Safari Overlander

By Malcolm Street

There’s a smaller variety of motorhome that’s almost a sub class of the C class Luton Peak style. It’s based on a Ford Falcon, Holden Commodore or Toyota Hilux with the latter fairly common. One of the designer’s problems is keeping the weight of the motorhome addition within the vehicle’s specified load limits.

Outside

Built on a steel chassis, the Overlander has an aluminium frame with a fibreglass panel exterior. The cab is metallic grey instead of the usual motorhome white.

Mag wheels, front chrome nudge bar, fibreglass moulding for the round tail lights and curvy decals along the sides grab attention.

There are no external locker doors, except the nearside gas compartment for a 9kg cylinder and the Thetford cassette. Offside rear is a Truma Climaster ducted air-conditioning unit. Entry door is a Camec triple locker and the windows are tinted Galaxy hoppers. There’s a Fiamma F45 awning for protection against both sun and rain and a single light is just beside the door.

Inside

The double bed is over the driver’s cab, shower/toilet cubicle behind the driver’s seat, dinette in the rear and the kitchen appliances fill space on both sides. Cabinet work is finished with a light stained timber look combined with the green curtains.

Windows all round at the back give good panoramic vision from the dinette and there is a Four Seasons hatch above.

The kitchen is split in half: the stainless steel sink and Dometic 90 litre fridge are on the offside and the two burner hob and grill is on the other. Hot and cold 12V pumped water is through a Flick Mixer tap. To improve bench space, the sink has a hinged lid that can be clipped out of the way. Above is a Samsung microwave oven.

Storage is a slideout pantry, cutlery drawer and two cupboards opposite.

The dinette is surprisingly large with comfortable contoured foam cushions to easily seat two and four in a squash. Seat belts are fitted for extra travelling passengers.

There’s underseat storage with part of the offside area taken up by the air-conditioner, and seven overhead lockers are above the dinette.

There are two sleeping choices: either the Luton Peak bed with its 6ft 6in x 4ft 6in (1.98m x 1.4m) foam mattress or converting the dinette to a bed each night. The Luton Peak bed is lower at 2ft 10in (860mm) and has more roof height, 3ft 4in (1m), graduating down to 2ft 3in (685mm) above the mattress. Small windows on either side provide extra ventilation.

A bathroom in a motorhome this size is going to be small, but it does contain the necessary Thetford cassette toilet and flexible hose shower. Two towel rails are fitted and there’s a fan extraction hatch and Fiamma light fitting.

Lighting, all 12V, is quite prolific. The dinette has two reading lights, a fluorescent fitting under the rear wall lockers and a couple of overhead lights. Above the sink is an incandescent fitting and the cooktop is lit by the rangehood downlights. In the bed over the cab, it is heads to the nearside, with two halogen reading lights.

All the electrical controls, including water tank gauges, are located above the sink area and the battery is fitted neatly behind the driver’s seat.

On the road

The Ford Falcon chassis makes for a comfortable touring vehicle and is no problem to drive; it’s just like driving a normal car. Auto shift in Drive, hand brake off and away we go.

There’s a bit more weight and consequently braking and acceleration times are longer, but keeping up with the general traffic flow around town and on the freeway is not really a problem.

Although our review vehicle came with the six-cylinder 4.0 litre motor, it handled things quite well. Choose the V8 for more grunt.

Despite the beefed up suspension, there’s still a little bit of sideways rock and roll but it’s nothing alarming. Extended rear view mirrors give good vision although a small convex mirror would be good on the passenger side.

Summing up

While not a particularly big unit, the Overlander is going to create interest as a reasonably comfortable and potent touring vehicle, albeit one with many inbuilt comforts of home. It is certainly little different to driving a normal car and yet offers the opportunity to fully enjoy the motorhome lifestyle

For more information contact Alan Graham’s Caravans and RVs, 514 Pacific Highway, Gosford, NSW 2250, (02) 4328 4800 or visit <a href="http://www.alangrahams.com.au/"><span><u><font color="#0000ff">www.alangrahams.com.au</font></u></span></a>. Alternately, contact Safari Campervans, (08) 8298 7411, or visit <a href="http://www.safari-campervans.com.au/"><span><u><font color="#0000ff">www.safari-campervans.com.au.</font></u></span></a>

We liked

Low easy access cabover bed

Good lighting

We would have liked

Extra entry step, this one is very tall

Microwave oven height lower