Lifestyle Reconn R2 vs BYD Sealion 8

What's the difference?

Once upon a time Queensland was the home of Aussie camper-trailer manufacturing and companies, such as Lifestyle Camper Trailers, were pumping out camper after camper to happy customers. But then came the imports and the price that people were willing to pay for the product dropped very quickly. Many local companies succumbed and just went out of business, others started importing their own and some innovated, developing new products; Lifestyle did two of the three. 

Today Lifestyle only builds light-weight, heavily off-road caravans which it calls Hypercampers and others would call a hybrid caravan, because it takes some elements of a camper-trailer and others of a caravan. It has four models, one of which is built in China in a factory the company part-owns. The other three, including the Reconn R2, which I’m testing, is built in Queensland.

As the flagship variant, the BYD Sealion 8 Premium all-wheel drive makes a big first impression as it arrives with seven seats, a plug-in hybrid powertrain and a features list that reads like a wish list.

It’s also stepping into a competitive space, lining up against the Chery Tiggo 9 Super Hybrid, Kia Sorento GT-Line PHEV and Mazda CX-80 P50e Azami - all promising similar blends of efficiency, space and value for Australian families.

The Sealion 8 Premium looks like a strong contender on paper … but does that translate to the real world?