Xplore 546

The 2009 Xplore 546 is low on price, light in weight, short in length – and it sleeps six... those are some of the reasons why the Xplore 546 is among the Explorer Group’s best sellers.

The 2009 budget Xplore 546 got a longer-than-usual evaluation, on location in Brittany. Low price, low weight, and low specification add up to great value. But with a dozen oysters in the fridge, isn’t our test contradicting the low-cost aim of an entry-level caravan? Actually, with the Brittany oysters in question costing a mere €4 for 12, and the sparkling rosé to go with them another €4, we felt we were keeping within the concept of Explorer Group’s budget Xplore range.

Our quest for this live-in test? To seek out the tastes of Southern Brittany, its culinary culture, a couple of its campsites – and spend quality time in and around the fixed-rear-bunk Xplore 546...

We pointed test-car Mitsubishi Outlander and Xplore 546 in the direction of Portsmouth for the Brittany Ferries afternoon crossing to Caen. Select Sites, which had made our travel and site arrangements, had fixed an overnight stop at Camping Les Hautes Coutures, a mere 15 minutes from the ferry point – and it was here that we began our evaluation of Xplore’s quart-into-a-pint-pot six berth.

Already it had passed towing tests with flying colours – stable at all speeds behind the 1810kg, 2-litre Outlander.
You catch up with us at suppertime. We find our pitch in the dark, we find the ingredients of the pulses-beans-vegetable concoction I’ve stashed in the fridge – and then we find ourselves instantly cosy at the nearside two-seater dining area.
We’re not using this layout as Explorer Group intended, of course. It’s designed to sleep six. With only two on board, would it be a fair test? In fact, our two-person test demonstrated the versatility of this layout, especially if you have four aboard.
You have fixed bunks across the rear, the nearside diner gives you a single with pull-up bunk, and the lounge gives you two more singles or a massive double. This is how the versatility works: live in your awning and you can leave all six beds made up. That’s one extreme. Live in the central dining area (which seats two) and you can leave the front double bed made up and use the two fixed bunks for storage. That’s the other extreme. Other options are defined by the number in your family and the way in which you use the accommodation. The more time we spent in this caravan the more its versatility impressed us.

Xplore, by name-definition, conjures images of exploration, adventure, get-up-and-tow. And on test, the 546 easily lives up to its name. It has some very strong practical points we didn’t expect and which demonstrated the value of spending some days living the 546 lifestyle. First to reveal itself was this caravan’s drying-room.

Open the door of the shower and toilet room and you get your first clue: there is a rail running the full length of the compartment – a rarity in caravans far above Xplore’s price. Hang your towels on here, clothing on coathangers to dry... but there’s more. This model has only two outlets for the blown-air central heating. And one of them is in the shower area. Which means that you get half the output of the heater just where you need it to dry your towels and clothing. Turn the fan to a low setting and you find the compartment warms up well, leaving the rest of the caravan at a temperature that’s not too warm for good weather.

Damp days and the necessity to keep pace with the clothes-washing needs of our two-week tour ensured that this was a feature we would come to appreciate greatly on our journey to Brittany.

From practicality to a nice luxury touch; the next feature to arrive on our plus list is, like the shower-room rail, a rarity in caravans of much higher price than the Xplore. It’s a mirror that enables you to inspect your appearance from top-to-toe. This is not simply a matter of mirror length – many caravans have their mirrors opposite furniture so that a certain amount of contortion is inevitable. In the Xplore 546 it’s opposite the door, and you can stand back far enough to check you’ve chosen the right shoes for your outfit of the day. Perfect grooming may not always be high on your list of holiday priorities but it’s good to have the choice.

In a caravan that sleeps six in a body-length of only 5.4m, though, there have to be compromises. In the 546, they’re all in the kitchen. It’s small. Your only working surface is a hinged flap to the left of the kitchen. Preparing meals for six would be a struggle. But it does have a proper recessed drainer, which is a bonus, and the sink and hob covers are Chinchilla cuttingboard-grade glass. You’ve got to have a plan in a kitchen of this size: You do your food preparation with the sink and hob covered – and then start ?the cooking...

Cooking arrangements are a Spinflo Midi Prima MKIII oven and grill with a smart modern grey glass mirror front that we rate among the Xplore range’s important visual-appeal features. The three-burner hob, with one burner larger than the other two, is just a little too small for three pans to be used at once – unless they’re small pans. And if you’re feeding six you’ll need large pans. ?Even cooking for two necessitated some thought and organisation – especially as culinary activities are a key element of Chapman-on-tour journeys and this one, with its Brittany fishy temptations, was never going to be a beans-on-toast exception.

