Wonderland RV XTR 2211 reviewed at Caravan of the Year 2024 presented by MSA 4x4 Accessories

Overall Winner — Caravan of the Year 2024

Winner — Best Family Caravan and Best Innovation

A tough offroader with dual living zones for parents and kids, the Wonderland XTR 2211 is a winner for travelling families. The XTR 2211 was judged the Overall Winner at Caravan of the Year 2024 and also took home the Best Family Caravan and Best Innovation awards.

CATHERINE BEST — AUTHOR OF ULTIMATE CARAVAN TRIPS: AUSTRALIA

Value for money

The Wonderland RV XTR 2211 is a premium build and comes with a premium price tag. It will set you back almost a quarter of a million dollars, but, as the owners say, they put the best in and the best costs money. It’s also the largest van in this year’s competition, at a touch under 23ft. So, what do you get for your money? A heavy-duty, Australian-built CRZR chassis, a cleverly installed behind-fridge Arizon Victron power system and impeccable finishes — right down to the custom linen, included in the price tag.

For the money, this is a van you want to use more than once a term during school holidays. It’s designed for families doing the Big Lap of Australia and living in their van for extended travel. As such, it has double bunks, dual kids’ and parents’ living zones, indoor and outdoor kitchens, an abundance of clever storage and enough power that — notwithstanding a solar blackout — the lights will never go out. This is a van for parents who value their space — inside and outside the caravan — and don’t want to have to stay at a holiday park ever again.

Suitability for intended touring

Wonderland RV is a brand that walks the talk. The beauty of a boutique family-owned manufacturer is the caravans are personally tried and tested by the builder. Wonderland co-owners Kevin and Val Dani put the XTR 2211 through its paces during a five-week family trip to South Australia’s Eyre and Yorke peninsulas. During the extended shakedown trip — traversing corrugations and living off-grid — the caravan blitzed their expectations. 

With 340L of fresh and drinking water on board, 1600W of solar, 800Ah of lithium battery storage and a whopping 6000VA inverter, the family was always going to run out of food before power and water. In fact, the XTR 2211 has the greatest water and power capacity of any caravan in this year’s competition. By that measure, it meets its target as an off-grid family van, aided also by the OGO composting toilet. The layout could be polarising — while some parents love the kids home-schooling zone, others might lament the lack of an indoor family dining table, preferring a larger, shared living zone. Of course, there’s always the second kitchen and living space outside. 

The Wonderland XTR 2211 gets extra points for clever storage, which is so important for families on the road full time: the huge underbed cavity that’s also accessible from an outdoor tunnel-boot hatch, the dual pull-out rubbish/recycling bins and the outdoor picnic table shelving nook. I also love the deep bedside soft-top storage compartments, which effectively transform the master bed into a king — a real bonus for any pint-sized nighttime wanderers.

TIM VAN DUYL — CARAVAN WORLD CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Build quality 

I don’t think you could find a more rigid way of building a van than the interlocking system that Wonderland RV uses. The walls are 19mm structural ply, the roof a one-piece 36mm composite panel and the 17mm floor honeycomb. All panels have notches that lock into each other including the internal structure making for one hell of a tough body. It is not the lightest way of building but damn it’s tough, yet it still allows for some needed flexibility.

The cladding is 3mm DIBOND which looks sensational and within the walls, in CNC cut indentations is insulation. 

The chassis is a work of art both in its design and execution. Coming from CRZR Industries, it has 150mm x 50mm (6in x 2in) main rails with dimple-pressed, H-beam gussets welded underneath for added strength. 

It looks fantastic but the suspension is what draws your eye. Reminiscent of what you’d see under the front of a LandCruiser 70 Series, it features a solid beam axle hanging off radius arms and a panhard bar. It even has an anti-roll bar.

The outcome is a suspension setup that never needs an alignment and has a massive range of rebound and compression even when coupled to airbags like this XTR 2211 has. 

The list of appliances stands out too with the best fridge, air-con and induction cooking but again, there is a star and in this van it’s the Victron 6000VA 100A combi inverter/charger which could restart the sun, it has so much power.

Customer care

The Wonderland warranty is a bit better than most but not quite the gold standard. Workmanship and the structure of the van are covered by a three-year warranty and OE appliances and the suspension fall onto the supplier warranties some of which, like the Cruisemaster suspension, can run longer. 

