Michael Browning•18 Jan 2018

REVIEW

First look: Windsor Hybrid XC390

Name: First look: Windsor Hybrid XC390
Brand: Windsor

Innovative, affordable hybrid challenges convention

It’s always interesting when a major manufacturer comes up with a radically different design. For a start, it gets everyone thinking outside the square and opens your mind to different ideas and benefits.

That’s how we felt about Windsor’s new Hybrid 390 Pop-Top that broke cover at the 2017 Sydney Caravan Show. The novel West Australian-built model offered a different, half-way house between a tent and a caravan and we were curious to see how it would work in practice.

We started with the assumption that the Fleetwood Group’s Coromal/Windsor arm should know what it’s doing, since both brands have been around for a long time.

However, the idea of a boxy camper, with a front-hinged pop-top, fixed interior caravan comforts and a fully-opening rear wall looked challenging and, with no interior toilet, how easy would it be to make a quick exit in the early hours?

How would you keep the insects out and, in the case of the off-road version we sampled, would that big rear opening compromise rigidity off the bitumen and let dust in?

Appeals to week-end warriors

Pending a long-term rough road test, we must leave some of these questions unanswered, but I think it’s fair to say that despite its impressively beefy 150mm x 50mm galvanised steel chassis, serious off-road hybrid pop-top builders have little to fear from the XC390 Hybrid.

Clearly this hybrid is not targeted at hard-core, regular remote area travellers – more at those who want to get away for a weekend, or a little longer – in relative comfort. And with a price range from mid-$30,000 to mid-$40,000, depending on where you live, it demands attention.

Let’s start with what will appeal to many potential buyers: the XC90 looks smart and interesting. While the entry-level 390 Tourer looks different, the XC upgrade pack makes it look tough and will most likely account for the majority of sales.

The Windsor is further distinguished from the hybrid crowd with its novel side window styling. Instead of the usual double-glazed acrylic awning-style windows, Windsor has fitted two sliding windows on either side, with their surrounding black panel also made from toughened automotive glass.

In this respect, it’s similar to the sort of windows you might find on a Toyota HiAce van, or in the RV world, on Track Trailer’s Tvan and Topaz.

Getting dirty is optional

The XC model is easy to tell apart from its Touring brother, as it sits higher on Coromal’s own trailing arm independent coil spring suspension, instead of the entry model’s beam axle and leaf springs, and the XC pack includes one-inch larger diameter 16-inch wheels shod with lumpy tyres.

Both share the same basic box construction, with composite walls and a full-thickness fibreglass pop-top roof.

However, with swathes of checker-plate on its upper front body panel and A-frame-mounted storage boxes, a serious-looking mesh stone shield with low-hanging flaps, twin jerry can holders and with bush-bars protecting its lower flanks, the XC probably promises a lot more than most of its owners will ever call on it to deliver.

With its body length of 3900mm, width of 2200mm and travelling height of 2300mm and significant off-road ‘armour’, the XC390 as reviewed weighed in at 1781kg – about average for a hybrid pop-top of its size – making it a good option behind most crew cab utes and medium sized 4WDs, like the Mitsubishi Triton we used.

Access all hours

Getting inside is simple, yet unconventional.

You release two over-centre clamps holding the combined spare wheel holder and rear steps and let a pair of telescopic struts do the rest, lowering the ensemble gently to step height.

Then turn two external handles, stand slightly back and the full-width, top-hinged rear door opens skywards.

Next, unclip the four, over-centre external clamps securing the pop-up, step inside and push up the rear end, which then rises to its full height on its telescopic struts. That’s all there is.

Once inside, a north-south queen-size memory foam bed awaits you in the camper’s nose, with good storage underneath, as long as you don’t carry anything that will slide into all the exposed plumbing on the right-hand side.

Rearward of the bed, two rows of bench seats line the walls leading up to the door. These can be extended to form two single beds by pulling out a sliding shelf in their rearward end and inserting a provided infill cushion. Problem then is that your guests’ feet (or head) will stick out of the door opening!

Long and deep drawers under the settee seats and another under the bed provide more storage space for clothes, towels and linen.

Indoor/outdoor dining

A small portable table normally stored in an exterior locker, turns the lounge into a dining area, but that’s a last resort for Windsor Hybrid owners, as this camper has been designed primarily for outdoor living.

Up front, the larger of the two A-frame storage boxes houses a standard 45-litre Waeco portable fridge on a slide, with the Hybrid’s twin 9kg gas bottles located further forward in the smaller front checker-plate box.

Next to the fridge, is the Hybrid’s stainless-steel kitchen, consisting of a BBQ/cooktop, preparation bench, drawer, sink and hot and cold water mixer fed by an instantaneous gas system located behind. Personally, I’d like to reverse the layout and have the sink and prep area at the front.

Two drop-down picnic tables to the right of the BBQ provide plating-up space and some pantry storage. However, if you were planning to cook outside regularly you’d need a wind-out awning – something both Windsor Hybrid models lack in their standard specs.

Few thoughtful features

In contrast, there are some thoughtful features on the XC390, such as the built-in steps either side of the main fridge storage box that make it easier to access the pop-top latches, while the A-frame’s brass water tap is well protected against stone strike.

On the right-hand side, the Hybrid has another large, but shallow external hatch that houses its mandatory Brake-Safe control box, fuses, water tank level indicator, battery monitor and the folding picnic table, but is really useless for much else.

A small front body hatch houses its two AGM batteries and Projecta 30Amp charger that are fed by the XC’s twin 150W roof-mounted solar panels.

Now we get to the contradictions of the Windsor Hybrid.

If you plan to spend most of your time outside, as you would with a camper, a wind-out awning and a proper two-burner cooker and grill need to be standard. But if you plan to spend more time inside, then the optional mesh screen that covers the entire rear opening when the door is up, also needs to be standard. When fitted via its perimeter Velcro fastening, this screen allows access to the interior through a central door with a magnetic flap.

However, if the weather is cold or wet, then you have another problem. With the rear door down, you need to fumble in the dark to undo the two low-mounted release catches if you want to make an early hours toilet stop and you’ll then need to close it quickly to stop insects coming in. The much simpler solution would be to locate a small portable toilet or a bucket inside for night-time duty.

Meanwhile the jury is still out as to whether that large rear door will allow dust in when towed off-road. True, there’s a roof-top front scupper vent to pressurise the interior, but that’s a very big rear door. Dust gathers at the rear off-road and corrugations will no doubt give its seals a good workout.

Verdict

So, how do we assess the Windsor XC390 Hybrid? Much as its designers intended.

The unique Hybrid is designed to appeal to ‘soft’ campers, looking to upgrade from a tent or small camper trailer to roomier and more comfortable accommodation with a quicker set-up and the Windsor meets this brief well.

While relatively few buyers are likely to take full advantage of the XC390’s bush-bashing features, we believe that the majority will tick this option box for its macho looks that make it stand out from the crowd, regardless of how far they ever take it off the bitumen.

View it like that, look at its relatively light weight (which makes it easily towable behind even compact SUVs), then look at the price and it all makes sense.

Specs: Windsor Hybrid XC390

Overall external length: 5320mm

External body length: 3900mm

External body width:2200mm

Travel height: 2300mm

Internal height: 1820mm-2100mm

Tare: 1781kg

ATM: 2380kg

Ball: 189kg

Body: Composite fibreglass walls, with full-thickness composite fibreglass pop-top roof

Chassis: 150mm x 50mm galvanised steel

Suspension: Coromal independent trailing arm, coil spring with twin shock absorbers per wheel