Tiffin Allegro Breeze 2020 Review

Unlike their American counterparts, Australians have never really embraced large motorhomes.

A lot of the pushback has been to do with RV infrastructure. Many of our caravan parks were built in the old bondwood 16ft caravan days and are a tight fit for an RV stretching 10 metres in length and more. While many of our large caravans and their tow cars exceed this length and vans with their tow car disconnected can usually squeak in.

Our roads and car parks are also not designed to accommodate very large motorhomes comfortably, although with our new-found love of big US pick-ups, this is changing.

Our national road network is not a patch on the ones in the US and most large motorhomes are not really built for the corrugated, unsealed roads that link many of our major highways.

Finally, the upfront cost of a large A-class motorhome of around $500,000 or more has previously been too daunting for many Australians to get their head around. I still meet people stuck in a past century who think $50,000 is a lot to pay for a caravan!

However, I’ve just spent some quality time with an American-built, but Australian finished motorhome that might just change your mind on all of the above. It did mine.

Apartment on wheels

The Tiffin Allegro Breeze is most things I never thought an American motorhome could be: Good value for money, surprisingly maneuverable; impressively economical; beautifully finished and very well equipped, to the point where the Tiffin really needs to be judged against a top-end tow car and luxury caravan combo.

Tiffin Motorhomes have been either converted to right-hand drive on the Gold Coast since 2011, or fully imported in this factory-built configuration since late 2018 by Tiffin Australia. It all began after CEO Murray Robertson and his team transitioned from their engineering business converting imported vehicles to meet Australian Compliance.

Realising the dearth of mega-sized motorhomes on the market, they looked at Tiffin, founded back in 1972, which is one of America’s premium Class A motorhome manufacturers based in Red Bay Alabama, and build at a leisurely rate of just 11 per day.

Of their range, the (relatively) compact Tiffin Allegro Breeze best fitted Australian conditions and our RV facilities. But of course, it was only made in left hand drive.

This led Tiffin Australia initially to import built-up LHD Breeze motorhomes and then convert them to RHD and modify them to meet local regulations, mainly sourcing the necessary parts from Tiffin.

“Basically, we were buying so many parts from them, like wheel hubs, doors, switch panels, etc. that it made more commercial sense for them to build us a right hand drive version in their factory,” said Robertson, with the bonus being that it opened up hitherto unexplored markets in the UK, South Africa and Japan.

However, as right hand drive Tiffins differ greatly from the home market cousins, either Robertson or a member of his team flies to the factory in Alabama to personally oversee the building of each Tiffin built for an Australian or New Zealand customer.

”They build their motorhomes beautifully at Red Bay, but it isn’t second nature to them to put little things like the re-positioning of some things, like the slide-outs, switches, wiring, etc. so we are their Australian ‘eyes’ on the line,” explained Robertson.

Each trip involves Tiffin Auastrlia following an individual motorhome through production for up to two weeks. It’s a big time investment for a small Australian company that sells just one new Tiffin a month on average, but it pays off in the finished product that lands here.

Un-American build quality

I‘ve had some underwhelming experiences with American-built RVs, but the Tiffin Breeze we reviewed was not one of them. In terms of the quality of materials, fit and finish and operation, it was right up there with the best I’ve seen coming out of Europe.

Regarding the price, what’s the problem? For many people, a motorhome is a cheaper alternative to a holiday house, a luxury motor boat and not much more than a top-spec luxury caravan ($160,000-$220,000) and a top model Range-Rover ($200,000-plus) to tow it.

OK, to the Tiffin’s RRP of $495,000 (plus on-roads), add the cost of a second-hand Suzuki 4WD that you can tow behind it on an A-frame if you want to set up a base camp and go off exploring, or head into town for dinner, in something smaller.

Or, if you’d rather, put a 4X4 ute, a ski boat or a horse float behind it, as the Tiffin can tow 3500kg legally.

But it’s big! Not really. Behind the wheel the Tiffin at 10.23 metres long, is shorter than most large, luxury van rigs, without the problems of a trailer behind, such as  the potential sway and reversing.

If you’re towing something, you can unhitch it and move onsite in a caravan park without any length issue. The Tiffin motorhome’s German ZF independent front end helps it steer well, but in a typical American way, the steering is light and a little lifeless.

Still, its 2.5 metre ‘large caravan’ travelling width is not really an issue on our roads, as the high driving position puts you eyeball to eyeball with other buses and trucks, rather than at wheel nut level where you will find yourself if you tow a caravan.

But you’ll need a special licence to drive it? Yes, a Medium Rigid licence, which you can get the same day after a few hours’ driving and by answering a handful of questions, so it’s not a big deal.

Decent fuel economy

Surely a vehicle of that size must be heavy on fuel? The Tiffin’s 6.7-litre in-line, turbocharged six-cylinder Cummins diesel engine is a class act and mated to an Allison 6-speed automatic transmission, is already well-known to many Australians as the power unit of the RAM 2500 pick-up.

Its 760Nm of torque, peaking at 1650 rpm is impressive, but so is its fuel use. A friend hauled a 3.4 tonne caravan down from the Sunshine Coast to Brisbane recently at an average of 14.1/100km, while a Tiffin was driven hard from the Gold Coast to Bathurst recently, nudging the maximum speed limits all the way and averaged less than 23l/100km.

A Land-Cruiser 200 Series hauling a big van on the same route wouldn’t do much better.

Ticks the motorhome boxes

So, now that we have the hard questions out of the way, let’s look at all the positive reasons to throw your hat into the Tiffin motorhome ring.

For a start, it’s a good-looking vehicle. All 2020 models feature Tiffin’s Premium Paint System that sees six coats of Superclear clearcoat (three more than usual for Australia) applied during manufacturing in Alabama over the six different striping combinations offered on 2020 models, ensuring that it can handle the ultraviolet rays of our summer sun.

