One of Australia’s oldest caravan brands, Millard, has peeled the wrappers off its most expensive and off-road capable caravans to date, at the 2022 NSW Caravan Camping Holiday Supershow held at Rosehill Racecourse.
The new top-spec Millard Breakaway model is the company’s first dedicated off-road, off-grid premium caravan, with prices opening at $108,490 drive-away in NSW for the 17ft 6in R/D (rear door) model.
Millard showed two examples of its 2022 Breakaway at the Supershow: the $108,490 17ft 6in R/D (rear door) single-axle model and the $114,990 tandem-axle 19ft 6in C/D (centre door) model (prices include on-road costs in NSW).
While not pitched as a hard-core off-road caravan, Millard has boosted the Breakaway’s remote bush-ability by fitting it with an Enerdrive system with a 200Ah lithium battery, inverter and three 170watt solar panels, along with two 95-litre water tanks, a grey water tank and two 9kg gas bottles for off-grid camping.
There’s also a Dometic dust pressure system, to reduce the problem of unsealed Outback roads causing dust ingress.
Adding to the all-weather comfort of the new premium models is a diesel heater to go with the reverse-cycle Ibis 4 air-conditioner. The ensuite bathroom with ceramic sink and a cassette toilet has a seperate shower cubicle.
Also standard on the Breakaway is a hot-dipped six-inch galvanised chassis and A-frame (with four-inch risers), a D0-35 off-road coupling, independent suspension (rated to 2.8 tonnes in the 17’6 and 3.7 tonnes in the 19’6), 16-inch alloy wheels and all-terrain tyres, an A-frame checkerplate toolbox, reverse camera, external audio speakers, gas bayonet, picnic table, roll-out awning.
The body construction includes an aluminium frame with a single-sheet fibreglass roof.
Inside, the kitchen area is covered off with a four-burner gas cooktop, grill and oven, microwave and 188-litre compressor fridge-freezer.
A front-loader washing machine and 24in LCD TV/DVD are also among the standard features.
The 17ft 6in single-axle Breakaway has a Tare of 2198kg, 3000kg ATM and towball mass at Tare is 187kg, while the 19ft 6in tandem weighs 2494kg (Tare), 3500kg (ATM) and has a towball download mass of 230kg at Tare.
That means not only are these vans relatively light for their construction and high equipment levels, but also have a well above average 802kg and 1006kg payloads respectively.