Little Gem Weekender 2021 Review

The greatest compliment you can pay the Little Gem Weekender is that you really don’t miss what it hasn’t got.

Designed and built in Italy and finished off in Australia, it's the perfect weekend or longer escape vehicle for an adventurous couple or singles and underscores the phrase, ‘Less is more'.

‘Less’ is less bulk and weight. The Little Gem Weekender that we took away was just 4990mm long including its A-frame and 2171mm wide and, weighing just 900kg unloaded, cruised confidently at freeway speed limits behind its front-wheel drive Toyota Corolla tow car.

Once parked on site at a caravan park, it was cosy and warm despite Queensland’s annual ‘Storm Season’ raging outside, with comfortable room for up to four to eat a meal cooked on its two burner gas cooktop seated at its dining table, with refreshments contained in its upright 90-litre capacity Dometic fridge.

Then, after re-arranging the table and lounge cushions, there was snuggling room on its queen-size bed to settle back and watch TV, with the winter chills kept at bay by its Truma gas heater.

If you need the bathroom, it’s just a few paces away, with a Dometic cassette toilet sheltered from the adjustable-height shower by a curtain, with a separate basin and mixer tap for other duties.

When the weather clears, you can pop open the Weekender’s four large hopper-style windows, keep the bugs out with the built-in fly-wire blinds, and let additional fresh air in via the large entry door, which also has a sliding fly screen door.

If you want to cool the interior further, turn on the large five-outlet roof-top Dometic air conditioner, or sit on portable chairs outside under the large standard wind-out Fiamma awning.

And when you’re back from your trip, simply push it under cover into the garage or into the car port with the help of  friend.

Little van, big features

So, what’s missing?  For its RRP of $59,000, nothing important really, unless you like the idea of a thirsty large tow car ahead of a large caravan. So, if you're thinking that you could buy a much larger caravan for that money, you could. But why?

I’m personally not a fan of having to convert the lounge into a bed at sleep time, but you don’t really have to if you’re single and feeling lazy. And if you’d rather cook outside, bring a Weber BBQ. We owned a 16ft off-road caravan and cooked outside on one all the time!

It’s all really about embracing Tiny House thinking. If you have ever been overseas or away camping and have come back to a house-full of ‘stuff’ that you happily did without, you’ll know what I mean.

But it would be a mistake to think of the Little Gem as a toy. Its price demands you take it seriously.

Its AL-KO galvanised pressed steel chassis looks under-nourished by Australian van standards, but it only has to support a van with a Tare weight of 900kg plus a payload of 400kg.

The all composite one-piece body has closed cell walls and similar floor construction, so the Little Gem is not only highly impact-resistant, but thermally very efficient in all climatic extremes. Its tapered teardrop shape is also very aerodynamic, so it slips through the air so easily it's easy to forget it’s there.

No seams to leak; no wood to rot.

This is all very necessary in a tiny caravan whose major appeal to many buyers is that it can be towed easily by their existing small front wheel drive hatch.

Super easy towing

Queensland’s Hinterland Caravans, which are the official Queensland and New South Wales distributors of Little Gem caravans, purchased an ex-rental, 1300kg tow rated Toyota Corolla to prove the point and the rig’s performance was very impressive. 

Cruising at the posted freeway speed limit of 110km/h was very comfortable in top gear, while a drop back to third in the automatic transmission easily allowed this speed to be maintained up moderate hills. We never ceased to be delighted by the incredulous looks from those in larger caravan/4WD rigs as we swooped by in the ‘fast’ lane!

We also had the last laugh when setting up. With an overall length including its drawer bar of 4990mm, width of 2171mm and overall height of 2550mm, the Little Gem Weekender fits in just about anywhere and sets up very quickly.

Its important to wind down the two rear supporting legs, as with its lightly-loaded A-frame it’s easy to do involuntary ‘wheel stands’ if two adults gather in the rear of the van.

Little Gems, both the Weekender we reviewed and its larger 6000mm-long ‘Long Weekender’ brother, arrive in containers devoid of their Dometic rooftop air conditioners, gas fittings, major electrical components and awnings, which are all fitted and certified locally to cut shipping costs and ensure these items are matched to local conditions.

In Italy, an external awning threads through a groove in the outer wall on the door side, but importer John Burke, who was previously known for introducing Explorer Motorhomes, had a better idea.

Burke’s wife originally took a Wingamm Little Gem on trips and returned with a list of  improvements and modifications. One of these was the outside awning, which the Burkes believed would be a negative to many Australian buyers. So instead they fit a conventional Fiamma wind-out awning before the vans are sent to dealers.

