What's the difference?
In 15 years as a car reviewer there have been plenty of super luxurious cars and there has been plenty of people moving. But not many super luxurious people movers. Until now. Until the Lexus LM 500h.
This people mover costs a quarter of a million dollars. And if that caught your attention you probably also want to know what that buys you. My family and I found out when we lived with the LM 500h Ultra Luxury for a week.
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?
The Lexus LM 500h is luxurious, comfortable, practical, easy to drive and expensive. While it may appear to be the ultimate family car, with only four seats it's limited in terms of how many kids and their friends you can carry. On top of that, the privacy screen introduces accessibility issues to the kids you wouldn't encounter on other vehicles. If you are thinking of a Lexus people mover as your next family car I'd suggest looking at the LM 350h which has seven seats and no privacy screen. If you’re looking at a business class executive van the LM 500h would be perfect.Â
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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