Swift Freestyle S4 caravan

The Freestyle is a special edition of a Sprite, created for Lowdham Leisure World. The Freestyle S4 has a fixed bed, and carries Swift Challenger-style branding and looks Extras include: Freestyle extras: ultra-comfort mattress upgraded upholstery Swift style exterior branding Diamond Pack: Alloy wheels AL-KO Secure wheel lock Spare wheel Door flyscreen Radio/CD player with iPod input Scatter cushions

The Swift Freestyle S4 caravan is really a Sprite Alpine 4, enhanced in equipment to the specification of, Lowdham Leisureworld, which has premises near Nottingham and in Huddersfield.

It’s a genuine 2012 Sprite, though, and has the spectacular new curved front, unlike Sprite’s 2012 budget range, Sprite Lite. When you buy the S4 you also get the Diamond Pack – this is a package of kit including the essential spare wheel. All Sprites have this when they leave the factory but with standard Sprites you pay £399 over the list price to get it. The Diamond Pack also gives you AL-KO Secure wheel lock receivers. An AKS hitch-head stabiliser is included plus alloy wheels, a fly-screen on the door, a radio, CD and MP3 player with iPod connection, and upgraded upholstery. The S4 price includes the standard delivery charge for getting the caravan from the factory to the dealer. This would normally cost you £545.

The Freestyle S4 also has an upgraded mattress, and a microwave included. The main emphasis, however, is in the styling. It’s a Sprite unashamedly made to look like a Swift Challenger, with Swift rather than Sprite logos, and Challenger-style upholstery. It’s aimed at those who don’t want their caravan to proclaim “entry level!” when they visit a campsite.
 

Showering

It’s a small, basic shower cubicle in the corner of the bedroom and there’s no separate shower enclosure so you walk through the shower tray to get to the loo. The showerhead has a trigger action, though you can flip over the trigger to gain continuous water flow. The washbasin is not in this compartment. It’s in the corner of the bedroom. The vanity unit has two shelves behind a door. This is crucial – as we were filling this caravan with toiletries for our test photography it became apparent that a lot of the storage space in this area of the caravan takes the form of open shelves, which we think could become rather messy.

 
Sleeping

A good, solid double bed, with a deep sprung mattress which is much better than you might expect for a caravan at this price – it’s upgraded or this special Lowdham edition. However, space in the front lounge is very tight for sleeping – it only functions as a transverse double so any kids are likely to be topping and tailing.
 

Storage

The space under the double bed is valuable. It houses the spare wheel and there is a hatch in the side of the caravan to access that space from the outside. At the front of the caravan you have hatches to the two spaces under the sofas, though there’s no front chest of drawers. There’s a generously sized wardrobe with one side-to-side hanging rail, sitting above the Truma blown-air heater unit. The kitchen is less amply supplied with cupboards; this is, after all, a small, lightweight caravan. The one large under-the-counter cupboard has a wheel arch and some plumbing impinging on its floor space. However the overhead lockers more than compensate for this. Throughout Sprite’s 2012 ranges these lockers are high, deep and outstanding to look at and use. This Freestyle’s kitchen has two, on either side of the microwave. One is fitted for plates and the other is an enormous empty space for cereal packets and other food.
 

Dining

Just a small hinged shelf at the front lounge so you’re going to want to always use the separate table. This is neatly hidden away in a slot at the dividing wall between kitchen and bedroom. The lounge is short, but there’s room to comfortably seat four people.
 

Lounging

Though it’s on the short side for full-length lounging, you can rest your back against the side of the kitchen, or sit on the sofa opposite, with your feet hanging off the end.
 

Kitchen

There’s a large amount of worktop for food preparation. The cooker has a separate grill and there are three gas burners. The room divider provides a hatch through to the bedroom for breakfast and tea. It’s hard to fault it in its price range.
 

Towing

It’s lightweight and small. It doesn’t have AL-KO ATC stability control but it does have a hitch-head stabiliser.

Sprites are great caravans, and this up-specced version, the Swift Freestyle S4, makes a good caravan even better