Zone RV Summit 2018 Review

Does your car have electric windows? How about an electric sunroof, power seats, blind-spot warning or autonomous braking? And your home… Wi-fi, Bluetooth speakers, power-operated blinds and sensor security lights?

We take most of these things for granted in our 21st century lives, but often scoff when today’s technology is applied to caravans: a power lifter to access under-bed storage; power-operated roof vents; motion-sensing interior night lighting; air conditioning that you can run all day off-the-grid; remotely controlled airbag suspension that you can adjust for height to increase wading depth or lean your van away from roadside trees on a bush track.

Those are amongst the suite of new-technology features available for ZoneRV’s latest Summit model which, depending on the options you specify, can be one of Australia’s most expensive caravans.

Raising the technology bar

In truth, they’ve only scratched the surface of what a clique of cashed-up customers really want. The problem in Australia, is that their numbers are relatively small, making the adaption of more cutting-edge home or automotive technology impractical for most Australian caravan manufacturers.

This isn’t the case with large American-style motorhomes and massive all-terrain, camping trucks, which long ago broke through the $500,000 barrier because people wanted what they offered and had the money to pay for it. So, what’s the issue with towed caravans?

One of the problems is that our caravanning culture is unlike that enjoyed anywhere else in the world. Nowhere else on this planet can you get lost so safely, often hundreds of kilometres from the next human being and safe from anything eyeing you for their next meal.

We have risen in Darwinian terms, from ground-based  tent camping to camper trailers and caravans. Many people amazed that a caravan could cost even $50,000 and diehards insisting that ‘caravanning isn’t proper camping!’.No it’s not, and most of us don’t live in mud huts anymore too…

Horses for courses

So what’s wrong with a big rig if it gets you out there and opens your eyes to our wonderful, still-wild country, whatever your comfort threshold? Nothing in my book!

Most big motorhomes don’t really cut it in our Outback: too large and too heavy. But a 21ft 6in caravan with a capable tow car can get to a lot of places and, once you’ve unhitched, leaves you free to explore further.

That’s the thought process behind the latest ZoneRV Summit, which beneath its beautiful, attention-grabbing carbon fibre skinned composite walls, ends and roof, is in reality a re-clad, optioned-up and de-branded Off-Road Series model.

“Our customers told us that there was a market for more than we were offering,” explained ZoneRV Director Matt Johns. “So we built it.”

Optioned up to a RRP $225,000 – nearly $41,000 more than a basic 21ft 6in Summit – the review van answered the question ‘Why not?’ more than ‘Why?’. Others obviously think the same, for the caravan we took out and two similarly-specced Summits were ordered in the model’s first two weeks on the market, begging the question ‘What’s next?”

World of hi-tech

To get to the Summit, ZoneRV has collaborated with a range of proven suppliers to the automotive, marine and housing industries to bring the latest technology to a caravan.

The Summit’s signature carbon fibre outer cladding not only looks smart, but also saves around 80kg in weight compared with the fibreglass exterior skin employed on other ZoneRV models.

It’s also a lot more expensive, with some of the cost being the uprated PET core that boosts the insulation capacity of the darker exterior panels under the hot Australian sun and ensures that the carbon fibre and the interior fibreglass lining both expand and contract at the same rate.

Carbon fibre is also used on the upper cabinetry of the Summit’s interior, looking great but also saving a further 70-80kg. So the 21ft 6in Summit at an optioned-up Tare weight of 2900kg is about 150kg lighter than the equivalent size and layout ZoneRV Off-Road model, but is only 110kg heavier, despite the extra 250kg weight of its options.

A look into the future

Although it’s an expensive way to make a caravan, Johns sees carbon fibre as a potential external wall cladding for the company's new Expedition-series camper, although being smaller, the weight-savings will be commensurately less.

“Some people will want carbon because it’s simply the latest and lightest, and they’ll be prepared to pay for it. We’re looking at it,” he said.

The carbon fibre that  ZoneRV uses comes from Germany in massive rolls, each with enough material to skin four caravans and costs around two thirds more than fibreglass from the same supplier, so it represents a significant investment.

The Summit’s standard Cruisemaster ATX air bag, auto level air suspension isn’t new, with the suspension raised and lowered via a control panel concealed by the outside drop-down picnic tray. But ZoneRV’s digital switching system and application of smart technology that allows its ride height and tilt from side to side to be controlled from the tow car via an iPad, is.

For example, you can raise the suspension's height on the fly for a creek crossing to increase its wading ability (as you can today in tow cars like the Land-Rover Discovery with air suspension), or even tilt the caravan to one side to avoid rubbing a tree on tight tracks, all via the iPad, which otherwise clips onto a bracket just inside the Summit’s entry door.

