Caravan Review: Jayco Starcraft
Jayco Starcraft
Here was something familiar feeling about hooking up the new Jayco Starcraft.
When we were shopping for our own caravan a few years ago, the Starcraft was one of the vans we seriously considered. We spent plenty of time walking through them, comparing layouts and working out whether it was the right van for the sort of travelling we wanted to do. Ultimately, we went another way, but I’ve always been interested to see how the Starcraft would stack up out on the road. Fast-forward a few years and I finally had the opportunity, this time with the latest MY26 Starcraft 17.54
The caravan market has changed plenty in that time. Vans seem to be getting bigger, heavier and more complex, with huge battery systems, acres of solar, independent suspension and increasingly long lists of equipment becoming commonplace. There’s nothing wrong with any of that if you need it, but the 17ft Starcraft takes a somewhat different approach.
At 17ft and riding on a single axle, it’s a refreshingly compact package. This particular model is aimed at touring rather than hardcore off-road travel, but that doesn’t mean it’s short on equipment. Our test van came with a 200Ah lithium battery, 260W of solar, 190L of fresh water across two tanks, a grey water tank, full bathroom, air-conditioning, queen bed and a well-equipped kitchen.
That’s a fair bit of caravan packed into 17ft.
But specifications only tell you so much. What interested me more was whether keeping things relatively compact meant making compromises where they really matter. As it turned out, one of the biggest surprises of the Starcraft was just how little it felt like a small caravan once we stepped inside.
Built for Touring
The Starcraft sits at the entry point of Jayco’s full-height caravan range, but I don't think ‘entry level’ necessarily tells the full story anymore. Underneath, the 17ft Starcraft uses a relatively straightforward single-axle, leaf-spring suspension setup with 235/75R15 tyres. It isn't trying to masquerade as a hardcore off-roader and, realistically, it doesn't need to.
There are plenty of travellers whose adventures involve highways, country back roads, caravan parks, showgrounds and maintained gravel roads. For that sort of travel, keeping things simple and keeping weight down has plenty going for it.
The body uses fibreglass wall construction and double-glazed windows, while the A-frame on our test van was Jayco’s extended touring configuration. There are two 9kg gas bottles up front and twin 95L fresh water tanks underneath, giving the Starcraft a healthy 190L total freshwater capacity. Our test van also had a grey water tank fitted.
One feature I particularly liked was the amount of room in the front tunnel boot. It’s a big, usable space with access from both sides and gives you somewhere to put chairs, hoses, power leads and the usual collection of gear that seems to multiply once you own a caravan. If it were mine, though, I reckon I’d look at adding a toolbox or another external storage solution. The tunnel boot is generous, but having somewhere separate for tools, levelling gear and the dirty stuff you don't necessarily want mixed in with everything else would make the exterior storage even more useful. That’s hardly a major criticism, and a toolbox is an easy addition, but it was one of the few things I found myself wanting as I walked around the outside.
Bigger Than It Looks
Stepping inside the Starcraft, it caught me off guard. From the outside there’s no hiding the fact this is a compact caravan. At 17ft, you naturally expect some compromise when you step through the door. But it simply doesn't feel that small inside. The huge windows are brilliant. There’s an enormous amount window around the living space, and with the blinds open, natural light floods into the van. The result is an interior that feels bright, airy and considerably larger than the external dimensions would have you believe. It was probably one of my favourite things about the Starcraft. There’s also something to be said for having a proper view when you pull up somewhere worth looking at. Rather than feeling enclosed inside a small box, those big windows connect the living area with whatever is outside.
The light interior treatment helps too. Our test van combined White Quartz furniture with Stone Grey laminate, Fossil leatherette seating and Havana Oak flooring. It's modern without going too far and, importantly in a van of this size, doesn't make the interior feel busy or closed in. But perhaps one of the biggest wins inside is the storage.
There’s heaps of it. Jayco has made really good use of the available space, particularly around the bed. The storage compartments running alongside the bed are excellent and provide plenty of easily accessible room for the things you want close at hand rather than buried away somewhere else in the van. There’s also dedicated hanging space beside the bed, which is another simple feature that makes a lot of sense. It gives you somewhere to actually hang shirts, jackets and other clothes rather than living entirely out of folded storage. Combined with the overhead cupboards and storage throughout the rest of the interior, it’s impressive just how much usable space Jayco has managed to find in a 17ft van. More importantly, Jayco hasn't tried to cram too much furniture into the available space. You still get a queen bed, bench dinette, kitchen and full bathroom, yet there’s enough room to move around without constantly being reminded you're in a 17-footer. That's a difficult balance to get right in a compact caravan, and the Starcraft does it particularly well.
