We are planning to buy a caravan to go on dirt roads. What do you suggest?

Question

We are from South Australia, and know nothing about caravans.

Answer 1

Do you mean a DODGE Caravan? Is"caravan" slang for something else? I have a '99 Dodge durango that is good for offroad and dirt roads. It has 4x4. I usually let out a couple of lbs of air for desert washboard roads to go a little easier on the shocks.

Answer 2

the best you could do is to go to Dandenong in Melbourne and talk to the various people that work in this industry. We bought a scenic caravan from Dandenong 10 years ago now in fact we had 2 from them as we upgraded and they where beautiful vans but in Dandenong there are several places that make them and sell second hand vans. You will need an off road caravan. The more people you talk to and the more vans you look at for ideas the better .In the meantime you could wander through say the big 4 or top tourist parks in Adelaide and speak with some of the Grey Nomads that do a lot of travelling around the country for more ideas. They are always willing to speak with people and give out ideas. Many of them are sitting outside of there vans late afternoon early evening on a nice day. Be aware of some of the salesmen as of course they want to sell you a van and will do there best and have all the good answers but they are not necasarily the right answers for you. so do plenty of home work. They are a lot of money to get it wrong. Good luck

Answer 3

It depends how rough a track you intend to go on if very rough you should go for a well set up camper trailer or a very expensive off road caravan We did a minimum  of rough roads with an old Viscount and it went well but as I said they were just gravel like around the Coorong What are you towing with if you are using a 4 by 4 the two I suggested . I use a turbo diesel ute and get 11 k's to the litre at 90 to100 ~~

Answer 4

Start by using the word "trailer" . In America a " Caravan" is a minivan sold by Dodge (chrysler), you'd be better off with a truck

Answer 5

Good luck with the caravaning but may be a course would be a good idea before you head off road.

I know here in Queensland, there are caravaning and driving courses available. I'm sure there would be similar available in SA.

This site may help you.

http://www.exploroz.com/Vehicle/Caravans...

Answer 6

If you ask this question in Australia section then of course you would use the word caravan because this is what Australians call them - not trailers.

We also are looking at caravans and the best place to go is to the caravan and camping shows where you'll be able to see all sorts at the same place.  You can get off road vans they are the ones that are higher off the ground and you'll pay more for them, it's best to see all the representatives at the show and tell them where you plan to go, check out what they have to offer and do comparions later.  Doing a lot of homework before buying will save you a lot of grief later.

Answer 7

New or s/hand...be aware that caravan builders compete fiercely against each other and the result is they use c**p products to build caravans,chinese electrical products (lights cable chargers plugs ) etc,base not galvanised,unqualified plumbing/gas/electrical workers, the cheapest of everything , supervise what goes into your caravan if you are having one built: