Xplore 402

ideal for two people looking for a lightweight, low cost tourer

Xplores get a totally new look for 2014. There’s a new shape, new locker lines, new fabrics and more headroom. There’s something else new about Xplores. It’s the name. There’s a subtle difference between an Elddis Xplore (as they were called in 2013) and an Xplore made by the Explorer Group.

It’s simply about branding and identity, of course; the new Xplores are made in the same factory as Elddis caravans, but now they have their own, strong identity. Not that the new Xplores need much help in terms of a name to cut a dash among this year’s crop of caravans; Xplores always have had a very strong identity, as lightweight, affordable caravans and the changes for 2014 strengthen that identity visually, giving them instant appeal.

Before we detail the new two-berth’s finer points, there’s something unseen about Explorer Group’s caravans. It’s about the method of construction. Called SoLiD, standing for Strong, Light and Dry, these caravans are put together using a bonding technique that creates rigidity and also spreads the stresses and strains evenly across all the caravan’s joints. The method was introduced for the 2013 season, together with a 10-year water ingress warranty. The 402’s layout gives you long settees, an offside kitchen with a dresser opposite, and a rear shower room…

Showering

Do you expect shower-time luxury for £12,999? Certainly, it’s unlikely to be top of your priority list if light weight and light price are the most important factors in picking your next tourer. Yet the 402 delivers amply in the ablutions department. The shower is on the nearside. It’s pretty much square, with a bi-fold door and the refinement of a soap tray attached to the shower rose riser bar; you can turn the tray to the left or right as it suits you.

The basin is large, set into a cabinet in the centre of the shower room. The toilet roll holder is neatly incorporated into a run of three shelves alongside the cabinet. Three LED clusters are set into the ceiling. A cream-fronted cabinet is on the wall above the toilet and a towel loop is on the rear wall.

Anything missing? We’d want an extra towel loop (easily obtained) if we bought this caravan. And some buyers may comment initially on the lack of a window in the washroom, but when you realise just how much the well-priced 402’s little room achieves, you’ll probably quickly dismiss thoughts of a window. There is a large mirror over the basin and hair drying needs are catered for by a mirror between the dresser and the entrance door; there are two mains sockets on the dresser nearby.

Sleeping

The settees are 1.82m long, so making single beds here will be fine unless you’re over six feet tall. Making the double bed involves pulling out webbing-linked slats from under the drawers between the settees.

Storage

The storage spaces under the settees are the backbone of the 402’s hideaway opportunities. They are accessed by lifting the slatted base frame. Unusually, there’s a difference between the two sides. The offside bed frame is divided into two, with the larger section rising, leaving the smaller section, over the heater unit, fixed.

On the nearside the whole bed base raises, which means you have to move both the main seat unit and the smaller one that’s parallel to the chest of drawers. The locker lids have metal springs but we found on test they needed a bit of a helping hand to hold them up. But keep the 402’s low price in mind as you read our comments and you’re likely to draw the same conclusions as we did; in the case of the storage here, few will mind holding up seat bases and upholstery when, overall, you’re getting an excellent package for a budget price.

Top lockers are numerous; there are four above the lounge and they’ve been restyled for 2014. There’s a brilliantly capacious dresser opposite the kitchen, with a top cabinet that’s 66cm wide and 35cm deep; a shelf divides the space. Below, there’s a cabinet of the same dimensions, with a drawer (think cutlery, see our comments under the kitchen section later in this review) above it. The wardrobe is aft of the kitchen and there’s a praiseworthy feature here. There are two rails, one above the other; each give you 48cm of hanging width. The top rail gives you a hanging depth of 70cm and the lower rail gives you one metre of depth. That’s big wardrobe capacity by any caravan standards.

Dining

Dining is straightforward in the 402. As you’d expect, the top of the cabinet transforms into a table, you pull the handle of the top section to slide it out and the surface above it drops down to make a level surface which is 81cm deep and 62cm wide in the area you’d use for plates. That’s dinner for two taken care of, then. If four are dining, you’d extract the freestanding table from its own cabinet on the aft end of the kitchen.

Lounging

Put your feet up, and attach your television to the bracket on the dresser and all you need for comfortable lounging is here. Time to assess the Xplore colours for 2014, and its finer points… The plain cream tactile seating fabric and paler cream curtains look stunningly modern. Sea green piping edges the seat backs. The same colour is used for the curtain tie-backs. And there’s a precision element to the design here; the tie backs are 6cm wide.

A panel of the same width runs down the outer edge of each curtain, in the same delightful sea green shade. The only pattern is in the two scatter cushions, where there’s more of the pretty turquoise colour, plus lime green and brown. The cushions are edged with the same piping as the seat backs; all of this attention to detail for £12,999 is impressive. Xplore carpets are a single strip, of practical dark brown colour. The wood-effect flooring surrounding it looks plainly modern; the entire colour scheme works really well. Kitchen The 402’s food preparation department is large, considering the relatively compact length of the caravan.

With the hinge-up extension in place the total length of the kitchen is 1.54m. A three-burner hob and black enamel sink, both with hinged glass lids, are set into the kitchen’s matt limestone-look surface. There’s a plastic drainer to put in place at washing-up time. The oven and grill is a combined unit, so you get a larger cabinet beneath it than would be the case in a caravan with a separate oven and grill. In addition, there is kitchen storage in the dresser opposite, where the large drawer, 56cm wide, is ideal for cutlery and cooking utensils.

Two LED clusters are set into the base of the top (cream-fronted) kitchen cabinets. The positive catches in these cabinets are impressively chunky, and made of metal. The 402 doesn’t have a microwave but if you really need one you could use it on the dresser, where there are two power points. Two more are in the kitchen (there’s also one in the lounge). Above the kitchen power points are the controls for the Whale blown air space and water heating system

Towing

Our test example was the prototype and it couldn’t leave the factory for a tow test as we fitted our test in around a tight schedule of postmanufacture work. But we’ve towed caravans of comparable weight and dimension on the BPW Swing V-Tech chassis before so we’ve every reason to have confidence in the 402’s road capabilities.

For £12,999, the 402 has to be regarded as excellent value for money. Lots of detail including five LED clusters set into the ceiling belie its budget price status. The Explorer Group has done a really good job of re-styling the Xplore range. And the 402, as a caravan for couples with bright modern tastes, is destined to be a popular newcomer