This year’s awards saw the Lunar Landstar RL scoop Overall Winner of this highly regarded Motor Caravan competition, winning the class for Van Conversions from £40,000 to £50,000 on the way. Not only did the manufacturer win this coveted prize, but also won its entry into a new class added for the first time this year – that of Micro Motor Caravans, with its Lunar Vacanza.

Once again, competition testing took place at Newark Showground at the end of April where a panel of four driving and six design judges put the vehicles through their paces, assessing and evaluating excellence in design, comfort, construction and handling, including reversing and manoeuvring.

The judges praised the Lunar Landstar RL for remarkable attention to detail and, even before the vehicles arrived at the test venue, points were being racked up for the quality of information on the company’s website and in its handbooks, with its warranty terms also scoring favourably.

Once under the scrutiny of the design judges the Landstar won the following praise, “Long, lean and classy – a great deal of Mercedes motorhome at a realistic price”, and “Over the moon with this one“.

The driving judges referred to it as “Nice to drive, quiet and good performance” while marking it highly in ride quality and stability at high speeds.

Thirty-two vehicles were entered into The Caravan Club Motor Caravan Design and Drive Competition this year and were split into eight classes, with the addition of Micro Motor Caravans competing for the very first time and all were thoroughly evaluated. Like last year, a brand new award was added … the Dougal Dog-Friendly Motor Caravan Award.

This award was granted to the Shire Conversion Phoenix 2XL Studio and was the vehicle that, in the judge’s opinion, demonstrated the most dog-friendly facility onboard, including showering facility, room for dog bed and feeding bowls, secure areas for travelling and easy-clean floor and upholstery.

Other class honours went to the: Lunar Vacanza (Micro Motor caravans); East Neuk Fifer Touring S (Van Conversions costing up to £40,000); Lunar Landstar RL (Van Conversions from £40,000 to £50,000 and Overall Winner); Auto-Sleeper Kingham (Van conversions over £50,000); Marquis Majestic 125 (Coachbuilts costing up to £45,000); the Bailey Approach Autograph 740 (Coachbuilts costing between £45,000 and £60,000); the Auto-Sleeper Burford (Coachbuilts costing over £60,000); the Frankia Exclusiv I640 SD (A Class vehicles).

Commenting on the Competition, Caravan Club Chairman Grenville Chamberlain said, “It is primarily for Club members that all of this work is undertaken, helping them with their buying decisions. Furthermore, The Club is also continually endeavouring to support the industry, and by making this information available it hopes to encourage members to make informed choices about today’s new motorhomes as well as tomorrow’s used vehicles. We are delighted The Caravan Club Motor Caravan Design and Drive Competition continues to receive such great support from the industry. Our congratulations go to all the winners in this Competition.”

Christopher Macgowan
@motorhomenews