No one buys an RV solely on considerations of cuteness, but if they did, the Campod would probably be their first choice. The Campod Caravan, a relatively new presence on the market, aims to impress with its retro-modern, funky, and very cute look.
Of course, the Campod Caravan isn’t just cute, or we wouldn’t be talking about it for the second time. Launched earlier last year and officially introduced in the flesh at the Motorhome and Caravan Show, NEC, in October 2022, the Campod is cute but also pretty neat for what it’s able to offer.
The market of RVs has exploded over the past few years, with surging demand both from weekend travelers and full-time vanlifers. The Campod Caravan is situated somewhat at the crossroads of these two, in the sense that it can work as a vacation RV but can also serve for longer treks, though not exactly full-time living inside. Not yet.
If we’re to guess, we’d say that the market for an RV of this type is the young traveler or a couple of young travelers with little experience in RV-ing but looking to get started – and, perhaps more importantly, willing to turn a blind eye to certain disadvantages. We’ll get to those in a second.
Photo: Leisure Pods
The Campod Caravan is the creation of UK-based Leisure Pods, which boasts a 10-year experience in trailer building. Put it differently, until the two founders got the idea for the Campod, they were building trailers for other people: mobile coffee shops, burger joints, that kind of stuff. Because they were getting questions about an RV (a caravan, as they call it over in the UK), they used the platform they had already perfected to craft a lightweight, compact, and very easy-to-handle RV.
The Campod is 4.3 meters long, 2 meters wide, and 2.3 meters high (14.1 x 6.5 x 7.5 feet) on the outside. It’s easily identifiable by its retro styling and a certain vardo-inspired aesthetic. More relevantly, though, the Campod is unique on this segment of the market for the fact that it offers standing height, which is a rarity for compact towables.
It’s able to do that because it uses independent suspension, so there’s no solid axle running across the chassis, and the wheels are positioned outwards, allowing the floor to drop lower to the ground. When you step inside the RV, you’re actually stepping down into it, and you get 1.93 m (6.3 feet) of standing height all across.
Photo: Leisure Pods
The interior is surprisingly well-specced. The dining nook is at the rear, with seating for four people on a U-shaped bench. Remove the tables from their anchoring and use them to connect the benches, and you get a bed for two people. At 1.5 by 1.88 meters (4.9 x 6.1 feet), it’s large enough to allow a comfortable night’s sleep without having to cuddle close at all times.
Right off the entrance, to the right, is a wardrobe with a hanging rack, and it hides the portable toilet. James, one of the co-founders, explained at NEC that there is a plan to turn the wardrobe into a wet bathroom, which would make the Campod more suitable for extended stays.
It would also do away with the number one disadvantage of the RV right now, namely the lack of a proper bathroom. James says you can remove the toilet and use it inside the RV, or you could even use it inside the wardrobe, by lifting up the shelf – a hilarious idea, if you picture the wardrobe packed with clothes on hangers, and yourself going number 2 locked inside.
To the left is the kitchen, which is basic in every sense of the word, but still enough to work. There’s a small sink with hot and cold water, a two-burner gas stove, a decent-sized fridge, and plenty of storage. Optionally, the Campod can be rigged with an outdoor BBQ and an oven.
Photo: Leisure Pods
The standard Campod comes with full brakes and handbrake, large side windows that open up, a water heater and an extractor fan, and mood lighting. If your budget allows it, you can add a space heater, solar panels on the roof (600 W in total), a full-body awning, external hot and cold shower, and a motorized jockey wheel. That last one would come in handy to allow you to push the trailer into position by hand.
And this brings us to the highest selling point of the Campod, its light weight. The RV is offered in three variants (800 kg, 900 kg and 1,000 kg/1,734 lbs, 1,984 lbs and 2,204 lbs), so it can be towed by any medium-sized car. Its rounded corners make it easily maneuverable even in crosswinds, and the wheeled jockey allows even a beginner to park it by hand, after unhooking it from the vehicle.
“Highly compact, superior comfort & effortless towing. Adventures do come in small packages,” reads the description of this very cute RV. It’s currently offered in three color schemes, with the possibility to customize the exterior whichever way you want – for extra cash, of course.
Since we’re on the topic of money, the Campod Caravan starts at £23,450 ($28,900 at the current exchange rate), with a £1,500 ($1,850) non-refundable deposit, for the standard version, which currently has a 6-month leadtime on delivery. If you want to add extra options, it’ll cost you. For example, a custom color scheme is £460 ($567), while a 23-liter (6-gallon) Fiamma tank for fresh or wastewater will set you back another £50 ($62). You’re looking at a hefty amount if you plan on turning your cute Campod Caravan into a more competent RV.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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