New Models: Fleetwood Heritage 640-I

RUMOURS of the death of the Great British Twin Axle Caravan are, it would appear, greatly exaggerated. Despite persistent rumblings from certain quarters, big four-wheelers persist in featuring in just about every manufacturer’s portfolio, so the market for these behemoths is clearly as strong as it ever was.

For sheer living space big twins are hard to beat, and few manufacturers know this better than Long Melford-based Fleetwood. This comparatively small manufacturer has been perfecting the art of the out-of-the-ordinary twin-axle for many years, and its 2007 range reflects this: it now has seven models - two more than last year.

The new boy for 2007 is the 640-I tested here. The clue to the 640-I’s unique selling point lies within its name: in this instance, ‘I’ stands for ‘island’.

Where the ES(D) sports a transverse double bed that stretches the tape measure to a whopping 6ft 6in by 4ft 6in, the 640-I’s bed, which is also transversely mounted, sacrifices exactly six inches of mattress size both lengthways and widthways in order to open up 180-degree walkway space, just like in a domestic bedroom.

Whether or not this is a good thing or a bad thing depends on your priorities. If either you or your other half is tall then a 6ft-long bed probably isn’t going to be long enough.

SPECIFICATION

Price: £20,995

Berths: 4

MTPLM: 33.46cwt (1700kg)

Overall length: 26ft 3in (8m)

Overall width: 7ft 3in (2.21m)

Overall height: 8ft 11in (2.72m)

And yet, see the 640-I’s bed in the flesh, and you can’t help but wonder if your concerns are ill-founded. I settled down on my side of our test model’s double bed and had to admit that with my good lady visualised next to me, the available space looked pretty generous. And with all that space opened up allowing each of us to respond to the inevitable nocturnal calls of nature without disturbing the other, I’d say it’s a compromise worth having.

And quite apart from anything else, the 640-I’s bedroom really feels like a proper bedroom, with its his ‘n’ hers bedside tables, reading lights and roof lockers, together with a proper padded headboard and a pair of large, daylight-grabbing windows, not to mention a small vanity table and mirror, and somewhere to put your TV. In fact, were this my caravan, my chief concern would be: ‘Will I ever get out of bed in time to do anything on holiday?’

Moving back into the main body of the caravan, you step through into Fleetwood’s trademark swing-door washroom. This ingenious design seems to offer the best of all worlds. In standard, daytime guise, the washroom is simply split into two, with the shower on the nearside, and the small room with the toilet and washbasin opposite. It means this latter feels quite cramped, but also keeps the passageway through into the kitchen clear.

Should you wish it, however, you can swing a central partition into place, effectively rendering the washroom full-width and separate, but with access from the main body of the caravan still possible. Better still, if you’ve got guests sleeping up front, you can make the washroom en-suite to the end bedroom. It’s a devilishly clever design.

Closer to the front of the caravan is the offside kitchen, whose meagre worktop provision is boosted by the presence of a lounge-side extension flap and a lift-out plastic drainer.

You’ll find little to complain about in the lounge, where sumptuous - if surprisingly low-backed - wraparound settees combine with the warm woodwork, classy and abundant lighting and modern touches such as the satellite TV sockets and twin speakers to create a whole that’s pleasingly luxurious.

In fact, my complaint sheet for this caravan is impressively short: I still think a caravan of this calibre (and price) warrants unitary locker doors, not these framed examples, and the washroom swing door feels alarmingly flexible.

Those long in the leg will find it a squeeze using the loo, while those lounge settee backrests do look oddly shallow.
Those with a towcar weighing less than 1800kg or so need not apply, either, as even experienced towers will need a car weighing 1828kg or so in order to maintain a hefty-ish 93 per cent outfit match. If you’re a stickler for 85 per cent matched rigs, on the other hand, you’ll need something weighing a cool 2000kg. A Land Rover Discovery 3 TDV6 should do fine.


VERDICT
It’s hard not to fall for the many and varied charms Fleetwood’s new big boy has in abundance: it looks terrific from the outside and equally so inside, where only the framed locker doors, flimsy-feeling washroom door and low-backed settees detract from a whole that is otherwise impressively luxurious and modern.
Does that new end bedroom work? Absolutely. If you’re no more than 6ft tall, you’ll fit onto the truncated bed easily, and the sheer amount of space you get in return is more than worth the cost of a smaller bed. That, and the fact that it feels like a proper bedroom, and not just an area stuffed with a wall-to-wall mattress.

CONTACT

Fleetwood Caravans Limited Hall Street, Long Melford, Suffolk CO10 9JP Tel: 0870 774 0008 Website: www.fleetwoodcaravans.co.uk

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