Royal Flair Piazza 16ft: Caravan Review

In my line of work, once in a while I come across a van with wow-factor in spades. Something unique. Something that would be the talk of the van park. A van that would prompt your fellow travellers to approach you for a look inside. The Royal Flair Piazza is absolutely one of those caravans.

True, the Royal Flair Piazza has been in production for about 10 years. Incidentally, I was the first to test it out when it was launched all those years ago, meandering along the Great Ocean Road for a week or so.

But what sets the Royal Flair Piazza apart? What is it about this caravan that would garner the curiosity – and perhaps jealousy – of other vanners? Well, it’s the only van in Australia to have an inbuilt deck. That’s right: a caravan with a deck, where you can sit as you take in the view, enjoying a tropical breeze while sipping on your beer or wine.

In a market saturated with homogenous vans, built in much the same way and separated only by their decals, the Royal Flair Piazza stands apart. It stands tall.

If I sound effusive in my praise, it’s because I really liked this van. Let’s get it unhitched, and I’ll tell you why…

SETTING UP THE DECK

Okay. The van isn’t cheap, costing nearly $150,000. The subject of our review is the 16ft model, and I realise the price tag sounds high for a van with an otherwise compact on-road footprint. But this is a case of getting what you pay for. There is engineering here. There’s precision. And there’s that unique fold-out deck system. Let’s start there.

The deck forms the front end of the Royal Flair Piazza. It contains a fibreglass lid or nose cone that folds flat against the front for travel, held in place by some over-centre catches. When released, the lid will rise on hydraulic struts to reveal the deck folded flat behind the lid. Simply lower the deck – an easy job – over the A-frame.

Then, it’s a matter of securing the front ‘fence’ by screwing in a couple of knobs and swinging out the side pieces of the fence. You’ll literally have the deck set-up in three minutes. The system requires no special knowledge or mucking around with canvas. If it looks intimidating to set-up, rest assured that it is not. Further, as I was doing it, I couldn’t help but think that each component, from the lid to the fence pieces were light to manoeuvre – it’s suitable for all levels of strength.

There are some things to note, however. First, the A-frame must be clear of all encumbrances, especially the jockey wheel. A jockey wheel is required to lift the van off the towball, but once that’s done, it’s a simple matter of lowering a support stand at the pointy end of the drawbar and removing the jockey wheel.

The design also required for Royal Flair to mount the handbrake horizontally, beneath the drawbar. Admittedly, this is awkward – it does make it a bit harder to release and engage the lever. That said, shy of re-inventing how a handbrake operates, I’m not sure what else Royal Flair could have done to achieve the unencumbered A-frame required for the deck to sit flat.

As mentioned, the Royal Flair Piazza’s deck system has been in production for a long time; however, I have noticed that it has been refined over the years, to the point that it’s quite flawless. In its early years, the nose cone had a flatter profile, but it’s since been given some angles for a sharper and ore pleasing aesthetic.

Royal Flair has also added black midge-proof screens that can be rolled up against the lid when not needed. The screens also require no special installation. Within two minutes, you’ll have the deck nicely closed off from insects. It was a little difficult to engage the press studs against the van – almost as if the screens were a millimetre or two too short – but I am certain that’s because the van was brand new. After a few uses, the material would loosen up.

One other detail, in case you’re wondering if the lid of the deck would stay up in a strong wind: Royal Flair provides vertical struts, one for each side, that even a child could install.

The deck area contains a mounting point for a TV and the relevant power and aerial connections, as well as a door connecting it to the main living quarters for easy access.

INSIDE THE ROYAL FLAIR PIAZZA

Royal Flair is a large proponent of drop-down beds. You’ll find them on many of its models, and this Royal Flair Piazza is no different. It sits above a rear club lounge (yes, a club lounge in a 16-footer).

Lower the table, remove a couple of backrest cushions, and push a button. The bed will lower electrically to your preferred height and, if required, you could position the cushions onto the table for a second bed, with the main bed positioned to the required height above.

