Chris Fincham•16 Jun 2016

REVIEW

Winnebago Burke

Apollo has a serious contender with the first locally-built Winnebago caravan

Coming almost full circle, Apollo Motorhome Holidays has returned to its homegrown
caravan roots by offering the first Australian-built Winnebago caravan.

It’s been more than five years since the Queensland-based motorhome rental giant, first dipped its toe into the lucrative Australian caravan market.

Launched under its Talvor retail brand and built in a new Brisbane factory, the initial range of

slick, Euro-style Talvor caravans only lasted a couple of years before being replaced by a fresh lot of cut-price

US-built Talvor vans, notable for their boxy styling and a massive 30ft range-topping slider model.

Apollo then signed deals with European manufacturer Adria and Winnebago Industries of Iowa, becoming a fully-fledged caravan importer, The

lightweight Adria vans are still going strong but a trial run of

colourful, American-made Minnie Winnie vans have since made way for

locally-built versions.

Launched at the Victorian Caravan Supershow in February, the 19ft 1in, three-berth Burke with slide-out is the first of eight new Winnebago variants planned for 2016, with a new 22ft Mossman caravan to be unveiled at next month’s Queensland Caravan Show.

LESSONS LEARNED

Speaking at the recent Sydney Supershow, Apollo fleet sales manager, Shayne Culverhouse said the company had learned their lesson and believes they've now hit on the right recipe for the Aussie market, starting with the locally designed and built Winnebago Burke.

There’s certainly plenty to like about the new caravan, which packs in a fair bit for its $66,490 starting price. The first thing you notice is that it’s slightly bigger overall than the American Minnie, which had size constraints due to having to fit inside a shipping container.

For example, body width is 2.32m, compared to the Minnie’s 2.15m. It’s also higher overall, resulting in an impressive 2025mm (6ft 8in) internal height.

Built on a hot-dipped galvanised 150mm diameter drawbar and chassis with structural composite walls and floor, overall construction seems a step up too.

The front-side entry door is the excellent but heavy Dometic security door now found on most upmarket Jayco vans, and the locker doors are nicely colour matched to the slick white exterior panels.

Being an on-road van, there’s just a patch of shiny checker plate protecting the lower front section, with the option of more along the sides although we wouldn’t bother given the inherent durability of the gel-coat fibreglass panels.

Two, gal protected 82 litre fresh water tanks located fore and aft of the axle are fitted standard, although our test van had one of these tanks reserved for grey water, which is an option. The underbody looks neat and tidy, with a similar fibreglass finish to keep out the mud and water.

The Aussie Winnie has a full suite of Al-Ko equipment, from its independent rubber suspension to 10-inch electric brakes and drop-down corner stabilisers.

Also located on the A-frame are two 9kg gas bottles, drawbar tap and small mesh tray that might carry a few small campfire logs.

Fifteen-inch alloy wheels with light truck tyres (including two spares at the back) were also fitted and along with all the usual external electrical and water connectors, the Burke has an external hot/cold shower located at the back.

Also conveniently located near the drop-down picnic table under the awning, are external controls for the RV Media audio unit located inside, along with two marine speakers, gas bayonet, a cluster of 240V/12V/USB sockets and coaxial TV aerial inlet.

PRESS BUTTON CONVENIENCE

The Burke comes standard with a 3.9m wide roll-out awning but if you’re budget can stretch to it, we’d recommend the optional electric awning fitted to the review van.

Press the button just inside the door and about 15 seconds late, you’re done. You'll only need to add the two additional support poles if it's windy, and tighten the awning arms to stop any flapping.

Another nice feature on the Burke is the extra-wide front tunnel storage locker. It’s accessible from either side, and in this case held the main unit for the optional Trumatic E2400 gas heater, which blows hot air through two vents near the main bed.

Also found here was 12V power equipment including two 100Ah batteries and Projecta 1600 and Intellicharge 12V-25A battery chargers. But at almost one metre wide internally there was still plenty of room to fit any number of bulky camping accessories.

There’s also a small storage spot in the external locker on the rear offside that holds the toilet cassette.

About the only thing some buyers might take exception to is the larger-than-life ‘Big W’ red stickers on the front. One easy solution if you don’t want the whole world to know you’re towing a Winnebago is to pull them off.

ROOM TO MOVE

Stepping inside, the Burke features a front island queen-size bed, with a central galley opposing its slide-out lounge bed and dinette. A separate shower and toilet bathroom occupies the full rear with a dedicated TV section occupying one side of the bathroom partition.

The Burke’s ‘party trick’ is its three-berth sleeping format, with the lounge quickly converted to a large single sofa bed should dinner guests decide to linger longer.

The wall slides out 53cm to make room on the floor for the portable Fiamma table, but the good thing is you can still pull over and use the bathroom and kitchen without having to activate the slide-out.

The third-bed/dinette option is a little less comfy as a couch than a club lounge, but it’s likely this option will be available when more layouts are introduced in the near future.

