Full review

Fleetwood Meridien 640 EKB, 2009

Price new: £17,990

This caravan is a: six-berth with an end kitchen

We’ve identified these caravans as having top-notch nosh-making facilities. Brilliant kitchens come in caravans of all sizes. To make the point, we've looked at the kitchens and the overall package offered by a two, a four and a six-berth.
Firstly there’s the tiny Elddis Avanté Club 362, with its 3.73-metre interior length. It’s now priced at £11,740 on-the-road. Larger than this, but still on a single axle, is the Swift Charisma 560. An additional 1.73 metres in internal length and two more berths will cost you £13,720 on-the-road. Finally, there’s the beefy twin-axle Fleetwood Meridien
640-EKB. At £17,990 on-the-road it’s expensive, but it sleeps six and brings a bit of luxury to proceedings.



Click here to download test: Which Caravan, February 2009  

Our verdict

The Fleetwood is a superb six-berth layout that’s just crying out to be that bit wider. It houses what I believe to be possibly the best caravan kitchen money can buy, in terms of location within the caravan and execution of design. The Elddis and Swift’s kitchens are superb, too, but even they pale into insignificance next to the Fleetwood. It’s nothing to do with cost, just design. But my worries lie elsewhere. Some parts of the Fleetwood need updating. The cabinetry, for example, lacks the practical traits of most modern tourers, particularly for accessibility. In other areas such as electrics, lighting and some unique and appealing interior designs, it’s a modern tour de force. The Elddis seems to have everything right. It doesn’t show off with a brash display of exuberant nonsense but quietly gets on doing its job well. But in terms of its kitchen ability, it goes the extra mile. It looks appealing and functions better than many other larger caravans. What’s more, you’ll still get a large shower screened from the loo. Why buy any two-berth longer inside than this 3.74 metres? The Charisma continues to impress me for 2009. Of all manufacturers that build this layout at or around this price, it’s the Charisma that sits at the top of the heap for me. Hate the decor? That’s fine, but you’ll be losing a mammoth and capable kitchen with an interior that has to be one of the most practical four-berths around. And the washroom? For the money, to my mind, nothing on the UK market matches it in this layout.

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