Often, we feel the need to point out a lack of bench space, particularly in smaller vans such as this. That’s not the case here, though. Indeed, the kitchen has plenty of it, mostly due to the fact that our review van wasn’t equipped with a traditional cooktop, griller and oven – the idea being to use a portable induction stove instead, or the external slide-out barbecue. This is a design idea we are seeing more and more of as battery technology has improved. However, you can opt for a traditional gas cooktop, etc., if you wish.

The kitchen does, however, have a sink with filtered drinking water, an array of overhead lockers, a microwave, and a small under-bench pull-out pantry.

The offside is filled with storage units, including one with yet another bench top, as well as wardrobe with space to hang up some clothes next to a 141L slimline Thetford absorption fridge.

And what would a luxury touring van such as this be without a bathroom? In this case, it’s split across both sides of the van, towards the front, forming a walkway through to the deck. On the nearside is the shower cubicle, while a toilet cubicle complete with a small, attractive vanity and even a wall-mounted washing machine above the cassette toilet. If it sounds like a squeeze, it’s really not. I’m 6ft 2in and didn’t find that the washing machine was in my way when I sat down on the toilet.

Clearly, I haven’t mentioned every feature and comfort of the Royal Flair Piazza’s interior – space won’t allow it – but I think it’s one of those vans you need to check out for yourself. I highly rate the fitout and attention to detail of caravans built by Royal Flair. The precision of the joinery, the quality of the ply, the engineering, the sense of rigidity – they’re all there. I can see why the price tag is what it is which, frankly, isn’t always the case.

CONSTRUCTION

The Piazza is built atop a 4in SupaGal chassis with Tuffride independent coil suspension. The chassis gets a 3in raiser, however, while the A-frame members are 6in. Now, Royal Flair has for a long time built its vans using 18mm sheets of marine ply for the framing. Rather than individual timber or aluminium studs, picture a sheet of ply routed to the shape of the wall, with cutouts to accommodate electrical cables. The strength of this system shouldn’t be discounted. The ply is then clad with smooth aluminium.

While Royal Flair can build vans using fibreglass sandwich panels, that construction method isn’t available on the Piazza due to the deck system.

Obviously, an A-frame-mounted storage box isn’t possible, either. Therefore, a gal-lined boot towards the rear, beneath the club lounge, becomes the main external storage space.

The 12V system is comprised of a 200Ah lithium battery, two 200W solar panels and a BMPRO BatteryPlus 35HA power management system complete with Odyssey Link (which allows you to monitor the van’s crucial data via a smartphone app) as well as a digital display screen where you can control various 12V functions of the van. Should you wish to augment your solar input, an Anderson plug is fitted to the offside chassis rail – just plug in a portable panel.

The fresh water supply is handled by two 95L tanks. I was happy to see small things such as protection for the grey water tank outlet and the tap on the A-frame too. Towards the rear, on the offside, is a separate vented locker for two 4.5kg gas cylinders. 

At Tare, our 16ft Piazza tipped the scales at 2463kg Tare and had an ATM of 3000kg for a payload capacity of 537kg. You might think that 2400-odd kilograms is quite heavy for a 16-footer and, sure, that might be true, but as you have hopefully seen, this is not an ordinary 16-footer. The deck system alone adds about 200kg to the van.

Looking at it in context, this is a lifestyle rig. There are features and attributes here that add to the weight, and that’s something to consider in terms of your tow vehicle. If you wanted a lighter rig, there are plenty on the market to choose from. But none of them would have a deck or the lifestyle appeal that this van offers.

GORV’S VERDICT

How to summarise this van? Again, I haven’t touched on everything. There’s an awing, an AC unit, a TV, speaker… the list goes on. At the end of the day, the 16t Royal Flair Piazza has a small on-road footprint, making it easy enough to tow and manoeuvre, which I know from experience towing it behind my MU-X, and it opens up to become something so much more than it appears to be.

Yep, I liked this van a great deal. Who couldn’t see themselves in FNQ, sitting on that deck amongst the palms with a tropical drink in hand? The Piazza is one of the best lifestyle vans on the market.

THE SCORE 

FIT AND FINISH –

LAYOUT –

INNOVATION –

HITS & MISSES

COMPLETE SPECS