Tango Escape Series Caravan Review

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As 2024 got underway, it was time to find a van to feature within these pages. As it happened, a van found me. Tango Caravans, a dealer in Campbellfield, Vic, had a new rig in its line-up, the Escape Series. Now, Tango Caravans sells vans from numerous manufacturers; however, Tango also has its own range built to sell under the Tango banner. That’s the case with the Tango Escape Series, but there are others, such as the Stevie Series, to check out depending on your needs.

Our Tango Escape Series was a 21ft 6in tandem-axle van with a meranti timber frame, composite aluminium cladding combined with black checkerplate protection, and a long list of equipment. With 2024 gearing up, I lowered the van’s ball coupling onto my towbar and hit the highway. An hour later, I was setup next to a beautiful lake…

INNER GLOW

I’ve always thought that Tango vans have attractive interiors with well-defined layouts. Our 21ft 6in (external body length) Tango Escape Series was a family van, with two bunks in the rear-offside corner and a bathroom to the nearside. A cupboard incorporating a front-loader washing machine fills the rear wall space between.

The adjacent bathroom doesn’t break any moulds but it is certainly attractive and well finished off, while including the equipment, from a separate shower to a cassette toilet, that you’d expect.

The nearside kitchen features a four-burner cooktop, griller and oven beneath a hinged section of Laminex-finished benchtop which, when closed, provides additional work space. There’s a stainless steel rangehood, some overhead lockers and under-bench storage space, separate filtered drinking water, which is very welcome, and a microwave recessed into the cabinetry above.

Between the L-shaped dinette and bunks, Tango has fitted a large T-rated three-way fridge, which seems like a good choice for this van.

Tango also provides an infill cushion so that you can lower the dinette table to create a base for yet another bed; however, the dinette does not have 240v or 12V points in the leg area, which would be my preference. Instead, Tango has fitted two reading lights with in-built USB charging points.

In the nose of the van is the queen-size bed. The base lifts on gas struts to reveal a decent storage area and despite this van being fitted with a tunnel boot, the boot doesn’t encroach on this storage space.

The bed is surrounded by overhead lockers and wardrobes. Each wardrobe has a niche complete with a very welcome 12V and 240V point. And yes, there’s a swivel TV arm mounted in such a way that you can watch the supplied 24in TV from either the bed or the dinette.

In terms of power, the Tango Escape Series is supplied with two 105Ah deep-cycle batteries, which are mounted to the offside chassis rail behind some protective steel, as well as two 170W solar panels. Tango Caravans has also given it the BMPRO BatteryPlus 35 battery management system and Trek 3 digital display, which provides instant data on the batteries’ state of charge and water tank levels.

You can also control the water pump from this display, which means one less switch mounted to the wall. A stereo system is provided, too, along with two internal speakers and two marine-grade external speakers.

OUTSIDE THE TANGO ESCAPE

The Tango Escape Series has beam-axle leaf-spring suspension, a 50mm ball coupling, two 95L water tanks mounted towards the front, and a grey water tank towards the rear. This van is not an offroader. Instead, it is built for the blacktop with a few undulations here and there thrown in.

Two 9kg gas cylinders are mounted to the drawbar in front of a checkerplate storage box complete with jerry can holders either side and a slide-out tray on the offside to suit a small generator or portable fridge.

This van comes with a reversing camera as standard, so along with the 12-pin trailer plug, you’ll find the connection for the in-cab display, as well as an Anderson plug for charging the van’s house batteries off the alternator when under way.

The nearside of the van isn’t flush with equipment but it has the essentials, such as a roll-out awning and picnic table. Now, this is a very small point but I liked that Tango used a table design that doesn’t require keys. After all, caravans have too many keys as it is and do we really need yet another for the picnic table?

At the rear of the van, Tango has mounted a bike rack to suit three bikes. This is, after all, a family caravan, so the bike rack is a very welcome inclusion. In fact, you might say it’s almost mandatory for a family van.

At this point, you may be wondering what a sizeable rig such as this weighs. Our 21ft 6in Escape Series tipped the scales at 2650kg Tare – which is about what you’d expect – while the ATM is 3277kg. This gives the van a healthy payload capacity of 627kg. While the van towed beautifully behind my MU-X, it’s worth pointing out that my vehicle is limited to towing 3000kg, but the van wasn’t fully laden and we were totally legal.

However, to make full use of this van’s payload allowance, you’d be looking at one of the many 3500kg-rated tow vehicles and because the van is a couple hundred kilos lower than 3500kg ATM, you shouldn’t run into many GCM issues – but always do your sums.

GORV’S VERDICT

The 21ft 6in Tango Escape Series towed well, it has a generous list of equipment and an excellent layout that should cover the needs of the entire family. While there is scope to up-spec the van later on down the track, perhaps with some lithium batteries and additional solar, it comes from the factory with each base covered.

I enjoyed my time with this van and can see that it would suit a young family with aspirations of hitting the road full-time.