If a recently married man tells people he’s going to be sleeping in his car one night, concern, it seems, is the immediate reaction. “No,” I tell them, “this is for fun.”
Little do they know that the Dacia Duster I've been running for the past few months has been fitted with a fold-out bed, a double(ish) mattress and a tent, all of which combine to create a set-up that is poised to turn even the most bougie of Glastonbury glampers a shade of jealous green.
Am I about to experience the future of camping? Is this the camper van killer? We’re all about to find out with a night in a New Forest field.
We hit the first obstacle before I’ve even turned the engine on: there’s no boot space. When getting the carry-on-camping accessories fitted, I didn’t really think about how much room it would all take up. Insert face-palm emoji here. The new Duster has a pretty cavernous 517-litre load space, yet the Sleep Pack takes up the lot.
There is some space under the bed’s supporting structure, but that’s needed for the tent itself. Luckily, though, tonight it’s just me – the wife laughed and said “no thanks” – so my overnight bag, some food and basic survival equipment can go on the back seats.
I arrive at my base for the night about 45 minutes later. Despite the extra weight in the back, the Duster doesn’t drive any differently, and there’s no sign of the economy dropping from my regular 56mpg.
It’s about 1pm as I park up. It’s clear I’ve drawn a short campsite straw, because my space has no shady tree coverage and the car’s temperature gauge is currently reading 38deg C. No better time to start setting up camp, then…
The first job is to make the bed, so to speak. I did carry out a small trial at home to make sure it was working. It all made sense, but my lasting impression was that this was going to be a bit of aggro.
And so it proves. First, lower the rear seats flat and push the front seats as far forwards as they go. Next, pull out the wooden bed base, which is heavier than it looks – mind your fingers, like I didn’t – and clip it into place. Fold out the mattress, add some extra side cushions (to stop you falling into the footwell), attach the window blackouts, which magically snap into place, and… done. This time it was all rather painless – bar the finger.
Now, the tent. Anyone who has put up a tent before knows it’s never easy, but having pulled the Sleep Pack’s synthetic canvas house out of the bag, I can tell this is going to be a different level of misery.
Join the debate
Add your comment
Accurate review which will help Dacia campers decide to buy something else.
Tell me you've never been to Glastonbury without telling me you've never been to Glastonbury.
This Dacia camping kit makes no sense to me. Buy a better tent and don't tether it to your car.