There are some limitations in the warranty, but these are reasonable like water crossings not being above the floor height of the body and the fact that the van is not covered for use on four-wheel drive-only tracks. 

For the rest, the supplied warranty document looks fairly logical and well thought out and includes service items like inspections of the H-moulds every two years which are required to maintain your warranty. Fair and reasonable.

JOHN FORD — CARAVAN WORLD EDITOR

Towability

The imposing size of the big XTR 2211 should tell you this is a heavy van, and the compliance plate reveals a 3600kg tare weight, a 4495kg ATM, and a healthy payload of 895kg. So, you need a tow vehicle capable of these weights because even with an empty van, a LandCruiser isn’t going to cut it. Company co-owner Kevin Dani’s modified RAM 2500 has suspension upgrades and 1000nm of diesel oomph. Most of the American imports, as well as some of the light trucks, will be suitable.

It took some consideration to get used to the size of the towing combination. It’s not designed to duck into a shopping mall car park; you need special care around town because the extra length means you need a wide line on sharp corners. The van is relatively high, and watching branches and overhangs as you negotiate confined spaces is a good idea. Out on the open road, it’s a different matter, and it’s here the lure of bigger tow vehicles becomes apparent. An armchair ride and ample power saw us loping along at highway speeds in comfort as the slow-revving engine ate up the kilometres.

Kevin reckons on around 20–22L/h when touring, which is impressive. It’s better than my LandCruiser 200 Series with a significantly lighter van.

The Wonderland XTR 2211 towing experience was exceptionally smooth, with no banging, sway or pitching. It’s rock steady on that beefy and competent CRZR suspension, and the 12in drums at all wheels worked well when I needed them.

Innovation

Wonderland can rightly boast that it is a leader in bringing innovations to the local caravan scene. Because the team is quick to jump on worthwhile improvements to the Wonderland range, it’s no surprise that the revolutionary CRZR chassis and suspension are worked into the mix, which suits this oversized family van really well.

We’ll expand on the inspired electrical package later, but for now let’s just say that some high-voltage thinking is involved.

For most observers, the standout feature is the central bedroom because it gives the youngsters, especially teenagers, a place to call their own as well as privacy (and that goes both ways). The versatility of the setup allows for bunks on one side and a dinette opposite or, for large families or loads of grandkids, an arrangement with up to six bunks all up. Parents don’t miss out because the king bed up front has loads of room and clever storage along the sides.

An alternate layout offers a design for couples working on the road with a roomy office space and loads of storage.

Twin slide-out rubbish bins under the kitchen bench are a real winner. Many caravan owners complain about not having a handy bin; these are right where you need them and big enough to be family friendly.

The interior decoration and design of Wonderland’s vans is on a growing path to perfection, so the visually stunning THINSCAPE stone benchtops have me conflicted. My (tiny) aesthetic brain says ‘wow’, and my practical nature baulks at the non-essential weight. At the moment, it’s a stalemate.

We should add that this is co-owner Kevin’s van, which he toured with his family and the other partners (in a different Wonderland van) over the recent Christmas break to South Australia’s west coast. So, unlike many builders, the Wonderland team enjoys the caravanning lifestyle and, in the process, brings ever-improving vans to market.

MALCOLM STREET — CARAVAN WORLD FIELD EDITOR

Liveability

Wonderland RV’s XTR 2211 is a family van with a layout different from the usual arrangement. It has an almost full-width bed up front, a nearside kitchen bench and an offside dinette. Things differ from there, though, because, towards the rear, there’s a second small dinette that faces a double bunk. In short, there are two sleeping and dining areas. One for the parents and one for the junior members. Across the rear is a more conventional full-width bathroom. It’s a layout well used by Wonderland RV’s owner Kevin Dani and his family, and one he reckons works very well. I quite liked it too — it’s something a little different. 

Although the bed is full width, instead of an island bed, there are still the usual bedhead cupboards and overhead lockers. I liked the double-tier windows — it covers the same area as a single large window but with better security. In the junior bedroom area, both bunk beds have the expected features like charger points, reading lights and fans, but each bed also has built-in drawers, something both bed occupants are bound to appreciate. With all this, I expected something more sophisticated for a bunk bed ladder than the ply timber cutouts. The rear cafe dinette isn’t huge but will seat two easily and could double as a small office area as well, especially as it has all the necessary electrics, lights and fans. 