Hinterland Caravans then further adds to the van’s flexibility for free camping by supplying all customers with a 200W folding solar panel that plugs into the Little Gem’s Anderson plug to supplement its standard 110AH AGM battery.

Another thing worth doing is to substitute USB charging slots for the 12V cigarette lighter plugs currently fitted – something that is currently being attended to.

However it’s not these, but the standard fresh water capacity of 70 litres in a plastic tank under one of the front seats, along with a similar-sized under-body grey water tank, that will be the Little Gem’s limiting factor for free camping, particularly for two people wanting daily showers.

The Little Gem’s other limiting factor is its small ground clearance under its simple AL-KO space-saving rubber suspension, which really limits its off-bitumen ability to well-formed areas, while also requiring care when accessing steep driveways.

Caravan park comforts

But no-one is pretending the Little Gem Weekender is off-road-ready and the micro-van is very much at home in caravan parks. In any case, younger buyers will want to head to parks with 240v powerpoints in order to keep all their gadgets charged, rather than venture off the ‘grid’.

Talking of showers, the rear corner ensuite is unexpectedly roomy; however the van’s narrow width makes passing between the kitchen and the set of drawers a little squeezy for two large adults, although its interior height of two metres is adequate.

The front end of the Little Gem is devoted to dining or sleeping, with only a few minutes required to drop the tabletop between the two lounge bases and to re-arrange the cushions into a transverse double bed.

If it’s just you, you can set it up as a single bed and Hinterland will supply you with a trolley to act as a TV-watching table.

Cooking in the Little Gem is restricted to two gas jets and your imagination, although there's a respectable amount of bench space beside the large circular stainless steel sink and above the unexpectedly large 90-litre capacity Dometic upright fridge.

There’s also plenty of pantry and clothes storage space around the interior for two people, which is just as well as there is really none outside.

The front ‘boot’ operates on cantilever hinges and rises vertically to show its twin 4.5kg gas bottles and various supplied hoses. You can store the crank handles for the awning and the rear stability legs here, along with the AL-KO jockey wheel, but no much else.

So if you are on a winery tour, load your booze into the rear of your tow car if it won’t fit in any of the Little Gem’s cupboards. Ditto your kettle BBQ if you want to enjoy outside cooking.

Stress-free towing

Aerodynamic and sitting so low to the ground on its 15-inch alloy wheels, it’s not surprising that the Little Gem Weekender tows so well despite its low 60kg ball weight, balanced by its rear panel-mounted spare wheel, which effectively protects the bumper-less GRP bodywork.

Trailer braking with the standard AL-KO ball coupling with over-ride brakes and mechanical anti-sway control is confident and powerful. It removes the need for an electronic brake controller and the tow vehicle simply needs a tow bar and a wiring plug.

So, that’s the Wingamm Little Gem Weekender. Compare it mm to mm with a conventional Australian touring on-road caravan and it deliberately comes up short in size, and to some, in value for size.

But measure the freedom it offers, whether its ability to offer everything you need for a weekend away without changing your everyday car and to be stored safely in your garage or carport on your return, and it starts to make real sense.

Summing up

Built by Italian caravan manufacturer Wingamm but modified for Australian tastes, the Little Gem Weekender requires a realignment of your thinking on what a caravan should be.

It's ideal for singles or couples to enjoy weekend or longer short trips with minimal set-up, and offers most things larger caravans do, without the hassles.

How much does the Little Gem Weekender cost?

Price: $59,000
Travel length: 4990mm
External body width: 2171mm
Travel height: 2544mm
Internal height: 2000mm
Tare: 900kg
ATM: 1300kg
Ball weight (Tare): 60kg
Body: Monocoque fibreglass one-piece body, with composite closed cell construction shell and floor
Chassis: AL-KO steel with AL-KO ball coupling and over-ride brakes
Suspension: AL-KO single axle rubber suspension.
Wheels: Alloy 15in with 195/60 on-road tyres                                         
Water: 1 x 70L fresh and 1 x 70L grey tanks
Battery: 1 x 110Ah AGM
Solar: Portable 200W monocrystalline panel supplied
Gas: 2 x 4.5kg
Hot water and space heater: Truma gas
Cooking: 2-burner gas
Fridge: Dometic single door 90L gas/electric
Ensuite: Combined shower and cassette toilet
TV: Standard
Air-conditioner: Dometic rooftop
Supplied by: Hinterland Caravans (Qld/NSW dealer)
More info: Little Gem Caravans