Coachman has merged its Vision and Pastiche ranges for 2020, to create one new Acadia line-up, which has Alde heating fitted as standard.

The company says this means that it has become the first UK caravan manufacturer to fit Alde heating only. But it also means you cannot buy a new Coachman for under £20,000.

As with many other firms this season, there are also 8ft-wide caravans – the Laser range is extended with two new Xcel models, while an 8ft-wide Acadia was unveiled at the October 2019 NEC show.

Idyllic Acadia

The 10 models in the Acadia line-up (the name derives from Arcadia, an idyllic garden) include two bunk-bed layouts from the Vision range – the 580 and 630 – and three from the Pastiche, including the 470, which has an L-shaped front lounge, and two end-washroom layouts, the two-berth 460 and the four-berth 565.

There are three that featured in both old ranges, including the unusual 520, with a single side dinette, and two island-bed models, the 545 and the 575. An entirely new twin-axle, the 675 – a longer version of the 575 with part of the extra space taken up by a sideboard next to the door – was unveiled at the launch.

The new 8ft-wide model, the 860, also with a twin-axle and an L-shaped front lounge, large side dinette, rear corner bed and rear corner washroom, will also be launched at the NEC in October.

Along with the Alde heating system, other innovations for the 2020 season include an external access locker door, added on the 565 and the 575. The two all-new models in the range also benefit from this.

The island-bed on the 575 and the 675 can be retracted to allow for more room to walk around the bed. The 860, 675 and 630 all come with the 133-litre Dometic 10S series fridge, while all other models have a 115-litre version.

Prices for the new range start at £21,800 plus £545 delivery, and go up to £25,400 for the 675; the price for the 860 is yet to be announced.

Coachman says that generally, prices for the new Acadias are 2% lower than they would have been for an equivalent 2019 Pastiche after the price rise in February this year. So for example, where a 2019 Pastiche 470 was priced at £22,785, for the 2020 season the new Acadia 470 now costs £22,340.

Larger Lasers

The two new Laser Xcels both have a transverse island-bed in the rear, and are, in effect, extensions of continuing conventional-width Lasers.

The Laser Xcel 850 has a central washroom, similar to the Laser 650. The extra width enables it to have a particularly large dresser unit in the rear bedroom, and unlike the 650, you also get a rear window. The Laser Xcel 875, meanwhile, has an end-washroom, similar to the 675.

But the new models have more than just extra width: they also come with an E&P levelling system fitted as standard.

All of the island-beds in both Laser and Laser Xcel are now retractable, to give you extra space to walk around them.

There is also now a white, domestic-style ladder radiator in the washrooms. And in the front lounges, you will find an integrated wireless mobile charging unit. This is suitable for iPhone 8 and above and Samsung 7 and above.

The three continuing Laser models now cost £31,265 plus delivery. That’s the same as 2019 models have been priced at since February. The two new Xcels are priced at £35,400.

And so to the VIPs

With all of the focus this year on the new Acadia range and the new wide Xcel models, you would have thought that with Coachman’s middle-range VIP line-up, it would just be business as usual. But there have been some changes.

For the 2020 season, the range continues with five models – the 570, which was introduced last year, and featured bunk-beds and a children’s dinette in the back, has been discontinued.

New-season VIPs also come with the same mobile phone charging unit and domestic-style washroom radiator that you’ll find in the Lasers.

In addition, the transverse island-bed fitted in the 575 model is now retractable.

Prices range from £25,425 to £27,495, excluding delivery. That is roughly a 1% increase.