Discovery Time
Although we at KEA Tracks do work for a motorhome manufacturer, it is sometimes a bit unfortunate that we've not able to play with our products as often as we might like.
However, in recent times, we managed to grab the keys to one of our new motorhome designs - the KEA Discovery 4 - and sneak it out of the office car park without the boss noticing.
The little venture resulted in the Botany Bay trip notes that appeared in last month's column, but in addition to the Botany Bay tour, KEA Tracks thought we might present an unbiased (well, sort of) report on the Discovery 4.
Here's what we discovered, pun fully intended...
ROOM FOR FOUR
Now, we had come across the Discovery 4 layout before in New Zealand, based on a Chinese-built LDV chassis. There's no doubt the LDV chassis is a bit basic and so we mentioned this loudly once or twice around the design office, adding that maybe the motorhome might be even better on a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter chassis.
Someone was obviously paying attention, because the 6.7m Discovery 4 is the result and is built on a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 313 CDI chassis.
If you were wondering about the motorhome's name, the '4' refers to the fact that this RV doesn't just seat four people for travel, but sleeps them come bedtime as well.
Interestingly, the Discovery 4 doesn't have a luton peak, which does raise the question of where four can sleep, but that has been achieved in quite a clever way.
In the rear is a standard club-style lounge with windows all-round, which comes with a table that can also be easily folded down to make up a bed.
Above that, fitted into the ceiling area, is a second bed that can be lowered without difficulty by hand and set at a number of different levels.
Of course, there is also a supplied ladder for clamering up or down, and another asset is that the bed can be left made up all the time.
FULLY LOADED
To seat four people, there are, of course, two cab seats and also a two-person bench behind the driver. Both cab seats swivel around to create a social seating area in the front of the motorhome, should that be desired.
There is also a kitchen and a bathroom in the Discovery 4.
There kitchen bench fits into the mid left-hand area and has a cooker/grill, stainless steel sink and a 130L compressor fridge. We particularly like the drawers that have specially-designed cutouts for plates, cups and glasses - this reduces the rattling factor no end as you drive along.
The remaining space opposite the kitchen is taken up by the bathroom.
This come will equipped with all the essentials - cassette toilet, flexible hose, shower and small wash basin. A large wall mirror completes the picture.
STORAGE ALL OVER
Included in the overall design are those little features that everyone has come to expect, such as the Roman blinds on the windows, LED light fittings everywhere, generous sized cupboards and powerpoints in useful locations.
Like all of the KEA fleet, the Discovery 4 is built with fibreglass composite walls and roof, along with fibreglass mouldings to add to the necessary contours front and back.
Once of the great features about the Discovery 4 is the external bin storage. Due to the design of the internal rear club lounge, the builders have also managed to fit in a good sized tunnel boot across the rear - large enough for all those camping essentials and a few luxuries as well.
In addition the bin space, one other handy feature is the Cvana awning. It has been designed to withstand the rigours of rental-van life, so will be easily handled by a less demanding owner.
On our travels around Botany Bay we discovered that the 95KW/360Nm, 2.2L turbo-diesel-in tandem with seven-speed automatic gearbox-powers the Discovery along well enough.
Anyone who has done time on the roads around Sydney airport will know that keeping up with the traffic flow is just as important as knowing what is going on around you, so good rear-view mirrors are extremely useful.
Since the Discovery 4 is slightly narrower (2.2m/7ft 3in) than a standard motorhome, we found it simple to manoeuvre between traffic lanes and in carparks.
Another handy feature to make life easier is the tablet-based SatNav system that comes standard.
At the conclusion of our test drive, the last remaining problem was to get the motorhome back into the parking lot before the boss noticed. Fortunately, she decided to take the afternoon off and it was a done deal.
