Rare Jayco XPLO up for grabs

Five years after it first hit the show circuit, one of the toughest Jayco off-road hybrid caravans in the country is up for sale again.

Making its debut at the 2017 Melbourne Leisurefest, the eye-catching, two-to-four berth XPLO was designed to be a base for adventurous types to pursue other activities, but never made it to full production.

Nominal pricing quoted at the 2017 show for the extreme off-road, 13ft full-height ‘XPLO’ hybrid was $77,790, with its fitted options of a portable fridge ($1650), generator ($1375), portable toilet ($340), MaxTrax ($400) and a combined Truma gas heater/hot water service ($4125), boosting the overall price to $85,680.

The XPLO show van described at the time as in 'as new' condition, popped up at Victorian Jayco dealer Page Bros RV in 2019, where it was advertised for $69,990 driveway.

Three years later it's back on the market and on display at Melbourne's Avan Super Centre, where the asking price has dropped to $59,990 driveway.

An Avan Super Centre salesperson said the unique Jayco camper was traded in on a new motorhome and remains 'hardly used', with photo evidence of some dust on the underbody and inside lockers suggesting it might have been taken on an Outback trip or two.

The five-year old Jayco also appears to have retained many of the original fittings and appliances, right down to the chunky GT Radial tyres, albeit with a couple of new additions including a Kings rooftop tent and two rear jerry can holders that were not on the original show van.

Built at Jayco’s Dandenong, Victoria factory, the unique 13ft XPLO features a large rear slide-out stainless-steel kitchen, while the stark interior is dominated by a transverse queen bed.

Also inside is a bank of nine drawers and two large storage nooks to the left of the entry door, while a microwave oven slots in above more cupboard storage on the adjacent wall.

The drawers were unique to Jayco production at the time, in being made from heavy-duty pressed steel with slide on steel runners and roller bearings.

A small robe, two seats that can share a removable table and a gas heater and hot water service are other XPLO creature comforts, while there lockers in the right-hand side of the body house a Porta-Potti and an exterior shower.

With full composite walls and checker plate exterior cladding, the XPLO rides on tandem JTech double-shocker independent suspension beneath its beefed-up 150mm x 50mm x 3mm gal chassis.

The chunky body is encircled by a powdercoated 40NB mandrel-bent steel roll cage that incorporates no fewer than three separate ladders to access the roof where blokey items such as dinghies, kayaks and swags can be transported.

Other external features include a large checker plate front tool box with slides for a 2kVa generator on one side, twin gas bottles on the other and room above for hoses and the like beneath twin MaxTrax.

Its tare weight is listed at 2241kg, with an ATM of 3000kg and a ball load of 279kg.

The niche-market XPLO was designed to have more ‘bushability’ than any other Jayco before it, however it never gained traction with buyers, and in recent years Jayco has concentrated its off-road caravan efforts on more mass-market models like the Adventurer and All Terrain, as well as the CrossTrak hybrid camper.

Related: Jayco unveils XPLOsive new model