Skoda Roomster camper review – is it a good car for car camping?

I’ve noticed quite a few searches coming to this website looking for “Skoda Roomster camper”, so I dug into it. Is Skoda Roomster a good camping car? Does it meet the basic requirements – especially boot length? Or is there a better alternative in the same price range?

Skoda Roomster Review summary

Is Skoda Roomster a good car for car camping?

This section focuses on assessing how does this car perform in car camping setting – space, storage, features useful for camping, extendability (how easy it is to add car camping gear).

Used Skoda Roomster prices

Skoda Roomster is a cheap car, so you can’t go wrong here – various models used prices range from around 1400 EUR (1200 GBP) to 9500 EUR (8125 GBP) on autotrader.co.uk at the time of writing. In short – plenty of offers under 10,000 EUR.

But beware – according to carbuyer.co.uk’s review entry level cars don’t even come with A/C… so cheapest might not be the best for a long journey during hot summer days.

Dimensions & Storage

Although the height and width are standard and acceptable for car camping, the boot length is where Skoda Roomster misses the mark by quite a bit – 150cm long boot means you won’t be able to stretch your legs at all. You can of course push the front seats forward and gain more room in the back, but at the cost of storage space in the front. This is why we make the cut off at 170cm (so you don’t have to push the front seats forward or not by much).

Storage-wise, in the front you will get the standard compartments you’d expect – storage in both doors, 2 (small) compartments in front of the passenger, cupholders in front of the gearstick. There is no overhead storage like VW Caddy or Sharan – or perhaps a small glasses compartment in newer models. Newer models should also come with a drawer under the front seat. Some models come with an armrest with built-in storage too.

It’s pretty standard for the 2nd row of seats – door storage and a small compartment + 1 cupholder between the front seats. The boot offers two quite big compartments on both sides + flat surface next to the window to put things on too. Some hooks that will come in handy + an add-on compartment (the half-circle strap bottom right) – although that might get in the way of a camping bed.

Electric sockets – 12V outlets

There are 2 12V outlets – one in the front by the handbrake, one at the back – although I couldn’t find any images of it, only a random mention in a forum.

Rear seats portability

The Skoda Roomster has two options to hide away the 2nd row of seats – you can fold them (back rests) or you can lift them up towards the front. Lifting them doesn’t really work for sleeping in the car, therefore it’s not usable for our purposes. Folding them down is ok – it creates a platform you can support your camping bed on, with some storage space towards the rear of the boot. Similar to VW Sharan 5-seater that I have converted for less than 110€ in this post.

There’s also option #3 – you can take the seats out completely, which will give you much more room. And they are quite easy to take out too.

The trouble with the Roomster is that it’s much shorter compared to the Sharan and also a bit lower – so whatever solution you will build for sleeping & storage, you will have less room than in any of the bigger cars on our list. Of course, you get more headroom than in a standard estate car, but you can’t escape the fact this is a shorter car. The need to push the front seats forward isn’t something we’re looking for in a camping car – therefore it’s a pass, but just barely…

The Skoda Roomster, therefore, isn’t the best car for a car camping conversion. You can still manage (especially if it’s a 1 person conversion, where you can push one of the front seats to the front to gain room), but there are better alternatives out there with much more room. Don’t buy a Skoda Roomster for camping, but if you have one, you can still convert it do a camper, some inspiration can be found here:

source: https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/412482-converting-to-a-small-camper/

Is Skoda Roomster a good car for driving?

This can get very subjective – you can see more detailed reviews on these websites:

Whatcar.com rating: 3/5 • Autocar.co.uk rating: 4/5 • Carbuyer.co.uk rating: 3/5

Is there a better camping alternative to Skoda Roomster?

The verdict here is probably obvious by now – Skoda Roomster can be converted to a microcamper, but it’s not the best car camping vehicle because of it’s size & low level of comfort. There are better – longer and more comfy alternatives out there and you don’t even have to pay that much more. If you are thinking about buying a Skoda Roomster specifically for car camping – don’t – check our microcamper reviews and I’m sure you will find a better car.

Here’s some suggestios to get you started:

The Roomster is a cheap car – used prices average at around 4400 EUR (3700 GBP) [using year 2011 as a benchmark). This eliminates our favourites like VW Sharan or VW Caddy Maxi but still leaves some good camping cars to choose from. The first two (Peugeot and Citroen) are very similar to the Roomster, but slightly longer. Then there’s

Slightly higher price range, but close:

Ford Galaxy

• 2011 used prices start from 7380 EUR (6300 GBP)
• Boot length 204cm
• Boot height 90cm
• 7 seater – much easier to fold seats down & have flat surface
• more expensive, but has a much better comfort rating
• no sliding doors
• check out this DIY Ford Galaxy camping conversion