TRAKKA Trakkadu
Verified2 reviews
great hard wearing conversion – our 2005 trakkadu does everyhing you could expect of a small camper.it is a high quality conversion and still presents as new after 15 years. you would only look at another conversion to save some money in the short term as trakkadu,s hold there value well.
Purchased in at private for $50,000.
Best VW conversion in Australia – As far as functionality and quality of finish goes, Trakka is the leader in the VW camper conversion field in AU. Apart from the obvious, not one other camper allows you to move the rear seat forward on a track. In all the other campers, the rear seat is solidly fixed in position right in the middle of the back area. All the others also have this square cut off next to the kitchen at the bottom of the bed. Frontline puts a pad on it. How bad does that look? The finish in the Trakka is superb next to anything else available.
If you have issues with something in your van, Trakka IS always great even if you have bought it second hand as we did. We had a problem with a fuse on boxing day and the phone was answered, problem resolved.
I've heard some people say that the sliding cupboard doors take up too much space in the cupboard area (where they wind up) but I would rather this than trying to open doors in a small space. I love those sliding doors.
Yes, the roof is heavy to lift but my partner does it by herself. I would not recommend this to an old woman on her own unless she was particularly strong and tall. If you read anything about campervans, putting in a poptop of any kind weakens the structure of the vehicle and creates the possibility of leaking. I think that Trakka's poptop is overly heavy because it is so heavy duty and made to last. We have not had any leaking issues with it at all. Also, this poptop only lifts on one side. When you think about this and places you might park - ie., in high winds, you can face the low side directly to the wind and not even notice it. If you have a poptop that opens like a box, it will have obvious integrity issues in high winds. This poptop is solid as a rock and I guess the weight is necessary for that.
All the beds in these van are a little on the hard side but that's the trade off if you want seats as well. They need to be firm. Kea tried to challenge this by having some formed seats. Having slept in a Kea I can tell you this doesn't work either. It was more uncomfortable.
All campers make noises in the back at times, but the worst noise I've encountered is the fibreglass kitchen setup of the Kea. We hired a Kea and it had done less than 60k and the sink was already spilt and cracking in a couple of places and squeaked so bad I would have had to pull it out.
I have heard comments about the pull out stoves on other campers. I don't like the look of that bulk behind the passenger seat, and really, if you travel away for any period of time, you will cook well away from the inside of your car anyway and a portable cooker is easier to carry. The fixed stove however is great for heating water for a quick cuppa, leaving access to the rotating passenger seat without leaving the vehicle or having to open the door.
The sliding drawer under the rear seat of the Trakka makes noise if the drawer is empty. We resolve this by using a rubber door stopper. Sometimes the roof may make a noise in crosswinds. At xmas we drove to Lismore via the New England. Not a noise the whole way. We came back via the Pacific Hway and it made the noise once we were in that treed corridor - from around Port Macquarie somewhere. This happens at speed around 110km. If you back off it stops. Definitely something to do with windflow around the car.
Owned for 2 years, from second hand, had no problems with anything on or in the Trakkadu. The solar is a must have - never have to worry about camper power again. If you dislike the cold or want to go to the snow, the diesel heater is also a must have. Everything really - looks, reliability, functionality, fuel consumption, the Trakka family Comfort of the bed but this is the trade off if you want/need rear seats. Common for all campervans. If you don't need the rear seats, use an additional mattress.
Whoops here is the first part of the above comment which for some reason didn't publish.... "Best VW conversion in Australia"...Snookies
Certainly the dearest. While everything is open to personal taste, I must say I was disappointed in one Trakka I looked at recently... a showroom model, not secondhand. Had puckering of the felt lining around kitchen window and there is a hole you can stick your little pinky down on the lower inside of the rear passenger side window, Not sure whats going on there, it seems to be because of a strut built in by VW and present on all of them (how about yours?). Not sure why it isn't present in the Frontline or Discoverer or how they avoid this. I was also perturbed to see the Fiamma awning touching the tailgate when the tailgate was lifted completely. Probably only needed adjusting but on a 100k plus vehicle it was off-putting. The sliding panels seem plasticky and ready to break, in my opinion, but you seem to like them.
