Geist Xklusiv 630 2007 Review

By Malcolm Street

The arrival of the Geist range of caravans a couple of years ago created a lot of interest for two reasons. One was the different external look of the Geist vans and the other was their relatively light weight, making them suitable for a larger range of tow vehicles.

Trevor Bickerdike, dealer principal at Geist Caravans and Motorhomes, based in Gosford, NSW, has been pleased with the market response to the lightweight Europeans vans and evidence of this success is the company’s move last year to a new premises, which includes an accessory showroom and a service centre.

Trevor was keen to show CW the latest of the Geist arrivals, the 21ft 6in (6.6m) Xklusiv XK 630, which CW caught a glimpse of at the CCIA/Glenn McGrath media day.

Like all Geist vans, the Xklusiv 630 is built on a BPW hot dipped galvanised chassis that has been modified for Australian conditions. Although they are not too well known in Australia, BPW is one of the largest manufacturers of chassis and suspension systems in Europe.

A look under the van reveals a tandem axle chassis that appears to be a little lacking when compared to more traditional Australian designs, but that’s part of the weight saving design, with the monocoque structure of the van body itself contributing to the overall strength.

For a caravan, the Xklusiv 630 has a sleek, low slung look about it. The smooth aluminium sides and moulded GRP (fibreglass) front and rear provide a very aerodynamic appearance.

At the front, big bay windows (five of them) reinforce the European look.

All the windows, including the front ones, are double glazed Lexan for strength and insulation purposes. They also have insect screens and blinds.

A feature of the windows is they are low enough for you to lean out of if you want to have a chat with passers-by.

The entry door is a split ‘stable door’ item, with a window and insect screen in the top half. The door also has a garbage bin moulded into the lower part.

It’s worth mentioning that the van requires only the one key for every lock – a boon for those who are frustrated by having to carry around a big bunch of keys.

A moulded fibreglass door covers the front ‘boot’, where two 9kg gas cylinders and a spare wheel hide behind an aluminium checkerplate cover. There’s still enough room here for other bits and pieces, though. With everything tucked away, the drawbar has a relatively clean look.

It includes a Winterhoff 3000 stabilising hitch, jockey wheel and gas strut-fitted handbrake.

The front boot is the only external locker. It looks like a second storage bin but the front offside hides the permanently fixed power lead and battery.

The external light is a streamlined item that fits above the door and there is an Omnisol awning but it doesn’t run the length of the van because of the angled roofline.

Cream of the crop

The Xklusiv 630’s internal layout features a front lounge/dining area, a mid section bathroom and kitchen, and a main bedroom positioned at the rear. The timber look is quite dominant and it goes by the interesting name of ‘Alabama Cherry’.

All-round large windows, plus two large Seitz hatches, give plenty of interior light. For cooler climes, we note the windows are double glazed and the walls are insulated with something Geist calls 24-tog Swedish (apparently a tog, along with a clo, is a measure of thermal insulation of clothing).

If things get warm, then the roof-mounted air-conditioner can be used.

A hallmark of most European designed caravans is a front lounge and dinette area, usually U-shaped with windows on all sides. The Xklusiv 630 has that, with all-round seating, a collapsible oval table in the middle and overhead lockers all round. Four people can sit quite comfortably around the table but if there are just two, then there is plenty of room to stretch out and put your legs up. Laptop users will find the powerpoint under the nearside seat to be convenient.

If needed, the dinette can be set up to form a 6ft 11in x 5ft 5in (2.1m x 1.65m) bed.

Illumination is provided by recessed halogen lights in each corner and an overhead fluorescent. Under the nearside seat, the space is taken up by the water tank and part of the offside area is taken by the external bin. On the other side of the doorway is a small waist-heigh cupboard with a shelf above that is wide enough to take a flatscreen TV – in the wall behind are a powerpoint and TV antenna connection.

Cooking will be well handled by the mid offside kitchen, which contains a four-burner Spinflo cooktop and grill with Sharp microwave underneath. They are located alongside a stainless steel sink and drainer. Both cooktop and sink have smoked glass lids, which is good because there isn’t a great deal of benchtop area.

Under the bench are three cupboards and one drawer. Part of the larger cupboard is taken by the Truma hot water heater, which does detract from the storage space somewhat. Above the kitchen bench are three overhead lockers with a narrow shelf running underneath.

The kitchen area is lit by one fluorescent lamp and there is a single powerpoint on the left-hand side. Above that is a small 12V control panel which monitors both the battery charge and water tank level.

Alongside the kitchen is a substantial 175L Dometic three-way fridge – that should take care of most cold catering requirements. Above and below the fridge are small storage compartments and alongside the fridge is a large wardrobe.

Opposite the kitchen, the bathroom is quite large for a van of this size. It contains a separate cubicle for the shower, a wash basin with cupboard underneath and a Thetford loo tucked into the corner. Above the latter are four moulded fibreglass cupboards.

Two ceiling hatches provide natural light. Behind the wash basin is a large wall mirror. While making things tricky for photography, the mirror does make shaving or putting your make-up on easy.

Bringing up the rear in the Xklusiv 630 is the main bedroom, where there is a 6ft 5in x 4ft 11in (1.95m x 1.45m) foam mattress bed. The rear wall is surrounded by a bedhead of overhead lockers plus small wardrobes and floor lockers on either side. Above the window pelmets on either side are narrow shelves. Lighting in the bedroom is mainly from two halogen reading lights and there are power points on either side of the bed.

On the road, while the Xklusiv 630 is nearly 22ft (6.7m) long, its Tare weight of 1500kg makes it an easy van to tow, especially with a conventional sedan vehicle.

Normally these vans are easy to push around manually as well, but the tandem axles make that more difficult, especially on an uneven surface.

The Winterhoff coupling is slightly different to the more conventional variety but, once figured out, it’s not difficult to use and the jockey wheel retracts up, so that does not have to be taken off.

The bottom line

On the decor front, we know of people who like the slightly different European design look and efficient use of space but one of the more emphatic criticisms we’ve heard against the European imported vans is a presumed lack of strength in the relatively lightweight chassis.

It’s a bit of a chicken and egg thing, really – reducing the weight of the engineering does reduce the overall weight, thus meaning there is less to engineer for – but this does not necessarily mean a great reduction in overall durability.

We’d be silly, though, to suggest that the Euro vans should be used for rough offroad work – they are not built for it. It’s very much horses for courses. There are now a few Geist vans circulating around Australia and for those planning on staying on bitumen roads for most of their travels we don’t think there’s going to be too much of a problem.

In these times, when fuel-efficient and smaller tow vehicles should be a factor in our thinking, lightweight products such as the Xklusiv 630 have a place on the shopping list.

Geist Caravans and Motorhomes, 3/392 Manns Road, West Gosford NSW 2250, (02) 4324 7606.

For your local Geist dealer, visit

Thanks to Ocean Beach Resort Park for the photo location: Sydney Avenue, Umina,

NSW 2257, (02) 4379 9444,

We liked

• Generally light and airy interior, with a reasonably spacious interior. I particularly liked the front dinette with all-round windows

• A good sized bathroom. If you like onboard facilities, then it is nice to have a bit of space to move

• Single key operation – obviously it can be done!

• Having a microwave oven installed – not all Euro vans and motorhomes have them

We would have liked

• A couple more drawers in the kitchen, perhaps in one of the cupboards

• Double powerpoints in places such as the kitchen and dinette

• Drawers under the front seats because getting the cushions off can be fiddly