Swift Explorer 580 Review

Paul Owen travelled to New Plymouth to check out the Swift Explorer 580, a British-made caravan that’s been tailored to meet the needs of our Kiwi landscape.

While the rest of the Swift caravan dealer network in New Zealand sells the Challenger 580, Nathan Butler of Merit RV in New Plymouth also offers a doppelganger model: the Explorer 580. Think of the latter as the Challenger made New Zealand-proof, as it’s ready to tackle our increasingly weather-ravaged roads with an Aussie-spec Al-Ko chassis featuring beefed up suspension, extra cross members and an extra 100mm of ground clearance.

When the Explorer settles down for the night, it does so on aluminium stabilisers that look as strong as the arms of a silverback male gorilla, and there’s plenty of permanent water storage to service your stay rather than the Challenger’s far smaller rollaway tanks.

There’s also the advantage of a payload that’s double the carrying capacity of the British model, meaning that the transport of heavier items like BBQs and electric bikes can be entertained without fear of any insurance assessment hassles should the need to make a claim arise.

Introduced into the New Zealand caravan market in 2016 after Nathan persuaded Swift to make a more Aotearoafriendly version of the Challenger exclusively for Merit RV, the $89,995 Explorer 580 has proven quite a hit with customers. “We sell around 80 Swift Explorers a year and the big attractions are that the Explorer is better suited to New Zealand conditions, can take more advantage of opportunities for freedom camping, and offers good payload,” he tells me.

The $12,000 question

With the Challenger 580 listing at $77,995 and the Explorer 580 costing $12K more at $89,995, Merit RV gives Swift buyers the opportunity to either save some dosh and spend the 12 grand saving on hiring hundreds of power sites at motor camps, or spend extra on a caravan that’s more in tune with free New Zealand touring. It all depends how adventurous you want to be, and whether you often prefer to camp independently at remote locations.

Personally, I’d take the better-equipped, more robust Explorer 580 from Merit RV every time. As 80+ Explorer buyers a year have already shown, it’s easy to regard that $12,000 premium as an essential price to pay to access a more hassle-free camping experience. The fact that you get properly monitored 126L fresh and 120L greywater tanks permanently mounted between the more substantial beams of the ‘down under’ version of the Al-Ko chassis is just the beginning of the upgrade to more enjoyable caravanning. Challenger buyers must make do with 40L rollaway tanks, a serious handicap when it comes to an extended camp at some remote fishing spot. When you reach said campsite nirvana, you can pull more camping accessories from the front, side, and underbed storage lockers of the Explorer than you can from the Challenger. The payload of the NZ oriented van is 360kg, exactly double that of the British version. That’s despite the weight of the extra equipment fitted to the Explorer: a 240w solar panel instead of 100w, twin 120Ah deep cycle batteries instead of a 130Ah single, a more secure entrance door, larger bed, bigger fridge, exterior shower outlet, and a 19” LED TV completely hooked to a roof mounted satellite dish.

Some Swift dealers in New Zealand charge $385 for NZMCA self containment certification of the Challenger; Merit RV includes this in the price of the Explorer 580. Also included are gas certification, a 50mm tow ball, and any electrical adaption your tow vehicle may require to be compatible with the caravan’s systems. This allows items like batteries, fridge and ATC to continue operating while being towed. The biggest advantage of the Explorer over the Challenger though, remains its durable underpinnings. This year has seen a reduction in the quality of our roads, with the annual maintenance budget of Waka Kotahi stretched to rebuild vast sections of state highways that have been washed away by several weather events.

At the same time, a temporary reduction in Road User Charges was introduced to help ward off the inflationary effects of the rising cost of diesel fuel. At a time when Waka Kotahi could have used more money to fix the roads from the government’s consolidated account, there has been less RUC money dropping into this source of emergency funds. It’s a perfect storm for a degrading roading network, even at state highway level. Best then, to buy the strongest caravan you can.

