TEC Travel Bird 340

IN terms of actually towing the little 340, you can pretty much take your pick of anything from a Ford Focus upwards (indeed, TEC’s own literature has a picture of the slightly heavier (at 861kg MTPLM) 410 model on the tow hitch of a Fiat Panda 4x4), but I happened to have a non-turbo Subaru Forester in on test at the time.

Needless to say, the little TEC might as well have not been there for all the impression it made on the car’s performance, even on the motorway.

And its light weight and super-long A-frame (designed to accept a cycle carrier) didn’t translate into skittishness, either - the latest BPW Vario 3 chassis is mighty impressive.

Specification in the caravan is remarkably generous. Where the gas fire, fridgefreezer, toilet and washroom roof vent are on the options list for the continental version, they’re all standard-fitment on the UK model, with the added - and, it has to be said, rather unexpected - bonus of a top-quality Seitz clip-together blind and flyscreen on the kitchen window. All the other windows get the more common pull-down blinds and screens.

There’s no oven or grill, of course, but boiling, steaming or frying everything is hardly a problem. Cleaning the hob proved remarkably easy, too, while the Dometic Power fridge proved both large and powerful.

I used the Travel Bird for living, sleeping and working duties throughout my week-long test, and have to say that it worked brilliantly. I enjoyed unseasonably warm weather throughout, so the stable door (minus a window, you’ll note) and ratchet-adjust windows kept the interior cool and fresh by day, and the fitted net curtains, allied to all-round flyscreens kept both bugs and prying eyes at bay without making the interior feel gloomy.

By night, the blinds make the ‘van entirely private, although I’d advise any would-be Travel Bird owner to do as I did and take a table lamp on every trip. There’s a neat trio of halogen lights grouped together over the lounge area, but if you want more dedicated (or, indeed, less bright) reading light, then a small lamp is a wise investment.

Lighting elsewhere, incidentally, comprises a strip light over the kitchen area and a simple push-button wall lamp in the toilet room.

There’s more evidence of unexpectedly good engineering in the lounge, where the collapsible table is both Forth Bridge-solid and unusually generous in size. You could certainly sit up to six adults to dinner, should you choose, so the two people more likely to be dining therein can relax in spacious splendour.

Come bedtime, a single occupant can technically sleep on the longer of the two settees (which is nearly 6ft 5in long), but as the shorter settee is almost a foot shorter, TEC only quotes dimensions for the double bed, which measures a whopping 6ft 9in in width, thanks to the generous 7ft 5in-wide bodyshell. Making up this latter involves simply collapsing the table and re-arranging the cushions to suit.

As for the washroom, there’s obviously no washbasin, shower tray or riser fitted, but the electric flush swivel loo means you don’t have to decamp to the shower block to answer a nocturnal call of nature.

•    A full version of this review appeared in the September 2007 issue of Which Caravan, the only magazine all about buying. To order a road test reprint contact Tina Beaumont on 01778 391187.

To subscribe to the magazine, click here.