Best suited to smaller adults or kids, the sofa bed has a thick foam base measuring 184cm x 95cm. There are no complaints about the main queen bed, which has a 34cm slide-out at the base to make room for a 201 x 153cm coil-spring mattress.

The rectangular dinette table seats four and quickly dismantles for storage behind the lounge when using the bed.

While lacking in bench and in some ways storage space, the galley has all the appliances you need including a glass-lidded Thetford
Triplex three burner (two gas/one electric) cooker, grille and oven, rangehood, and stainless steel sink with mixer tap and separate filtration system.

Shorter people will struggle to reach the locker above the fridge and microwave where most of the electrical switches and gauges are kept but at least it’s all in one place and neatly packaged including various guages for water, battery and solar power usage.

There’s a handy shelf with a 12V socket and the main audio unit, just above the well-located Camec microwave and manually-adjustable Dometic 190 litre three-way fridge/freezer.

EASY ON THE EYE

The décor in this van was a pleasant mix of white walls, white marble-style and pale timber-look surfaces and black and beige patterned cloth upholstery. The window pelmets are standard but you’ll pay extra for the curtains.

The 32in TV that hooks up to a King Jack antenna is nice and big but because of its fixed position, viewing options are limited especially being too far from the bed.

You’d have to say internal storage is acceptable rather than exceptional in the Burke. There are plenty of kitchen drawers but none really big enough to hold a large pot or bulky appliance. And the downside of the huge tunnel locker is a much smaller space under the main bed than you normally see in a van this size.

There are handy robes on either side of the bed, but only a small shelf for books and phones. However, there are plenty of overhead lockers, two vertical cupboards next to the fridge, and decent storage in the ensuite.

The LED interior lighting mainly consists of roof and down lights, and it's worth noting there were no adjustable reading lamps for either the lounge or bed. Full marks to Winnebago for the amount of 240V, USB and 12V sockets spread throughout the van, though.

The full width ensuite is also very workable, with a vanity cabinet with hand basin, flick mixer tap and mirrored cabinet, Thetford swivel toilet, hooks for towels and toilet rolls and a separate (780mm x 760mm) fibreglass shower with sliding glass door and second roof hatch.

The Camec top-loader 2.5kg washing machine is neatly hidden under the sink and slides out when required.

ON THE ROAD

In standard trim, the tandem axle 2000kg Burke offers a 400kg payload and is hence designed to be towed by medium-sized 4WDs, such as the Toyota Prado.

But with our optioned-up and unloaded van weighing 2180kg, this cut payload to 320kg which isn’t a lot once the water tanks are full. The weight on the tow ball was also pushed up slightly to 141kg.

However, the van behaved obediently at highway speeds behind our Toyota Fortuner tow tug, which was a good thing as Al-Ko’s ESC stability control is an extra-cost option and wasn’t fitted.

VERDICT

After five years of trying Apollo could finally be onto a winner with the locally-built Winnebago Burke.

It looks fresh and modern, has a thoughtful and well-constructed design, roomy layout and impressive amount of standard equipment for the price. Even with most of the option boxes ticked, our test van still came under $80,000.

Very American ‘Big W’ decals aside, it has a distinctly Aussie flavour and backed by a two year warranty, it shapes up as the best caravan yet from the hardworking Apollo group.

WE LIKED:
>> Electric slide and awning
>> Roomy interior
>> Well equipped for the price

NOT SO MUCH:
>> Limited internal storage
>> TV location
>> Reduced payload when optioned up

WINNEBAGO BURKE 19FT 1IN

Travel length: 7400mm (24ft 3in)

External body length: 5815mm (19ft 1in)

External body width (incl.awning): 2490mm (8ft 2in)

Travel height: 3035mm (10ft)

Interior height: 2025mm (6ft 8in)

Tare weight: 2180kg

ATM: 2500kg

Ball weight (Tare): 141kg

Body: Fibreglass composite walls, floor and roof

Chassis: Galvanised 150mm drawbar and chassis rails

Suspension: Tandem axle Al-Ko independent rubber

Brakes: 10-inch electric drum

Stability Control: Al-Ko ESC optional

Wheels: 15in alloy with 195/70-15 LT tyres

Fresh water: 2 x 82L

Battery: 1 x 100Ah deep cycle AGM

Solar: 150W panel and regulator

Air-conditioner: Dometic reverse-cycle, roof-mounted

Gas: 2 x 9kg

Hot water: 14L gas/electric

Cooking: Three-burner gas/electric cooktop, plus grill, oven & rangehood

Fridge: 190-litre 3-way manual

Microwave: 25 litre 900W

Toilet: Swivel cassette with electric flush

Shower: 780 x 760mm enclosed fibreglass

Lighting: LED

TV: 32in LED TV/DVD with external antenna

Options fitted: Trumatic E2400 gas heater, electric awning, additional 100Ah battery, reversing camera, second spare wheel, window curtains, 82 litre grey water tank

Price: From $66,490. As tested: $79,990

Supplied by:

Jefferson RV World, Braeside, Vic

More info:

Winnebago Australia

Winnebago Burke

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