The Swift Twins

Besides the major chassis and equipment differences, the Explorer 580 and Challenger 580 are body doubles, sharing the same 5.8m long cabin with a front lounge/east-west double bed/rear bathroom layout. The 580 might be the smallest van in each of the respective ranges, but it never feels cramped thanks to the way the lounge is flooded with light from three sides as well as overhead, and the space-saving effect of that eastwest bed.

As usual for Swift, the body of the Explorer features a timberless construction consisting of fibreglass-reinforced plastic (GRP) walls, floor, and roof joined by accuracy-enabling metal inserts and adhesives. The bodywork panels are made of two inner and outer layers of GRP with a foam insulation core, enabling insulation performance to be measured at Grade 3. This is the highest grade given, and to earn it, a caravan interior must be able to maintain a heated temperature of 20° C when it’s -15° outside.

You enter the Explorer via a pull-out step that’s perfectly positioned to make the second step up to the raised floor feel natural. Facing you is the well-equipped kitchen, while the lounge is to the left. It features two bench seats fitted with Swift’s AirWave cushioning, said to be the perfect blend of comfort and support. A suite of drawers sits at the front of the two benches beneath the triple front windows, and there’s a row of plugs and a socket for the TV aerial, should you wish to move the TV from its usual position on a shelf in the main bedroom to up front instead.

The benchtop of the drawers can be extended as well, to create a table setting for two people facing each other. In the wardrobe of the Explorer there’s a further lounge table stored in reserve for use when there’s more than two to feed. Overhead are the speakers of the German-made Blaupunkt audio system, while there are plenty of LED spotlights to direct towards any demand for extra illumination, and LED strip lighting provides plenty of ambient light. While the ‘Aralie Sen’ wood grain veneer has long been Swift’s go-to, there are some new embellishments in the 2022 range, such as the Coyote cushions and the Oyster Grey panel and chrome detailing on the overhead lockers. They’re all steps in the right direction, as they lift the mood inside.

What’s cooking?

Everything’s on the menu inside the Explorer 580 kitchen. There’s a full oven / grill topped by a quartet of gas hobs, and a microwave for the quick n’ easy meals when plugged into mains power. At 190L, the Dometic fridge/freeze has plenty of cooled space inside and can draw energy from three sources – 240v, 12v, and from the Explorer’s 9kg gas bottle located in the front locker (with space alongside for another). The size of the sink is generous, but it eats into bench space. Fortunately, there’s a flip-up bench extension that cannibalises a bit of the lounge seating space when used. The chef of the day will find the cooking facilities have plenty of elbow room, courtesy of the wealth of floor space.

Quiet time

The main bed has a Duvalay Duvalite Apollo mattress, split near the head of the bed so that the two parts can be stacked during the day to create a wider corridor for access to the rear bathroom. If having to reconfigure and remake the bed each night is too much hassle, the longer Explorer 650 ($95,995) has a permanent island bed at the rear, preceded by a personal grooming/convenience area with a shower on one side and a wash basin/toilet on the other.

However, having a split/stacked mattress during daytime use is a great saver of longitudinal space inside the Explorer 580 cabin, and it allows Swift to install a decent bathroom in the final section of the caravan. This area can be completely sealed off from the rest of the cabin and there’s plenty of space for swinging a hairdryer or a towel in there. The shower also offers more room than a lot of caravans of this length, with a nice wide showerhead spray and some nice detailing on the mounting rail.

Swifts and Kiwis

The Explorer 580 is proof of what can happen when a huge Europe-oriented caravan maker surrounded by some of the world’s smoothest roads listens to a dealer located in a regional city on the other side of the planet and tailors a new range of caravans according to his wishes. The result is a caravan that successfully combines Swift’s body construction and design expertise with an Australian developed chassis that’s more compatible with New Zealand’s lumpy, potholed roads, then offers more useful water and energy storage. The finishing touch is the upgraded payload.

For more information, visit https://meritrv.co.nz/

Floorplan Swift Exp0lorer 580