PUNCHING ABOVE ITS WEIGHT
Centaur are far from mainstream. They are a niche manufacturer with a build capacity currently around 40 caravans a year. There are two things that make Centaur different from most other Australian makers — they place a strong emphasis on being small and light when so much of the industry is going in the opposite direction, and also utilise a lot of fibreglass in the exterior and interior of their builds. The emphasis comes from the company's roots in the automotive industry, where they manufacture an array of components, including police divisional van pods for Victoria and Western Australia, specialised components for Walkinshaw Performance and parts for Kenworth trucks.
Centaur achieve their relatively light weight through clever design and using a minimalist approach to the features (read, weight) they supply in the base model. In other words, you choose what extra weight you want to build in to suit your needs.
The van reviewed is a Karavané, which was supplied with only a limited number of options making it more suited to caravan park stays and general touring. It had minimal water storage, no solar and a simple suspension system to deliver a tare of 1660kg. You can bring the Karavané up to a spec more suited to rougher roads and venturing away from caravan parks by ticking what you want
