New Age releases family toy hauler

After a sneak peak in Adelaide the week before, New Age has displayed its take on the niche market large ‘toy hauler’ at the 2019 Victorian Caravan, Camping & Touring Supershow.

Designed by New Age owner Walkinshaw Performance to fulfil a multiple of purposes, ranging from a family holiday base to a mobile office or event HQ, the 22ft ‘XU’  (for Xtreme Utility) caravan can sleep up to eight, depending on its configuration.

As displayed at the Supershow, it was set up to accommodate four  – a couple in the pull-out ‘Expanda-style’ front queen bed and another two on fold-out wall bunks on one side of the rear, next to a Ducati dirt bike.

Another one or two could sleep on the café dinette with the table lowered and an infill cushion added, and after unloading the bike a further two could crash on the two bunks that fold back against the opposite rear cargo area wall.

Alternatively, fold up all four bunks and there’s room for a PWC (Jet Ski), an ATV (Quad), or three dirt bikes.

Built on a 150mm diameter Walkinshaw-engineered galvanised steel chassis, the XU toy hauler packs independent Cruisemaster suspension as standard to get it into tough places and it comes with commercial grade flooring to withstand human and vehicular traffic.

Where the XU differs from many other toy haulers is that up front it’s a proper caravan, rather than just temporary digs for boys midst their ‘toys’.

Rear of the queen bed there’s a full internal kitchen, with a stainless steel sink, gas/electric cooktop, grill and a 186L, three-way upright fridge.

However, being designed to enjoy outdoor living, it’s the XU’s external slide-out kitchen that’s likely to handle most of the cooking.

A standard 100Ah battery, fed by a 150W rooftop solar panel, provides the free-camping power, while twin 110L fresh water ranks and a standard 110L grey water tank should keep everyone happy on site for days.

Up front, twin 4.5kg gas bottles sit on the A-frame, just ahead of a standard tool box, while white Stucco cladding of the XU’s high-profile ribbed aluminium cladding keeps it protected from stone and branch damage.

A final highlight is the XU’s  top-hinged fibreglass rear door, which as well as a loading ramp when lowered can also become a great rear entertaining deck – perfect for overlooking that great fishing spot, or enjoying ‘sundowners’ as the golden orb drops in the west...

The only limiting factor on where you could take an XU is weight. In the Supershow configuration, it had a Tare of 2890kg, which with its ATM of 3490kg, left it with a payload of 600kg for water, toys and associated gear. The ball weight of 270kg was fine as long as it got hauled by a large 4WD.

As displayed, the New Age XU was competitively-priced at $76,990. However this will vary with configuration, with New Age planning to build each XU to order.