GORV - Digital Magazine Issue #22 | Page 19

RV REVIEW BASED ON THE FIAT DUCATO, THE FOUR-BERTH AVIDA BIRDSVILLE HAS BEEN UPDATED FOR 2019. Avida has released its Birdsville motorhome with 2019 updates and we wasted no time climbing aboard for a test drive. It’s large, spacious and – perhaps best of all – it can be driven on a standard car licence. Based on the Fiat Ducato, the MY19 Birdsville sports an offside slide-out, fibreglass sandwich panel construction, a new nose cone above the driver’s cab, new rear mouldings, new louvre windows with roller blinds, a new four-point security entry door, a reverse camera, new decal design and a completely new interior. DRIVING THE BIRDSVILLE We climbed aboard the C class Birdsville and took it for a run along some freeways, up a couple of hills and along some secondary roads. The Ducato, with its four-cylinder turbodiesel engine, which puts out up to 400Nm of torque and 130kW of power, certainly proved capable on all fronts. Given the Tare weight of 3616kg, I expected the motorhome to be a little more ‘sluggish’ than it actually was, especially when ascending hills. Yes, there’s the expected turbo lag, but it didn’t hamper my driving experience. Externally, the Birdsville is fitted out with two nearside storage lockers, a fold-down picnic table, a reversing camera, a roll-out awning, an offside locker dedicated to the dual 4kg gas cylinders, and another offside storage locker. I appreciated the fact you can access the storage area underneath both internal dinette lounges via individual hatches in the slide-out. The Birdsville comes with a 124L fresh water storage tank and a matching 124L grey water tank. One 100Ah deep-cycle battery with a 16A charger is supplied standard, too. gorv.com.au 19