Hybrid Review: JAWA Infinity 15

Go RV - Tests

The day’s mission was to once again push one of JAWA’s offroad campers to its limits. The van JAWA had loaned me for the day was its best selling Infinity 15. The Infinity is a hybrid with two bunks in the front and a king-size bed in the rear. It has independent twin-shocked suspension from Lovells. Apparently, this van is not only designed to carry the family, but carry them anywhere. I was going to test that theory.

TOWING THE JAWA INFINITY

I left the JAWA headquarters and headed up the Bruce Highway towards Teewah Beach. This is a drive-on beach, on which you can travel all the way north to Rainbow Beach. Beautiful but challenging.

Before reaching the beach, I had an hour of highway driving to do. In a way, this is the perfect example of a typical trip away in an offroad van. Generally, 90 per cent of our driving on holidays is bitumen before we actually reach the offroad section of the journey. Therefore, you need your van to perform just as well on-road as you do offroad.

The 15ft Infinity does just that. It tows steady and smooth. The van weighs almost 2.5 tonnes unloaded; however, it doesn’t feel that heavy. They’ve managed to make it ride as if it was an extension of the car. It feels natural and instinctive.

I know this is a strange way to describe towing a caravan but these were the words that came to mind as I hauled it towards Teewah Beach. I think there are a few reasons for the way it performs. Obviously, the low centre of gravity helps. Being a pop-top, the travel height and wind drag are decreased. I also noticed in my mirrors that it was slightly narrower that some full-size vans, helping with decreasing the work load on the car and making it easier to manoeuvre.

BEACH DRIVING

The bitumen ended and the fun part began. I let my tyres down to around 18psi in the front and 25 in the rear and on the van. I hit the beach with ease and began my journey on the sand with no issues. I was filled with confidence… until it started to get soft and I felt my vehicle sinking into the sand.

With a rising tide, I tried not to panic. I let much more air out of my tyres. I jumped back into the driver’s seat and took off slowly, feeling the car and van just pop out of the sand. The vehicle started ‘floating’ across the top rather than sinking in. Obviously, I hadn’t let enough air out of my tyres initially, which meant I hadn’t created a big enough surface area on top of the sand. This was my first time towing on the beach, but if you don’t tell JAWA, I won’t either.

I cruised up the beach with ease until I found a nice, flat spot where I was able to pull up and open the van.

The first thing I did was pop the roof up, and within about 30 seconds, I had a full-height van. To lift the roof, it is simply a case of pushing a button and letting the electric actuators do the work for you. Brilliant. I then popped the rear panels out to open up the main bed area. It was quicker than setting up my swag.

The next thing I did was open up the massive, 270-degree awning, which creates a huge outdoor living space. This awning isn’t a standard inclusion; however, I would recommend it. It takes a little bit longer to set-up than the standard style of awning found on caravans; however, it creates so much more shade and protection from the elements.

The external kitchen area slides out easily, providing access to a large pantry area. All all of a sudden, I had the comforts of home in a hard-to-access remote location. Not only was there a four-burner cooktop and sink outside, but if the weather turned bad, I could step inside and use the two-burner Dometic stove and sink inside. It’s an excellent setup. I liked that an external fridge is provided – in this case, a 95L Evakool unit. A special cable guide is also provided.

This van has an excellent 12V system, too. It is comprised of two 200Ah Enerdrive lithium batteries, a 40A DC-DC charger, 600W of solar and a 3000W inverter (with inbuilt 100A mains charger) all as standard. With this system, you could run the air-con on the beach or in any remote site, if you felt like it. It also has an 80L grey water tank with two 120L fresh water tanks.

There is an external shower, including a Kickass shower tent, but if showering outdoors isn’t your thing, this 15ft van does have a very spacious shower/toilet inside.

Another thing worth noting is the size of the bunks. JAWA advertises this van as being able to sleep four people; however, I would encourage you to have a look at these over-sized bunks yourself, particularly the bottom bunk – you could sleep at least two kids there easily. Somehow, JAWA has managed to surprise me once again with what this company can fit inside a hybrid. This van is only a 15-footer and yet somehow it feels as spacious as a larger rig.

It comes with a decent range of other features, too. I’m talking a diesel heater, a Webasto Cooltop Trail 2400W roof-mounted AC unit, a 24in smart TV, a dust reduction system, rock sliders, a Furrion sound system and much more. There’s a great deal of equipment here.

GORV’S VERDICT

Being a smaller van, the JAWA allows you to reach the places you can’t normally take a full-size van; however, because the van is expandable, you then don’t have to compromise on space.

With a big outdoor living space, you’ll soon realise that while this van is able to reach places others can’t, you will also have everything you need and more.

If you need a van that can go to those remote, hard-to-reach spots with a beautiful view while also having enough room to fit the whole family, the 15ft JAWA Infinity is for you.