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quoteThe pound stretcher!
Your bank manager will love you for this. So will the rest of your family, which is surely even more important! This lightweight six-berth caravan is eminently towable – it weighs in at just 1,380kg – and yet can be home for up to six.
Parent company Lunar keeps things simple with just the one factory-fit option – the £499 Plus Pack. This encompasses a variety of useful features – microwave oven, Al-Ko AKS stabiliser, alloy wheels, spare wheel and carrier, radio/MP3/CD player etc. Your Venus retailer will advise on what else can be added, but you’ll need to keep an eye on that sub-190kg payload, especially if you’re considering whole family use.
Sure, there’s a bit of a corridor effect to such a layout. But, it helps to keep kids and parents apart… so few are going to argue with that!
It’s very much the kids’ zone at the back, where there are two fixed bunk beds and seating for up to three around a side-fixing, angled table. The bunks are not too high, and each has a window and reading lamp.
You’ll also get two more sleeping berths from the rear seating area, where there’s a traditional high-level bunk mechanism. A pleated divider keeps this all the more separate from the rest.
The caravan’s kitchen has a three-ring corner hob to the left, with some worktop between it, and the sink and the main work surface to the right of all this. There’s a Duplex oven/grill under the hob and a Dometic 96-litre fridge with removable freezer box beneath the sink. The optional microwave is at a convenient height, too. Pegging back the equipment levels, to a degree, also means there’s that bit more storage space – particularly the large locker to the right of the fridge.
Opposite the kitchen, the washroom is large enough to accommodate a proper shower cubicle, with plastic lining, as well as a handy hanging rail (ideal for wet clothing etc). Also here is a swivel-bowl toilet and a stand-alone handbasin on a cupboard unit, but thereafter space is somewhat limited. The lack of a window is perhaps to be expected at this level, but there is a rooflight.
At the front, such is the settee length that they can make singles or a double bed, but there’s certainly plenty of elbow room for three-a-side seating if you want to eat indoors.
There’s much here to let you know this is a conventional, low-cost caravan. The single window and grey full-width locker at the front are among the early indicators. Elsewhere, give-aways that there’s some cost-cutting going on here – and there’s nothing wrong with that – include the manual-flush toilet, manual ignition for the fridge, windowless main door, sprung roller blinds, just the one towel/clothes holder in the washroom, no doors for access to the under-settee storage… Details, details, but that’s what helps keep the weight down, too. There’s plenty that can be forgiven when you view that final price again… just in case you didn’t believe it the first time.
Verdict: The price is right
Plus: Rear kids’ zone with bunks, light weight (especially for a six-berth)
Minus: Plus Pack premium makes for a more acceptable specification
In-a-nutshell: Six go caravanning… in a bit of style
There’s more information on the Venus range on the Lunar website www.lunarcaravans.com. To find out more about insuring this or your current caravan visit our caravan insurance discounts page
Alternatives: Bailey Pursuit 570-6, Elddis Xplore 526, Sprite Major 6TD
Venus 590/6 factfile
| Model | Venus 590/6 |
| Dimensions | 7.40m L, 2.21m W, 1.91m H |
| Internal length | 5.82m |
| Berths | 6 |
| MTPLM | 1,380kg |
| MIRO | 1,193kg |
| Payload | 187kg |
| RRP | from £16,424 on the road |
| Safety & security | CRiS, smoke alarm, carbon monoxide detector |
| Key options | Plus Pack (£499) |
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