The body is cleanly styled, with its large flush-fitting windscreen atop its unadorned fibreglass nosecone protected from stone damage by additional Diamond Shield clear vinyl wrap. When pulled out horizontally, the nosecone reveals the Tiffin’s standard 5kW Cummins generator.

On the road, the Tiffin is the size of a small bus, but with its three separate slide-out walls extended (the kitchen/dinette on the driver’s side moves out 600mm electrically and the lounge and master bedroom slides on the door side deploy 400mm hydraulically) it becomes a luxury penthouse.

Entry to the full interior, including all kitchen appliances and the bathroom, can easily be accessed with the slides in the travelling position, with only the Tiffin’s huge rear master bedroom hanging robe – which extends the full width of the rear wall - being tricky to access. This is important for many travellers who, having paid for all the Tiffin’s facilities, are understandably reluctant to use public facilities on a travelling holiday.

With the Cummins diesel right at the rear and the generator nearly 10 metres away in the nose, this maintains Tiffin’s dictum that the generator should be used but not heard by night and the engine should be the same distance away from the driver when travelling.

This means that the six occupants that it can carry legally when travelling are able to talk in normal tones during freeway travel.

At night, if it’s steamy in Kakadu, the two rooftop-mounted air conditioners hum away in the background, but no more intrusively than the chatter of the fruit bats or the rhythmic strumming of the locusts outside.

Luxurious base camp

As the Tiffin is primarily an on-road tourer, it will often be used by its owners as a base camp – a sanctuary to look forward to after a torrid day exploring, enjoying a hot shower in its separate shower and toilet bathroom (where you will find a large separate shower and a long vanity with a generous basin beneath big mirror-fronted upper cabinets).

You can then follow all this with a great meal prepared in the Tiffin’s large galley kitchen with its induction electric cooktop, gas hobs and microwave cooking options, plus its domestic-grade 218 litre upright compressor fridge, before settling back on its sumptuous leather lounge to watch whatever you like on its standard SAT TV.

Got friends around? No problem, as the lounge base pulls out to become a double bed, while the dining table drops down and with its café cushions re-arranged, it becomes a cosy short double bed for travelling grand-children.

As the bathroom is in a fixed location, in between the master bedroom and lounge slides, it is easy for all occupants to access in the night.

With its wide choice of decor, the 2020 Tiffin caters for most tastes, with the solid timber ‘picture frame’ cabinetry in the customers’ choice of English Chestnut, Mocha, or Natural Alder.

Buyers also get the choice of three different flooring patterns, four leather colours, with matching cushion fabrics and a choice of kitchen bench and splashback colours. A popular option is to replace the entire kitchen splashback wall with a long window to let more light into the centre of the Tiffin.

Free camping potential

Most Australian Tiffin buyers plan to take full advantage of the facilities of their ‘mobile penthouse’ ‘by free-camping at some stage – some for the majority of their travels – and the Tiffin is well equipped to make this a seamless experience.

Fresh water capacity is 275 litres with dual fillers; the grey water tank holds 208 litres and the toilet’s black water tank has a 125 litre capacity.

Power comes from a bank of six-volt batteries delivering a cumulative 430 amp hours, fed by 1000W of rooftop solar panels and with a 3000W Victron inverter to power a multitude of comfort items in remote areas, including bedroom, lounge and external LED Smart TVs (the lounge’s 34-inch unit with a JBL soundbar), a Blue-ray player, etc.

These capacities can be further scaled up for those planning to spend most of their rime off the grid.

A dishwasher, dryer and a separate ‘basement fridge’ are optional if you really want to travel with all the comforts of home, with the Tiffin’s generous 1200kg payload allowing you the luxury to do it all.

While the Tiffin is designed primarily for sealed road touring, its three-height adjustable air suspension allows it to lift its skirts to venture short distances to idyllic lakeside camping spots and rutted roads to tourist hot spots. Then, once there, you can drop the suspension right down to make access via its electrically-deployed broad double step even easier.

Electric door and patio awnings allow you to enter and relax outdoors, sheltered from the elements.

Want to take more with you? Again, no problems with the Tiffin, which has a series of storage compartments along each lower flank, the rear ones housing all the motorhome’s electrical and power systems and the front two cavernous areas available for whatever else you’d like to carry.

So, are you convinced, like I was? Well, it will take about six months to build your dream Tiffin motorhome, or you can skip the queue and buy someone else’s dream, with second-hands low kilometre Tiffins selling for around $400,000.

Summing up

The Tiffin Allegro Breeze is a high-quality, well-equipped, A-Class motorhome modified locally specifically for use in Australia. It's well equipped and well-priced and must be considered as a serious alternative to  large luxury caravan and corresponding tow car or a fifth wheeler caravan for those with the time to travel in apartment-level luxury.

2020 Tiffin Allegro Breeze Motorhome

Body length: 10.3m
Body width (travelling): 2.5m
Travel height: 3.5m (including air conditioners)
Tare weight: 10,000kg
GVM: 11,750kg
Wheels: 19.5-inch
Brakes: Disc (front), drum (rear), plus VGT exhaust brake
Fresh water: 275L fresh plus 208L grey water tank
Battery: Powersonic 6V, total 430ah
Solar: 4 x 250W rooftop panels
Air conditioner: two, rooftop reverse cycle, ducted
Gas: 2 x 9kg
Hot water: 23L gas/electric
Cooking: 3 gas burner, plus induction cooktop and microwave
Fridge:  218L compressor 12v
Shower: Separate internal shower and toilet
Lighting: LED throughout
Price: $495,000
Supplied by: Tiffin Australia, Molendinar, Queensland