Home Comforts
There might be less floor space than you'll find in one of the big tandem-axle tourers, but the Starcraft hasn't missed many of the comforts people expect from a modern caravan. The kitchen on our test van featured a Thetford four-burner cooking appliance, microwave, sink and Dometic fridge, with overhead and lower cabinetry providing even more storage. You obviously don't get metres of uninterrupted benchtop in a van this size, but again, that’s the trade-off for keeping the overall package compact. For the sort of touring the Starcraft is designed for, the kitchen provides everything you realistically need to prepare a meal inside.
At the front is the queen bed with an innerspring mattress, which felt fairly comfy, while the dinette provides a proper place to sit without trying to squeeze a huge lounge into the available space. At the other end of the van is a proper bathroom with fibreglass shower, toilet and vanity. That's an important point with a caravan like this. You aren't giving up your own shower and toilet just because you've decided you don't want to tow a 20ft-plus van. The Starcraft still gives you the comforts that make a caravan a caravan; it just packages them into a smaller footprint.
A Dometic FreshJet air-conditioner takes care of cooling, while the sub-continuous hot water system looks after the shower and kitchen duties. It all adds up to a surprisingly complete package.
POWER TO GO
The electrical setup is another area that shows just how far mainstream touring caravans have come. Our Starcraft was equipped with a 200Ah lithium battery and a 260W solar panel, managed through Jayco's PM335J/DC30 electrical system. A four-inch LCD control panel provides access to the van's systems, and there’s also an external solar input if you want to supplement the roof-mounted panel with portable solar.
Is it a monster electrical system designed to run an entire household indefinitely in the bush? No. But does it need to be?
For a touring van, 200Ah of lithium backed by solar gives you useful freedom away from a powered site without loading the Starcraft with a huge, expensive electrical system that many owners may never fully utilise. Combine that with 190L of fresh water and the grey water tank fitted to our van, and there’s enough onboard capacity for getting away from the caravan park for shorter stays. I would be interested to see how long the 200AH battery would run the compressor fridge on an overcast day off grid. Personally, I enjoy the comfort of a three-way fridge, despite the occasional frustration on a hot day.
Light Work
Then we got it hooked up.
This was probably the part of the test I was most interested in. I had spent plenty of time looking through Starcrafts when we were shopping for our own caravan, but actually towing one is a completely different proposition. And the first impression was pretty simple - the Starcraft feels light, at 1863kg tare weight, it is. Hooked behind our Ford Ranger, it sat pretty level, and the off-road style tyres give it a beefier look than your traditional road tyres.
It tracked nicely, felt stable and never gave the impression there was a big lump of caravan pushing the Ranger around. There was no need to constantly correct it or think about what the van was doing behind us. It was simply an easy caravan to tow.
That might sound like fairly basic praise, but I think it's one of the Starcraft's biggest strengths. When you're looking at a caravan on a dealer floor, it's very easy to become fixated on having a bigger lounge, an extra foot of space. What’s harder to appreciate until you're travelling is that every bit of extra caravan comes with you everywhere. You tow it up every hill. You pull it through every town. You manoeuvre it around every fuel station and back it into every campsite. The compact dimensions of the Starcraft make all of that less intimidating.
For someone stepping into their first full-height caravan, or perhaps downsizing from something larger, that easy-going nature could be a major selling point. It also reminded me exactly why the Starcraft had been on our own shopping list in the first place.
The Jayco Factor
There’s another element to the Starcraft equation that's difficult to ignore, and that's the badge on the front. Jayco is a huge player in the Australian caravan market, and whether you're buying your first caravan or your fifth, the size of the support network has value once you start travelling away from home. Having access to Jayco's nationwide dealer and service network brings a level of reassurance that becomes particularly relevant when you’re potentially thousands of kilometres from where you bought the van. You hope you never need it, of course, but it’s still something worth factoring into a buying decision. As someone who left their Jayco Swan keys behind when heading north once, the value of being able to swing into a dealership and buy a replacement set – I can see the obvious benefit.
There’s also the question of value. Caravan prices have climbed significantly and it's now remarkably easy to spend serious money once you start looking at larger, heavily equipped touring and off-road vans. Part of the appeal of the Starcraft is that it doesn't try to compete with them. Instead, the money goes into a relatively simple touring platform with the equipment most buyers are actually likely to use. It’s a lot of useful van for less than $70k.
