SWIFT BASECAMP 3

An eye-catching exterior and a well-planned interior make this a very appealing choice for two on tour

- Peter Baber

Price £25,495 Berths 3 MiRO 1020kg MTPLM 1146kg

SWIFT’S BASECAMP was launched in 2016, the year of the Brexit vote. And just as new variations on that theme keep popping up, so new versions of the Basecamp emerge, with different numbers of berths, but the same package of rugged good looks and units that fold to leave room for bikes.

The latest incarnation, the Basecamp 3, sports a more or less fixed bed for the first time. We visited Stewart Longton Caravans, in Chorley, Lancashire, to take a look.

Pitch and set-up

The Basecamp is designed to look striking on the road, and with its blue decals, alloys and GRP mouldings, it certainly does.

Unusually, you enter through a door at the back, but that makes it easier to load bicycles inside. Basecamp customers can also buy a Vango airbeam porch awning that is designed to fit over the back.

The Basecamp comes with conventional corner steadies, and an outside barbecue point, mains socket and cold-water shower point. There is a gas bottle locker up front. But there are no external locker doors, mainly because there are no underseat areas providing those lockers inside.

Lounge

Basecamp 3 is so called because it can sleep three people, but it’s likely only two would want to spend much time inside during the day. In that case, the dinette to the left of the door would be perfectly comfortable.

The large window helps to compensate for the dinette not being up at the front, by the even bigger central window. The area is well lit at night, with an LED.