Tested: Carado T135

TESTED: OPINION CARADO T135

COASTINGALONG

Malcolm Street goes coastal touring in Carado’s compact T135…

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TESTED

On a normal visit to New Zealand I don’t stray much further than the outer suburbs of Auckland or Christchurch. However, on my most recent assignment in NZ I had a couple of jobs in Hamilton and Tauranga, which made a nice change and gave me an opportunity to spend a bit of time in the east coast township of Mount Manganui.

For my little trip I borrowed a Helix 2 rental motorhome from Wilderness. The Helix 2 is a 2-berth, 4-seat B-class motorhome that’s better known in the retail market as a Carado T135. It’s also a motorhome that has an external width of 2.3 m (7’ 6½”), which makes it ideal for touring on some of the narrower NZ roads.

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TESTED

Background

Carado is a German manufacturer, part of the giant

Hymer group and one of quite a few European manufacturers who sell their motorhomes in New Zealand. Wilderness runs a fleet of German-built motorhomes which, apart from anything else, gives the discerning renter a good choice of stylish rental vehicles. Those same motorhomes are also sold into the retail market, so it’s also an opportunity for a potential buyer to try before purchase. Wilderness fitout their motorhomes for freedom camping, hence the company name, and consequently the motorhomes have a few extras not usually found in rental motorhomes.

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TESTED

Motive Power

Like many a Euro-built motorhome, the Carado T135 has a Fiat Ducato Multijet 130 cab-chassis with the 2.3-litre 96 kW/320 Nm turbo-diesel and 6-speed AMT gearbox. Getting to a few statistics, the 5.9 m (19’ 4”) Helix 2 has a tare mass of 2715 kg and a GVM of 3495 kg.

Designed and built for motorhome use, Fiat’s Ducato comes with a reinforced cut-away cab, flat-top chassis rails for ease of body mounting, the best seat-swivel mechanism in the business and, being front-wheel drive, simple but light weight and effective rear suspension. More than 2.6 million have been produced since 1981 and the Ducato accounts for about 75 percent of all motorhome base vehicles in Europe, so it’s more than proven.

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TESTED

Build

Unlike some Euro motorhomes I have seen, the

Helix 2 has better than usual ground clearance, which is very handy if negotiating undulating terrain. Built using a fibreglass composite body structure, the Helix 2 is quite streamlined looking and comes with a skyview hatch above the cab.

Double glazed Seitz awning-style windows are fitted all ‘round; the habitation door has an electric step and at the kerb-side rear there is a decent external storage locker. That also gives access to the under-bed area, which is handy when retrieving gear from the inside. It’s a deeper-than-usual storage locker because of a stepped design that improves the available space and provides room for all the essential camping gear.

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TESTED

Freedom Camping

A

feature of all Wilderness motorhomes is that they are well set up for remote/freedom camping. For starters, there’s a 120-litre fresh water tank and a 90-litre grey tank. A pair of nine kilogram gas cylinders, stored in the kerb-side mid-wall locker are good for the hob, water/space heater and three-way fridge. That leaves the electrics, which comprise a pair of 90 Ah batteries and a single 150 W solar panel, plus a 1000 W inverter.

The inverter gets around the little problem of there being no USB charger hubs in the rear. Experience has taught me to carry around a small power board for all my electrical gear as power points aren’t always in a convenient place.One of the benefits of the Helix 2 layout is that it’s quite a compact but liveable arrangement. That means a sub-6m (20’) length but still plenty of features, something the Euros are very good at.

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TESTED

By Night

The floorplan has a French (rear corner) bed and bathroom at the rear and a mid-area kitchen. That leaves the cab and front area for the swivelled cab seats that form an integral part of the dinette, which includes a forward-facing rear seat fitted with seat belts. A typically efficient German motorhome layout? Jawohl! The LED lighting is done in a very fine style using a mixture of recessed and strip light fittings. Such is the switching that any sort of lighting mood you like can be created.

Built neatly into the rear kerb-side corner is the 2.0 m x 1.35 m (6’ 7”) French bed with a good sized wall window. The bed is a chamfered shape that allows easy access to the bathroom, alongside the bed in the drivers’-side rear corner. Overhead lockers are fitted along the wall and across the back. A handy little feature at the base of the bed is the cabinet shelf that sits between the bed and dinette. It not only provides shelf space for things like electronic devices being charged, but also handy compartment and cupboard storage as well.

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Amenities

The rear corner bathroom cubicle is quite a snug arrangement. It has a bench style cassette toilet at the rear, a swivelling wash basin, a cabinet and wall mirror above. The swivelling wash basin is one of those apparently simple ideas that is a very effective usage of the space above the loo: A hinged acrylic door can be used to close off the toilet area when the shower is being used, thus keeping it relatively dry. It’s still a wet bathroom though.

Outside the bathroom, between it and the kitchen bench, is a wardrobe that offers plenty of hanging space. Being a rental motorhome, it’s also where items like the blankets and towels are to

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TESTED

Catering

By the entry door, along the driver’s-side wall, the kitchen unit is a relatively small one. Fitted into the short bench top is a three-burner hob and a round stainless steel sink, whilst under the bench is a 122-litre 3-way fridge. Being a rental vehicle and very handy for someone like moi, the kitchen cupboards and overhead lockers are full of all the necessary cooking and eating items, including a plunger coffee maker. That said, there isn’t an oversupply of space for food supplies in the immediate area, but the lockers above the table are generously sized and fitted with shelves.

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TESTED

Upfront

Enhanced with the entry door open, the impression up front is of plenty of window space, aided by both the cab windows and big roof hatch. It’s an effect that works well in a relatively small area. Four seats surround the table and certainly the cab seats are better for kicking back than the squarer rear seats, but at least there is room to sit around the table without too much trouble. The front seats are also useful for TV watching, since it’s mounted on a slider in an overhead locker between the bed and dinette. A power point is located under the table and it’s a bit awkward to get at but, that’s where I use my power board.

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What I Think

I

reckon the Helix 2/Carado T135 is an ideal little motorhome for a couple or single person planning on a rental motorhome tour of NZ. It’s also great for anyone who doesn’t particularly desire to own a large motorhome, yet wants something that offers decent interior space. Carado has designed a practical interior that is quite functional and like the rest of the motorhome is more pitched to those who prefer a light weight mode of travel. In these eco times, that is no bad thing.

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On the Road

TOURING

As noted earlier, many of my trips are work related, but one of the benefits of touring in NZ is that distances are relatively short and it’s quite easy travelling around. Therefore, I gave myself a day off and headed out to Mt Manganui.

I haven’t been there for some years and one of my favourite little memories is of the Beachside Holiday Park, which sits in the shadow of Mount Manganui – Mauao – to give its Maori name. If you get there early enough you can snag one of the almost-beachfront sites, but sadly not on this occasion – obviously everyone else had the same idea. Still, it’s a great location.

Mauao is actually a big hill and only 232-metres high, but it’s there to be climbed or walked around and has some great ocean and Port of Tauranga views. Nearby Tauranga is much more industrial than the coastal Mount Manganui and also hosts cruise ships from time to time.

At the time of year I was there, swimming and walking were clearly popular activities, as was visiting the local restaurants and cafes. My tip – go there, but in less busy times or book ahead for the caravan park! Also be prepared for some early morning wake up noises: there is the surf beach of course, plus the sound of runners pounding the board walk, and if you happen to be closer to the Mount, then it will be the sound of sheep baaing!

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Leave ordinary behind

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Find out more at wilderness.co.nz

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