If a recently married man tells people he’s going to be sleeping in his car one night, concern, it seems, is the immediate reaction. “No,” I tell them, “this is for fun.”
Little do they know that the Dacia Duster I’ve been running for the past few months has been fitted with a fold-out bed, a double(ish) mattress and a tent, all of which combine to create a set-up that is poised to turn even the most bougie of Glastonbury glampers a shade of jealous green.
Am I about to experience the future of camping? Is this the camper van killer? We’re all about to find out with a night in a New Forest field.
We hit the first obstacle before I’ve even turned the engine on: there’s no boot space. When getting the carry-on-camping accessories fitted, I didn’t really think about how much room it would all take up. Insert face-palm emoji here. The new Duster has a pretty cavernous 517-litre load space, yet the Sleep Pack takes up the lot.
There is some space under the bed’s supporting structure, but that’s needed for the tent itself. Luckily, though, tonight it’s just me – the wife laughed and said “no thanks” – so my overnight bag, some food and basic survival equipment can go on the back seats.
I arrive at my base for the night about 45 minutes later. Despite the extra weight in the back, the Duster doesn’t drive any differently, and there’s no sign of the economy dropping from my regular 56mpg.
It’s about 1pm as I park up. It’s clear I’ve drawn a short campsite straw, because my space has no shady tree coverage and the car’s temperature gauge is currently reading 38deg C. No better time to start setting up camp, then…