The Thetford fridge didn’t measure up to our expectations – literally. The model used in the 546 has a door shelf that’s too slim to accommodate wine bottles. Some people may question the importance of chilling wine, especially if you’re not on an oyster-quest tour in France, but even non-wine-drinkers are likely to want to keep bottles of milk in the fridge – and there is not enough width to allow you to store an average-sized milk container upright.

But there is a big positive about this kitchen. It’s the size of the television position cupboard opposite the kitchen. The cupboard is large enough for storing cereal packets, bottles of soft drinks and still leaves plenty of room for other non-fridgeables. There’s a small drawer within this cupboard, just large enough for cutlery although with no divisions. A second small drawer, in the centre of the kitchen, accommodated all our cooking utensils easily. A perfect arrangement.
You catch up with us devouring those oysters we mentioned at the start of this caravan test. Tabasco sauce, lemon juice and olive oil have been employed, together with a traditional schuck knife that is the only sensible way to prise open the shells. The yellows of a sunset intensify over the shore which is a mere two-minute walk from our pitch at Camping La Baie at La Trinité-sur-Mer and we are watching the colours through another of the Xplore range’s praiseworthy features, its one-piece panoramic window. Single-unit front windows may be a hallmark of entry-level ranges but in our view they are a positive feature rather than a mere economy measure.

There are, though, window-based economy measures that don’t draw our praise. The Xplore’s curtains are an uninspiring plain fawn cloth and the same-colour tie-backs are not secured to the walls, which means the curtains move along the track every time you tow. More importantly, they never look neat because the tie-backs don’t stay at the same horizontal level. A tiny Velcro-based device for each curtain would have made a lot of difference. Explorer Group is not alone in this omission, though. The cost of fixing curtain-stays to walls would be miniscule – and would certainly not add any weight.

The rest of the soft-furnishings, are more pleasing. A geometric combination of pale creams, fawns and a fleck of peach upholstery are attractive and practical. The floor gets a single strip of carpet, not fitted around the furniture. At first glance you may think this is emphasising the low-budget nature of this model. But after living in it for several days we can see two advantages over shaped versions. Firstly, because it’s a strip, it’s easier to take up, roll up and stash under a bed. Which is exactly what we did with it, to reveal a modern wood-effect floor. Secondly, there are fewer tiny crevices into which dust can gather than at the edges of carpets that reach closer to the furniture, so cleaning is quicker.

Even though Chapman Junior isn’t on this tour with us, it’s easy to picture this layout in family mode. He’d love the bottom fixed bunk. His own space. His own reading light. His own curtain for privacy. Enough headroom to sit up in bed.

The top-bunk occupant gets a ladder to assist entry and exit – but this would have to be positioned across the door. You’d need to remove the ladder when it’s not in use – which also means a parent would have to get up and reposition the ladder at any time the small person wanted to climb down. Incidentally, the six apertures in the bunk-housing may look at first glance like a ladder but it’s mere styling.

Styling also makes a strong statement outside the 546. The Xplore range gets bright turquoise and grey geometric graphics that are distinctive; its first-glance appeal belies is economy status. Until you open the gas bottle locker, that is – and you notice that the lid-stay is a basic pop-in-a-rest affair. At first we found this a fiddle but quickly became accustomed to putting the stay into its position. Then we noticed an advantage compared with gas-strut alternatives. The lid can be raised to a totally upright position which, when held by a helper, gives you easy access for removing and replacing gas bottles.

But there’s one feature that won’t impress you. Although a spare wheel carrier is fitted underneath the caravan, there is no spare wheel, so you’ll have to factor the purchase of one into your caravan budget. We had to ask Explorer Group to loan us one for our French foray – the perils of going anywhere, especially abroad, without a spare wheel are not worth contemplating.

Other economies, though, are not an issue. For example, there are no mains lights, which means that the front of the lounge seems a little dark. Buy a small table lamp and pop it on the cabinet top that divides lounge from two-person diner on the nearside and you have added the light ambiance that’s missing compared with more expensive models.

There is one lighting aspect, though, that you can’t cure. The door lacks a window – and there’s no window in the rear bunks areas. Which means this sector of the caravan is rather dark. But after a couple of days we’d ceased to notice the lack of daylight and we’d suggest it’s not a problem for the majority of families. After all, what you have here is a £10,845 six-berth caravan.

The 2009 Xplore 546 is a lightweight caravan ideal for a first family caravan, with bunk beds for two and bunks for two more to be created from a side dining area