the window to reach your television perched on the table.

There’s a third power point, superbly located in the kitchen, perfect for your kettle or toaster.

But there’s something missing. In order to use a hairdryer in front of the mirror that’s just to the rear of the washroom you have to stretch a cable from either the plug under the rear table or the kitchen socket. Either way, it’s a nuisance for everyone around you while you’re turning dripping locks into presentable dry hair. Solution? A socket nearer to that mirror. With two aboard, stuff like this is easy to work around; with four, five or six this corridor area would be in constant use and out of bounds to anyone wanting to banish post-shower shivering by drying their hair. Conclusion? The Charisma is a great caravan for a family. BUT – with more than three aboard, our advice is to invest in an awning. Then you’ll cut down on corridor queues and kitchen squeezes. Caravanning, as ever, is about discovering the best compromises in the quest for small-space living.

But with a Charisma there is one compromise that you don’t have to consider. That’s on build quality. And that’s because you get the same build quality as models higher up the Swift echelon, only without the price-encumbrance of extra specification.

The Swift Charisma 565 is a great caravan for a family. But with more than three aboard, our advice is to invest in an awning. Then you’ll cut down on corridor queues and kitchen squeezes. The Charisma’s equipment satisfies a family’s needs (save for an extra power point – and your dealer can fix that easily) and the whole package satisfies the quest for light weight at a light price.