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Roadstar Little Rippa Adventurer
r a v a n w o r ld
Roadstar’s Little Rippa
Adventurer combines singleaxle simplicity with serious
rough-road cred.
Pics JACK MURPHY
In brief...
Single-axle rough-roader
5.23m external body length
Spacious layout
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Roadstar Little Rippa Adventurer
S
ome ‘offroad’ caravans are barely worth
the material their decals are printed
on when it comes to serious travel off
the bitumen. With good weather, time,
patience, a willing tow car and reasonable
ground clearance, you can take just about any
caravan a long way around Australia.
Getting it back in one piece, however, or
travelling rough roads regularly – well, that’s
another challenge that only a few caravans
are truly built for. From what we’ve seen of
Roadstar’s Little Rippa Adventurer, you can add
it to that select list.
Roadstar’s director, Ken Nizam, specialised
in chassis building before he took over the
respected brand in the troubled post-GFC period
and he’s used his industry experience and keen
eye for detail to turn Roadstar into a serious
niche-market manufacturer.
It’s not easy to make a fairly conventionallyshaped caravan stand out from the crowd, but
heads at the 2014 Queensland Caravan Show,
does it in style.
Based on the single-axle Little Rippa compact
on-road van, the Adventurer’s DNA comes direct
from Roadstar’s heavy-duty, tandem-axle Safari
Tamer, with which it shares much of its offroad
equipment and smarts. This includes its larger
150x50mm SupaGal steel chassis with tapered
Z sections, front stone-shields and twin mud-
Tested
Roadstar Little Rippa Adventurer
Measuring up
I liked...
WORDS MICHAEL
BROWNING
Smart, smooth look, inside and out
Quality offroad equipment
Excellent stone protection
cans on a twin-arm steel rear bumper cradled
on either side of twin spare wheels. Throw in
470mm high black checkerplate protecting its
lower walls, 4t shackle anchor points, thoughtful
front and rear adjustable LED work lamps to
illuminate the hitch/toolbox or spare wheels and
you start to get the picture.
Slip underneath and you’ll be further
impressed by the van’s 2.6t-rated Cruisemaster
XT coil spring/twin telescopic shock absorber
with Grabber AT2 all-terrain Light Truck tyres,
while up-front there’s a Hitchmaster DO35
multi-directional offroad hitch and a robust
hand-brake.
Perhaps it’s the contrast between all these
silver composite upper-body cladding with its
striking decals, the windowless front panel, or
the car-like LED rear lights, but the Little Rippa
Below: The Little Rippa will follow you
almost everywhere you want to go – incalled ‘presence’, both on or off the beaten track.
comfort and style.
I would have liked
More kitchen bench space
More carrying capacity
SPAC IOUS LAYOU T
This presence grows when you step through
surprisingly welcoming, homely and stylish
what makes it appealing, as there’s nothing
unusual about its conventional, open plan
layout, with a front north-south island bed
a central kitchen with adjacent three-way fridgefreezer, opposite a leather-clad L-shaped dinette,
with a separate toilet, vanity, shower ensuite
spread across the rear of the van.
Perhaps it’s the computer designed and cut
plywood furniture with its high-gloss acrylic
maybe it’s the quality hardware, the soft-close
drawers, and the very generous headroom. Or
perhaps it’s simply the combination of all these
things that gave it a luxurious feel. Whatever the
case, you could imagine negotiating the Gibb
River Road by day in the Little Rippa and leaving
Clockwise from top left:The large
toolbox even has room for a genera
tor; the van comes with a Hitchmaster
DO35 offroad hitch; all external lights
are LED; with checkerplate protection,
scrub bars, and all-terrain tyres, this is
one tough van.
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Tested
Roadstar Little Rippa Adventurer
Roadstar Little
Rippa Adventurer
Weights and measures
Overall length7.47m (24ft 6in)
External body length
5.23m (17ft 2in)
External body width
2.44m (8ft)
Travel height2.34m (7ft 8in)
Internal height2m (6ft 7in)
Tare 2220kg
ATM 2600kg
Ball weight180kg
External
Frame Meranti timber
CladdingMill finish 3mm aluminium
composite and Dibond checkerplate
Chassis 150x50mm SupaGal
SuspensionCruisemaster independent
coil and twin shock absorbers
Brakes Al-Ko 12in electric
Wheels16in alloy with
LT265/75-16 tyres
Battery1x105Ah deep-cycle
Fresh water2x95L
Solar 1x150W roof-mounted
Air-conditionerTruma Aventa
Gas 2x9kg
ESC Yes
Internal
the red dust world outside at night.