I must say I was attracted by the ability to move the seat but that withered away when I tried moving it forward and the progress was difficult due to it hitting and opening one of those sliding panel door thingies. Was also wondering about how much of a pain keeping dirt out of that track and maintaining it would be especially after a visit to a sandy area.
As for the sloping pop top...maybe it has advantages (apparently it has a 150mm wider opening than the other type allowing more standing room inside) but with a toddler we need him to sleep up top and so having it up the whole length is better for us.
Cost is relative all around. Frontline costs less and then sells for less. More Frontlines on the market than Trakkas. Always was, always will be. That square cupboard will stay ugly forever.
The sliding doors often took a flogging with a load here and there and never posed any sort of problem. I've been hanging around campervans for years and the ease of access and use, negates any space they took up.
We didn’t have a diesel stove.
We have had things go wrong and validated that support rather than hoping it might be so. Can't speak for the Frontline brand.
I guess that humans apply the felt lining and sometimes they make mistakes. Don’t know anything about the hole of which you speak.
Our awning didn’t touch the door.
There is a technique to the seat sliding. My partner was very good at it.
Never noticed any problem with keeping dirt out of the tracks. Not once did we have cause to go ‘oh look, there’s dirt in the tracks’, but we weren’t people to want dirt getting into the car in the first place. Nothing worse than sand on feet and then in bed. Yeah, no dirt in car as first option.
Considering the winds we might find ourselves in, especially by the sea, I would never be confident with a four cornered roof.
The roof was easily large enough for one big person to sleep in but they'd be a young, big person because it was too uncomfortable to me.
We have moved on anyway. Like other things, we did that for 2 years and now we're doing something else. Something about too much to do and not enough time ...
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We will probably go Frontline which to our eyes seemed to exhibit better workmanship, as we have not seen one problem with the fit-out in the several vehicles we have looked at. Sure, they aren't as sophisticated as far as equipment goes but then again I'm not paying $2300 for a cooker. A diesel stove is a great idea but just too expensive and it and other non-essentials just make it too dear for what it is. The frontline is at least $25k cheaper with 95% of the functionality and lets face it, they are all a compromise as none have a lot of space to offer so I'll save my $25k for a couple of dinners out.
Must admit we think the swing out stove design is ludicrous. You have to swing it out before you can swivel the passenger seat, it is also taking up space at the entrance of the vehicle. We will just get the stove in the drawer and most often take it outside on a table when weather is fine and eat sandwiches when it isn't as we are not keen to have steam, fat and smells inside the vehicle, or at the very least minimise them. I may have been interested in a rear swing out or rear drawer stove/table (Drifta style) but none of these converters offers this option.
Frontline could look at some very cheap enhancements like fully LED lights which would probably cost them no more than the fluros to fit and run longer for nearly the same amount of light.
Having spoken quite a bit to both proprietors I must say they both seem to be nice guys and very genuine, at least when you are looking to purchase. Hopefully that is the case if anything should go wrong.
As for Discoverer, I didn't take much notice of their vehicle as I was less than impressed with their business sense and sense of what I as a customer wanted. They were friendly enough but couldn't even supply me with an options price list. Just tell us what you want and we'll price it for you. Well thats very circular because what I want depends upon how expensive it is. Who know, they could have been the best value for money out of the three of them, but they lost me then and there.
Even with a few minor faults and limitations the VW transporter fit-out is the best option for us and our style of use. People say..."you have to take everything with you even if you just go down to the shops", but that suits our nomadic way as we don't stay too long in one spot.
While we do not entirely agree on which is the best of the conversions, I would prefer any of them to the alternative of caravan, camper trailer, bigger RV or Slide-on. I hope your Trakka continues to bring you joy and performs well for you for years to come...cheers.