What's the difference?
Cub Campers is Australia’s oldest camper-trailer manufacturer and one of the oldest businesses in the caravan and camping industry, having just celebrated 50 years of operation in 2018.
The company can lay claim to inventing the soft-floor camper trailer, pioneering the rear-fold and championing off-road campers when everyone else was concerned with the on-road market. Amongst all that, though, it was late to the game when it comes to forward-fold campers, not releasing the Frontier until early in 2016, well after the flood of Chinese manufactured versions became immensely popular. So why did Cub wait so long and was it worth it?
Before the 1980s, when air travel was expensive, the humble Australian family car had to be able to tow a big boat or caravan in order to take the brood on holidays across our vast, sunburnt land.
Many turned to oversized American barges, like the Dodge Phoenix and the Pontiac Parisienne. People loved their massive dimensions, huge interiors, endless torque and look-at-me status.
And guess what? They still do. And even the same carmakers remain today, thanks to Chrysler’s Ram 2500/3500 Heavy Duty (HD) – which grew out of Dodge – and General Motors’ Chevrolet Silverado 2500 HD.
Now, the Ram HDs, which were also the first of the modern American remanufactured trucks in Australia back in 2015, have come in for an overhaul.
How do the latest 2500/3500 stack up? Keep reading.
All in all, the Frontier is the best forward-fold camper on the market, although it is also the most expensive. If you were making a buying decision purely based on features, you’d probably look elsewhere, but if you are prepared to pay a little more because this camper-trailer is Australian made, you get a very functional camper that’s easy to set up, reliable, strong and light.Â
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If you're a grey nomad with a massive caravan searching for something to do the big lap in, or a big boater seeking an effortless weekend getaway machine, then this sort of ute makes sense. The HD series shows just how much more muscle is available, for those who genuinely need it.
But if towing or hauling to the max isn’t your priority, then the far-more dynamic – and class-leading – Ram 1500 series does everything else with much-greater aplomb.
Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with accommodation and meals provided.