There are two kitchens, one inside and one out. Both have sinks and both use a Westinghouse induction cooktop. The external slide-out kitchen also sports a Weber barbecue. There are two fridges, a 224L compressor fridge inside and a 95L chest freezer outside. It’s a van with all the comforts built in, designed for serious long-term travel.

Self-Sufficiency

It’s an understatement to say that this van is built with self-sufficiency in spades. Starting with the Lithium LiFePO4 batteries. There’s a pair of them rated at 100Ah each, which doesn’t sound like much, except that the operating voltage is 48V, instead of 12V. Since power is a product of voltage and current, that means for the same amp hour ratings, the batteries deliver four times the power, compared to 12V. That means these two batteries deliver 800Ah. Impressive by anyone’s standards, as is the solar panel capacity of 1600W and the 6000VA inverter/charger rating. Effectively, the battery system can run the air-conditioner, fridges, microwave oven and induction cooktop easily. 

Regarding water, the toilet is a composting unit, not the more usual restrictive cassette unit. Like the electrics, the water tank capacity is impressive too because there is 240L of fresh water and 100L of drinking water. The grey water tank is a mere 95L, and the pair of 4.5kg gas cylinders. They only fuel the barbecue and oven, because the Eberspacher water and space heater operate off diesel. 

Self-sufficiency? No problem? That’s almost unheard of. Wonderland’s setup is impressive and went above and beyond what customers might expect. 

X-Factor

When a caravan has a price tag of $245,000, there’s an expectation of plenty of X-Factors, and Wonderland doesn’t disappoint. For starters, the XTR 2211 is an impressive-looking van. It’s a van that the manufacturer uses regularly, and that’s always good to know, particularly as the van layout is a little different but obviously still practical.

I liked the two-dinette arrangement with a separate area for the junior members. Particularly if travelling long term, as it gives everyone a bit of personal space, and there’s room to move. 

Not everyone likes a full-width bed arrangement, but it does have some advantages, like the storage bins on either side of the bed, which use what otherwise might be empty space. 

The battery/solar panel ratings are quite impressive, but so too is the charger/inverter/MPPT controller/DC-DC converter panel. Built behind the fridge and easily accessible from the outside, it makes system testing and repairs very easy. In addition, the use of 48V DC batteries reduces the voltage drop issue and makes for a more efficient system overall. 

The CRZR chassis design is sophisticated and different, but there are simple features, too. Like the drawers built into the bunk beds and the twin-bin garbage facility slide-out, which many vans lack but make a big difference for the cook. That about sums up the X-Factor on this van. Some things are big and impressive, but others are small but equally effective for caravan living. 

WONDERLAND RV XTR 2211 SPECS

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

EXTERNAL

INTERNAL

Wonderland RV XTR 2211 price from $172,706

OPTIONS FITTED

• CRZR chassis, CRZR suspension upgrade from XT L3 Wireless
• X-Guard
• ROH wheels and Falken tyres
• XPS insulation
• Custom robes and storage king chests, added desk
• K5-i external slide-out kitchen
• Drop-down picnic table and custom access door
• Full height pantry, three drawers, pull out bin
• Pocket sprung queen mattress
• Twin bedroom windows
• ISI Quad bike rack
• Fusion RA770 stereo, NRX400I remote, 8.8in Signature speakers, amplifier
• Arizon Victron 48V off-grid BF electrical board
• 6000VA inverter upgrade
• 800Ah Dyness PowerRack
• Additional 3 x 24V solar panels (5 standard)
• REDARC Rogue x 2 for switching
• REDVISION screen
• Starlink provision
• Dual lens car mirror monitor
• 17in light bars
• WiTi W GPS – RV Secure version
• 2 x Sirocco fans, white
• 28in TV upgrade
• THINSCAPE benchtop
• 2 x gas bayonet
• 224L compressor fridge
• Eberspacher Hydroplate Hydronic heater and HWS
• Dometic 1850 entry door
• OGO composting toilet
• 3kg washing machine and dryer
• Anti flap kit

Wonderland RV XTR 2211 price as seen $245,000

MORE INFORMATION

Wonderland RV 
46 Lara Way
Campbellfield Vic 3061
P: 03 8692 0032
E: sales@wonderlandrv.com.au

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