The Bottom Line
The Jayco Starcraft is compact and genuinely easy to tow, but it doesn't feel particularly small once you're inside. Those huge windows deserve a lot of the credit, flooding the interior with natural light and giving the Starcraft an open, airy feeling that I wasn't expecting from a 17ft caravan. Storage is another genuine strength. Jayco has made excellent use of the space around the bed, the hanging storage is practical and the big tunnel boot gives you plenty of room outside as well. I'd still consider adding a toolbox if it were mine, but there certainly isn't a shortage of places to put things inside.
The power and water systems are sensible rather than excessive, and you still get the things that matter - a permanent queen bed, proper kitchen, dinette, bathroom and air-conditioning. Most importantly, the Starcraft seems comfortable being exactly what it is. It's not pretending to be a hardcore off-road van, and it doesn't need to be. Instead, it's a relatively lightweight, compact touring caravan that gives you plenty of the comforts of a bigger van without automatically bringing the size and weight that go with one.
In a market where it's incredibly easy to convince yourself you need more caravan, the 17ft Starcraft makes a pretty convincing argument that you might not.
Keep Your Caravan Secure on Any Surface
Once your caravan is in position, TRED helps keep it stable and secure. The wheel chocks help prevent unwanted movement, while the anti-sink plates create a wider, more stable base for the stabiliser legs on soft, sandy or uneven ground. Together with the levelling ramps, they provide a safer and more reliable setup wherever you make camp.
PROS
Good value for money
Excellent interior storage
Light and easy to tow
Bright, airy interior with huge windows
Large front tunnel boot
Good entry level lithium and solar setup
Full bathroom in a compact footprint
Large national support network
Good location for fridge near the door
CONS
Could benefit from additional external storage
Compact kitchen means limited bench space
Touring suspension won't suit serious off-road use
No built-in stereo
RATINGS
VALUE FOR MONEY 8.5/10
“A lot of caravan packed into a relatively compact package.”
TOWABILITY 9/10
“Light, stable and beautifully behaved behind the Ranger.”
SUITABILITY FOR INTENDED TOURING 9/10
“Comfortable and well equipped without carrying unnecessary bulk.”
BUILD QUALITY 7.5/10
“A neat, well-presented package with straightforward touring construction.”
LIVEABILITY 8/10
“Excellent storage and huge windows make 17ft feel surprisingly spacious.”
SELF SUFFICIENCY 7.5/10
“200Ah lithium, 260W solar and 190L of water offer useful freedom away from powered sites.”
CUSTOMER CARE 9/10
“Jayco's extensive Australian dealer and service network remains a major advantage.”
INNOVATION 7/10
“Smart touches such as the removable speaker complement a proven touring package.”
X-FACTOR 7/10
“Feels spacious inside while remaining manageable on the road.”
JAYCO STARCRAFT 17FT
WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
Overall length: 7160mm
Width: 2460mm
External body length: 5386mm
Travel height: 3010mm
Internal height: 1960mm
Tare: 1863kg
ATM: 2464 kg
Payload: 601kg
Ball weight at tare: 136kg
EXTERNAL
Frame: Lightweight Alluminium frame
Cladding: White fibreglass walls
Chassis: Extended touring A-frame/chassis
Suspension: Single-axle leaf spring
Coupling: Standard touring coupling
Wheels: 235/75R15
Water: 2 x 95L fresh water tanks (190L total) plus grey water tank
Battery: 1 x 200Ah lithium
Solar: 260W roof-mounted panel plus external solar input
Air-conditioner: Dometic FreshJet
Gas: 2 x 9kg
Awning: 14ft manual
External storage: Front tunnel boot
Reversing aid: Wireless
INTERNAL
Cooking: Thetford four-burner cooking appliance
Microwave: Yes
Fridge: Dometic Core RUC5 RH
Bathroom: Full fibreglass shower, toilet and vanity
Washing machine: No
Hot water: Sub Continuous hot water system
Bed: Queen innerspring mattress
Seating: Bench dinette
Entertainment: Removable wall-mounted portable speaker, LED TV/DVD
Control panel: 4in LCD
PRICE FROM
$65,487
OPTIONS FITTED
Grey water tank
Wireless reversing aid
White picnic table
External 17V outlet
LED TV/DVD with arm bracket
Stone Grey laminate
Fossil leatherette upholstery
Stone Grey splashback
MORE INFORMATION
To enquire about this caravan, contact Jayco Australia or your local Jayco dealer.
