Motoring

with Toby Aiken

Way back in 2015, I started my automotive journalist journey with my first car review. I reviewed a BMW 3 Series tourer.

That weekend, we took it camping in the Forest of Dean as it was a practical estate and could fit a lot of camping paraphernalia in it. In fairness, it was slightly smaller on paper than my own car at the time, but it looked a hell of a lot better.

Now, I know this will cause some feathers to be ruffled, but here we go. I don’t like camping.

There, I said it. I like my own bathroom, a toilet that doesn’t require a walk outside in the middle of the night and a mattress that doesn’t deflate overnight. I know many of you will like camping, and that’s fine, you’re just wrong (in my humble opinion!).

But I digress… This summer, as a family, we went camping again in a BMW 3 Series Tourer (my own this time) but –thankfully – not in a tent.

We went to Brittany and stayed in a log cabin (with its own toilet) and had a fantastic time. But the thing is, in 2015, my kids were five and one. Their clothes and accoutrements didn’t take up a lot of room, apart from the buggy. Now, they are 11 and eight and wanted to bring a lot more ‘stuff’ with them.

My car has a spacious boot, but I wasn’t convinced it would be comfortable in the back with the odd bits of luggage that wouldn’t fit piled around the kids.

Enter Halfords PR team and a nice shiny roof box. And the rails to go with it, as my car didn’t have them. And the fitting service too to make sure it wouldn’t fall off.

The time of the holiday came around and I had the luxury of packing into the boot and the roof box. Fitting the box was no problem, with four very straightforward hand clamps inside the box. Picking what went in each was also fine as the box can handle a good amount of weight and has a diagram inside to suggest items for an even weight distribution.

As it turns out, I kept relatively light but awkwardly shaped objects for the box, and the cases and bags went in the boot. The box also has a few ratchet straps to secure everything inside before you close and lock it.

I’d always been sceptical of the practicalities of driving with a massive box on the roof – decreased handling ability, wind noise, aerodynamic drag and increased fuel consumption were heavy on my mind, especially given the recent hikes in fuel prices.

But in reality, despite a little noise (drowned out by the kids in the back) I didn’t really notice a difference and the trip went off smoothly on all fronts. We also had space to spare to bring back some wine!

So to anyone considering camping, my advice is to avoid tents at all costs. Instead, get yourself a roof box, put on a good road trip playlist and find a log cabin or cottage with an internal toilet!