Jayco All Terrain 2021 Review

Off-road pop tops are currently hot-ticket items with younger travelers who have tired, or bypassed, canvas camping.

For many buyers it’s ‘permission’ to go further afield, thanks to the added security of a lockable, self-contained RV and the comfort they bring to off-grid travel.

For the budget conscious, money-saving ‘free camping’ is accessible and easy if your rig has an internal ensuite, enough battery and solar power, hot water and a decent-sized cache of fresh water.

Familiar name

Plus, in the case of the new All Terrain, it’s a Jayco, which means the confidence of Australia-wide service support and the reassurance that if you change plans and go base jumping or ocean sailing next year, you’ll still get good resale on your investment.

That’s the reality that has made Jayco a market favourite camper or caravan over the years and having owned three of them during and after kids, I can endorse that.

The new All Terrain originally joined the Jayco range in 2020 as a single fibreglass clad ‘dirt ready’ model of the mid-priced Journey range. Priced at a RRP of $69,990 – around $13,000 more than the 19ft Journey Outback but around $20,000 cheaper than a similar-sized and heavier Jayco Adventurer – it put Jayco back in the volume off-road game.

At that stage it was available in two 19ft body length layouts: a couple’s version and a family bunk van, but the market responded so well that the All Terrain is now a separate Jayco range in its own right, available in two body lengths  – 13.4ft and 17.5ft, the latter with the buyer’s choice of a north-south queen bed or two singles – with the choice of pop-top or full-height caravan body styles.

In the sweetspot

Our review Jayco All Terrain was the popular 17.55 Pop Top ‘couples’ model, with a very keen RRP from Brisbane Camperland of $58,990.

Classified as a semi-off-road model, the All Terrain gets the same hot-dipped galvanised Endurance 2.0 chassis and JTech 2.0 independent coil spring suspension as Journey Outback versions, but gains a few extra ‘rugged’ features to make them more appealing to moderately confident off-road adventurers.

For that modest outlay you get a good ‘bang’ for your buck – a well-equipped, well priced pop-top that's just the ticket for many frustrated, COVID-confined travellers to break free and experience our Outback wonders.

Full height All Terrain caravan models cost a bit more: up to a RRP of $70,990, but still somewhat less than the now discontinued Adventurer equivalents.

All Terrain features include a thicker section A-frame, front and rear checkerplate taillight boxes from the Adventurer, an A-frame mounted checkerplate toolbox, along with higher (570mm) checkerplate protection along the sides and back and more sturdily-built interior furniture that uses stronger fixing brackets made from aluminium instead of the plastic used in Jayco’s on-road models.

It’s not exactly at Bushtracker level, but it’s a lot cheaper and it’s enough for you to tackle all major Outback highways and many by-ways in confidence and comfort.

Equipped on the outside

Externally, the All Terrain Pop-Top also comes standard with a picnic table, an external shower, while inside it benefits from leatherette upholstery and a power system that includes a 100Ah AGM battery and two roof-mounted 160W solar panels, both upgradable.

Other standard features of the All Terrain Pop-Top include twin 80 litre fresh water tanks, a mains-pressure A-frame tap, a large three-way fridge, a rooftop air conditioner, Dometic's DRS (Dust Reduction System), a three-burner cooktop, microwave oven and gas hot water.

And if that’s not enough, there’s an extensive extra-cost option list, but if you tick too many boxes you should have set your sights on a better-equipped caravan to start with!

Weighing in at a modest Tare of 2250kg and a ball loading of 176kg, the 17.55 All Terrain can be hauled by most mid-sized SUVs and should sit solidly without sway at all legal road speeds provided it's loaded correctly.

Simple set-up

Setting up is simple, if you're suitably tall. I’m not and even with a borrowed caravan step I was several centimetres too short to open and close the four external pop-top roof latches easily. Take note and take a bigger step, fellow shorties!

However, the advantage of these high walls is that you can enter the All Terrain to get things from the kitchen, boil the kettle, or use the toilet during a roadside stop without popping the top.

