Wcaravan or mobile home? For many families who want to experience caravanning as a form of holiday, this question does not even arise. A mobile home is out of the question for them because it is simply too expensive as an additional vehicle. And you usually already have a car.
So you don’t have to spend at least 50,000 euros on a small campervan, but for a basic price of 26,600 euros you can get a brand new LMC Tandero 500 K, for example. The K stands for children and alludes to the three bunk beds that are in the rear of the car. The little ones will love it, they should even weigh up to 80 kilos if they want to lie on top or in the middle. There are also windows on each side of the bed. We think that you can bear it there well, even if our children are now falling into the weight class that may at best be at the very bottom.
Decent kitchenette
Mom and Dad sleep on the other side of the Tandero, i.e. in the bow. The double bed does not have to be built, it is permanently installed. There is plenty of storage space under the slatted frame, which can also be filled through a flap on the right side of the trolley. One can argue that a seating group would perhaps make more sense here, if only because the one installed on the left in the middle of the car is rather small. There is actually only room for four people here, a fifth person could sit on a stool at the head of the table, but it’s very cramped.
In everyday camper life, this is put into perspective. Anyone who goes on vacation for a longer period of time – we were only on the road for a long weekend – also has an awning with them, and life during the day mostly takes place outside. Opposite the seating area and thus to the left of the entrance is the kitchen unit, which is of a decent size and is easy to work on. The stove has three flames, there is enough counter space and storage space. The refrigerator, which adjoins the kitchen block on the right, is quite large (179 litres).
residential report
:
LMC Tandero 500 K
We especially liked the pull-out bottle crate. To the right of this is a 53 centimeter wide closet, in front of the bunk beds at the very back. We were surprised that the test car was not equipped with a shower. It turns out that caravan owners apparently do good calculations. Just under 30 percent of customers would order a shower option, says the manufacturer, it costs 1,030 euros here. The rest always showers in the washrooms of the campsite. This also puts the size of the fresh water tank into perspective: if you can’t shower, the 44 liters under the right-hand bench are sufficient. A permanent external connection with a 76-liter tank is available for an additional charge of 180 euros.
The mobile waste water tank finds its place in the large drawbar box while driving, here are two 11-kilogram gas bottles. Other accessories such as the cable reel for shore power, the crank for the four stand supports, the wheel chocks and much more can also be accommodated.
Pay attention to the driver’s license
You can burden the single-axle Tandero with a lot, the test car around 500 kilograms. The permissible total weight was 1.8 tons, although it is usually only 1.5. The loading again costs 525 euros. However, this means that not every car-caravan combination can be moved with the simple B driving license. Since 1999, the B license has only been valid for up to 3.5 tons. If the car has a permissible total weight of 2.2 tons and the Tandero is to be towed, the limit is exceeded by 500 or 200 kilograms. On the other hand, the old driver’s license, issued before 1999, the expensive trailer license E or the extension of the B license to 4.25 tons, which can be mastered in a one-day course.
Our towing vehicle, the Volvo V90 B6 Cross Country, had a permissible total weight of 2450 kilograms, so it fitted the extended B license exactly – like almost all standard trailer combinations. Existing driver’s license holders are allowed to move a total weight of up to 7.5 tons. Important: In these driver’s license questions, it always depends on the permissible total weight, the actual weight is irrelevant.
A Volvo station wagon has always been a classic family car, even if prices have galloped away. The test car price was a whopping 89,990 euros at a base price of 69,350 euros. But the Volvo, with its all-wheel drive and 300 hp from a displacement of two liters, proved itself as a sovereign towing vehicle. However, there was a sensitive trailer surcharge. Solo, the V90 came to almost 10 liters per 100 kilometers, with an empty caravan on the hook it was 13, fully loaded with four people and luggage even 14.
The station wagon, which is almost five meters long, offers a huge amount of storage space. When we returned the Tandero to the factory in Sassenberg in Münsterland on the way back from the North Sea, everything that was previously in the caravan fitted into the car. Mathematically, the V90 swallows up to 1473 liters of luggage. Without folding the back seat, it’s a good 500 liters.
The moderate basic price puts it into perspective
Coincidentally, not only the caravan, but also the towing vehicle was white, which always brought appreciative looks, the team simply made something. Also because the Tandero with a total length of 7.27 meters is by no means a small caravan. Moving more than 12 meters is something you have to get used to every time. As a single-axle vehicle, the Tandero can still be maneuvered easily after uncoupling with physical exertion.
Back to the beginning of the story. The moderate basic price is put into perspective by the additional equipment, which is often necessary and has to be booked separately. The moving Tandero 500 K ultimately came to 38,455 euros. Not even a piece of cake. But a large caravan also costs good money. As a K variant, the Tandero is brand new in the LMC product range, the abbreviation stands for Lord Münsterland Caravan, which only produces locally in Sassenberg.