"What about automatic tyre deflation and inflation controlled from the cabin to cope with different road surfaces," I asked, as this technology is already used in off-road military vehicles? Johns considered this thoughtfully… watch this space!

Switching to digital

While many of its suppliers have born the cost of adapting their technology for a caravanning application, Zone’s investment in digital switching technology is considerable for a small company and there’s considerable scope to expand it.

Already you can control the suspension, the folding aluminium step, power the awning, control the roof-top Truma air conditioner, activate the diesel-powered water and space heater, raise the Summit’s 4G signal boosting antenna, check the status of its standard Enerdrive 300Ah lithium battery and its 300W inverter and the van’s 10, 100W roof-mounted solar panels, as well as control a range of lighting options.

These include sensor-operated foot lights that guide you in the early hours to the rear-mounted separate shower and toilet ensuite, through to ‘panic’ lights that can be set to turn on spotlights around the caravan and allow you to check on anything strange via the van’s external 360-degree cameras (not uncommon on top-end expedition vehicles).

Plus, of course, you can vary the intensity of the interior and awning lights to create just the right mood and check on the status of rhe chilled wine in its 218L Dometic fridge/freezer fridge. Old school!

There’s also a GPS tracker that acts like a car odometer, recording the number of kilometres travelled and reminding owners when a service is due. Clever!

Not yet on the iPad menu, but could be, is the power actuation of the rams that raise and lower the front north-south queen bed to access the storage area beneath, or raise and lower the Summit’s roof hatches.

Why do you need help with these normal caravanning tasks? Well, because you can! And, as many older travellers will admit, that big bed with hefty coil spring mattress can be heavy to lift.

Aids like these, and electronic pop-top actuators, extend the travelling years for many older, but otherwise keen, adventurers.

I’d also like to be able to open the front window and its protective stone-shield remotely, but that’s still a manual operation.

Rough and tough exterior

Outside, the ZoneRV Summit can only be described as ‘fit for purpose’, building on the rough road credentials of its foundation Off-Road brothers.

Zone’s own RHS Duragal off-road chassis with its laser cut and CNC-folded members is state-of-the-art, while laser-cut alloy, fibreglass corner protection and Raptor coating on all ston- exposed parts protect the Summit on the road.

Underneath, the three 100L poly-armoured fresh water tanks and 100L separate grey water tank are tucked up high into the chassis and well-protected, while the Summit also has the ability to draw water from a creek when remote area camping.

About the only thing I would like fitted is a power mechanism to remove and re-load the rear-mounted spare wheel from its back bumper mount. My days of lifting a 45kg off-road spare above chest height are behind me!

I like the optional folding alloy ladder that gives you access to the roof-mounted solar panels for cleaning, but I worry about the older travellers trying to do this, more than three metres above ground level!

There’s a lot more to the Summit that you can find online, but ZoneRV has thought of most things, or can probably organise them if they haven’t, to underscore its image as a high-techy innovator.

Now that the $200,000 barrier for caravans has truly been smashed, I can see the day when the $500,000 rig – $200,000 tow car and $300,000 caravan, perhaps – will be a reasonable option for cashed-up travellers who would rather spend their retirement on the road, than on a boat.

After all, those who can afford to do so, usually travel First Class…

Conclusion

The Summit appeals to serious remote area travellers who can afford to leave their formative camping and caravanning days behind them.

Its high tech package is a game changer that breaks through the glass ceiling on caravan pricing and poses the question for those who can afford it of ‘What next?’

Specs: Zone RV Summit Series Z-21.6

Travel length: 8950mm
External body length: 6540mm
External body width: 2500mm
Travel height: 3100mm
Tare: 2900kg
ATM: 4000kg
Ball weight: 186kg
Body: Carbon fibre/fibreglass sandwich wall, end and roof panels with PET core insulation
Chassis: Duragal steel with Raptor protective coating
Suspension: Independent Cruisemaster ATX airbag, height adjustable
Brakes: AL-KO 12in electric drums
Wheels: 18 x 8in alloy with Cooper AT3 285/65-18 tyres
Water: 3 x 100l fresh water tank; 1 x 100l grey water tank
Battery: 300Ah Enerdrive Lithium with 3000W inverter
Solar: 10 x 100W roof-mounted panels
Gas: 2 x 4.5kg bottles
Cooking: 3-burner Thetford internal gas cooktop and slide-out exterior Dometic kitchen
Fridge: 218-litre Dometic fridge/freezer
Bathroom: Separate shower and toilet
Washing machine: wall-mounted Daewoo Mini
Lighting: Dimmable LED throughout
Price: From $183,900 (as reviewed with options $225,000)
Supplied by: Zone RV, Coolum Beach, Queensland