This is good news in one respect, as you can access the bathroom and even the cooktop without lifting the lid for roadside lunch stops, as a full roof-up set-up, achieved via press-lifting the two over-centre inside roof-raising bars requires a youthful body or a degree of upper-body strength.

It’s particularly hard to leverage these bars at the front when kneeling on the innerspring mattress. Remember, you're also lifting the weight of two solar panels, an air conditioner and the Dust Reduction System, as well as the lengthy fibreglass roof panel.

If in doubt, order the full-height caravan version, or take a sturdy travelling companion.

Room to move

Once set up, there’s impressive room inside the Jayco All Terrain, with its space-efficient L-shaped lounge making access to the lift-up island queen bed even easier.

There's good storage for clothes in the twin lockers above the bedhead on the window-less front wall, which is complemented by twin hanging robes that flank the bed.

Huge front windows have telescopic struts that support them in any open position, while the welcome cross-flow breeze you get when you unzip the pop-top vents also lets more natural light in and adds to the sense of being part of your camping environment.

Kitchen bench space is marginal, but there’s enough room for a couple to get the job done if you rope in the island table from the lounge.

The microwave oven sits sensibly below the three-burner gas/electric cooktop and grill, while there’s plenty of food and utensil storage space above and below the galley. Pity the small pantry doesn’t have a sliding metal rack though.

The standard single-door fridge freezer will be big enough for most travellers, but a larger two-door model is optional if it's not.

A few gripes

Now, the gripes. It’s annoying how the rear entry door, when open, restricts the opening of the small kitchen window.

Another thing that’s in surprisingly short supply in the All Terrain Pop-Top is power points and there's a complete absence of USB charging ports – something that needs to be addressed for today’s tech-dependent travellers.

The All Terrain’s standard ensuite stretches across the rear of the van and has a good-sized shower, a cassette toilet and a big mirror behind a large ceramic vanity bowl in the centre.

No complaints here, but I really disliked the sliding curtain that separates this area from the rest of the van. Melbourne’s Coronet has developed a much better hard-walled solution for its rear-ensuite pop-top models.

Outside, there’s plenty of storage space in the All Terrain, although with less than 600kg of payload you’ll be unlikely to overload it. The A-frame tool box has a slide for a portable fridge on one side and generator provision on the other, while there’s a through-body boot behind it for longer items.

Twin jerrycan holders flank a pair of 9kg gas bottles further forward on the A-frame, while a A-frame tap completes its list of off-road travel essentials.

Summing up

With the All Terrain Pop Top, Jayco has brought off-road travel within the reach of COVID-grounded Australians at a very affordable price.

How much is the Jayco 17.55 All Terrain Pop-Top cost?

Price: $58,990
Travel length: 7200mm
Interior body length: 5492mm
External body width: 2470mm
Open height: 2750mm
Internal height: 1975mm
Tare: 2256kg
ATM: 2831kg
Ball weight (Tare): 176kg
Body: Fibreglass composite cladding over aluminium frame with hail resistant one-piece roof with insulation
Chassis: Hot dipped galvanised steel
Suspension: JTECH 2 tandem trailing arm independent suspension, with coil springs and telescopic shock absorbers.
Brakes: Electric drum brakes
Wheels: Alloy with 245/70R-16 AT tyres                                         
Water: 2 x 80L fresh water tanks
Battery: 1 x 100Ah AGM
Solar: Roof-mounted 2 x 160W glass panels
Gas: 2 x 9kg
Hot water: Gas/Electric
Cooking: 3 gas burner cooktop
Fridge/freezer: Dometic 153L three-way
Microwave: Yes
Toilet: Cassette
Shower: Full-height one-piece moulded fibreglass
Lighting: LED
TV: 24in HD LED with built in DVD player
Supplied by: Brisbane Camperland, 1459 Wynum Road, Tingalpa, Queensland
More info: Jayco Australia