The Little Rippa Adventurer reviewed here was
the most popular 16ft 6in (internal) queen-sized
bed model, (you can also order it as a shorter
15ft internal length van) and it delivers a good
balance between comfortable living size and
manoeuvrability.
True, its 2.44m (8ft) girth works against it on
narrow tracks, unless you are prepared to wear
some body damage. And the absence of cutaway
rear bodywork means that you can probably
take large offroad humps and steep riverbanks
off your travel itinerary. But Roadstar has
thought of this and the standard ‘terrain
protection’ brush bars that are welded to the
chassis and protrude from each side to protect
the lower bodywork, plus the rear skid rails
beneath the relatively low-hanging rear bumper,
extreme terrain.
However, the 16ft 6in package provides a
good compromise for those who want to travel
Australia without fear of unsealed roads and
with enough ‘live-in’ space for those times when
it’s too uncomfortable to spend evenings outside,
for whatever reason (hot/cold/wet/windy/
insects). Despite its relatively short length,
there’s ample room for a travelling couple to
move around the Little Rippa without tripping
over each other.
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The van’s width provides good access to both
sides of the lift-up bed, with taller occupants
catered for at night with an extendable bed base
the bed ensures good ventilation without undue
light.
than a café dinette setup in a van of this length
and while short on bench space, the kitchen
with its Swift four-burner cooktop, plus grill and
microwave below, is adequate for those times
when you want to cook inside. On the plus side,
the 184L Thetford three-way fridge/freezer will
Clockwise from top:The L-shaped dinette is an efficient
hold enough to keep you in food and drink for
use of space in this small van; a Four Seasons hatch
provides great ventilation; the fridge is a Thetford 184L; theseveral days away from a supermarket, while
the cupboards that line the upper walls and
kitchen is short on bench space but big on features.
Options fitted
None
Price as shown
$70,000-$75,000, depending
on state of delivery
Supplied by
Roadstar Caravans, 4-6 Lisa Place,
Coolaroo, Vic 3048, 1300 762 378,
www.roadstar.com.au
ROBE
FRIDGE
TOILET
BED
DINETTE
Presented by
The site for all RV specs,
tests and video features.
TABLE
ROBE
CookingSwift 500 Series four-burner
with grill
FridgeThetford 184L three-way
MicrowaveDluxx
ToiletThetford ceramic cassette
ShowerSeparate fibreglass cubicle
Lighting12V LED
Hot water23L Endless instantaneous
gas/electric
SHOWER
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Tested
Roadstar Little Rippa Adventurer
Ratings
Right: The full-width rear bathroom
has loads of space and a large vanity,
cassette toilet and separate shower
cubicle.Far right: Spotlights on the
front and rear of the van help illumi
nate things at night.
1. Value for money
2. Towability
3. Setting up and hitching up
4. Suitability for intended touring
5. Layout
6. Quality of finish
7. Build quality
8. Creature comforts
9. Innovation
10. X-Factor
are located beneath the galley and dinette will
swallow as much stuff as much as most people
will want to travel with.
from the long-distance, rough-road travel its
underpinnings equip it for is its 380kg loadcarrying capacity, which although more than
the 300kg standard for a single-axle caravan, is
while the galvanised steel-lined full tunnel boot
in the front of the Little Ripper Adventurer copes
with longer items.
But with its twin 95L fresh water tanks
and just two of the four jerry cans full, you
can only carry another 190kg of food, drink,
clothing and other equipment before you reach
the Adventurer’s maximum permissible laden
weight of 2600kg and for those planning to
spend quality time away from civilization, this
might easily be reached.
As it is, its maximum laden weight of 2600kg
is right on the upper limit for a single-axle
offroader and puts it outside the legal towing
Nonetheless, the Roadstar Little Ripper
Adventurer remains a solid, very well built
caravan with a high level of detail and excellent
THE BOTTOM LINE
The Roadstar Little Rippa Adventurer is a very
offroad caravan, built by caravan specialists.
The only thing potentially holding it back
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Below: The front bedroom is chic and
stylish.Right: High gloss silver cabine
try gives the van an ultra-modern look.