Melbourne's Roadstar has added a new, harder edge to its off-road caravan range with two new ‘Extreme’ models making their debut at the 2020 Victorian Caravan, Camping & Touring Supershow.
The new $104,500 single axle 16ft Roadstar Little Rippa Extreme and $144,990 18ft 6in tandem axle Roadstar Safari Tamer both come brim-full with the latest off-road ‘armoury’, including Cuisemaster ATX Stage 3 remote control airbag suspension, lithium battery power, positive ventilation systems to stop dust entry, extensive upper and underbody protection, combined with a full suite of comfort features.
Both premium-priced models have been added to the Roadstar range to take advantage of the current market trend, where demand is still strong for higher-priced, well-equipped off-road luxury caravans, while it has softened for entry-level models in the $70,000-$85,000 range.
Roadstar’s move upmarket into territory formally ‘owned’ by brands like Kedron, Trakmaster and other specialist off-road custom builders aims to capitalise on its industry reputation for high build quality.
Apart from their different lengths, the principal difference between the two new Roadstar Extreme models is in their wall construction. The Little Rippa with its abrupt rear cutaway tail, features a welded aluminium frame, with aluminium sheet external cladding and polystyrene foam insulation, while the new Safari Tamer has full fibreglass sandwich panel wall construction.
However, the Little Rippa can be optioned with the same full composite wall construction as its big brother.
Both models come well equipped for off-the-grid living, each having two 95 litre fresh water tanks, a separate 95 litre grey water tank, a single 200Ah (Little Rippa) and twin 100Ah lithium batteries (Safari Tamer), with BM-Pro battery management systems and twin 150W roof-mounted solar panels.
Given their different lengths, the internal layout of the two vans are also quite different, with the Little Ripper’s queen bed mounted across the body to create more usable interior space, while in the Safari Tamer it's in a more familiar north-south island configuration.
Large compressor fridges, separate shower and toilet bathrooms, washing machines, full leather upholstery and solid ply furniture, are other features common to both models.
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