What is it?
Love the idea of a camper van but can't justify or afford something like a VW California? That's where a roof tent comes in. As the name suggests, they're portable tents that you mount onto your car's roof bars. Once you're at your camping location their foldable design means that they open up to reveal an erected tent with access via a set of telescopic ladders. No faffing about with poles or guide ropes, while packing away promises to be just as easy, with the tent folding in on itself before the cover is zipped up and you can drive off.
Thule's Approach range of roof tents is available in three different sizes - Small (S), Large (L) and Medium (M), which we're testing here. The small Approach is designed for two people, while the large version should accommodate a family of four. With a sleeping footprint of 240 x 130cm, the Approach M is designed for two adults or two adults and a child.
Prices start at £1999 for the small, rising to £2799 for the large, with the medium sitting in the middle at £2399, while there's a choice to colours, including Pelican Grey, Fennel Tan and Dark Slate.
What's the Thule Approach like?
First thing you need to consider is if your can will take the weight of the Thule Approach, but luckily the Thule website has a fitting checker that you can enter the make and model of your car into to see if it'll be suited to it. Another thing you'll need have installed are some roof bars - we tested the Thule Approach with Thule's own WingBar Evo system, so that's another outlay to consider if you haven't got these already.
It comes part assembled - the good news is that the actual tent is all sorted, but you will need to attach the telescopic ladder and put together the mounting brackets.
It's then a question of placing the tent on top of the roof bars - at 58kg and a slightly awkward shape, it's a two person job to move into position. Once you're happy with the placing, you can then secure it with the mounting brackets - there's a handy torque wrench supplied to ensure everything is as tight as it should be. Just as importantly is the fact that one of the mounting brackets is lockable - something missing on a lot of rival roof tents and means your pride and joy shouldn't be easy to steal.
You're then ready to set off - just as with anything bulky object plonked on your roof, expect fuel efficiency to take a bit of a dip. Once you've parked up though, things couldn't be simpler - unzip the cover and put to one side before pulling on the ladder, which in turn unfolds the tent. And that's it - just make sure the ladder is at the correct angle, and you're good to go.
Camping in the UK? Chances are you're going to want to put the rain cover on to be on the safe side. You'll need to drape this over the tent and then fasten at each end with popper buttons before attaching four metal rods on the side that pushes the cover outwards and away from the tent. In gusty conditions, these should be removed (they have their own pocket at the front of the tent) and the cover fastened at the sides.
If it's warm, then there are four sections that can be opened up if you wish - it's dual layered, so you can unzip the outer cover to open the tent up to the outside world, but leave the second mesh section in place if you're surrounded by midges and mosquitos. If the conditions are right you could gaze up at the stars at night.
As well as these four openings, there's access to the inside of the tent either end - again, the outer covering can be rolled up so you can peer outside, while the secondary mesh covering can remain in place or be rolled up as well. As you might have seen from various smug social media posts of people and their roof tents, the elevated sleeping position can deliver some brilliant views.
What's the Thule Approach like to sleep in? There's a dual-layer foam mattress, which according to Thule has a supportive bottom layer and a soft upper layer. We had a good night's sleep - it's definitely better if you like sleeping on your front or back, but comfy for a night or two. That said, while it goes against the ethos of the folding roof tent, if I was camping for longer periods, there's the temptation to invest in a self-inflating mattress like the Outwell Dreamboat, while Thule has its own options as well.
If you're looking at the Thule Approach M as a tent to accommodate three of you, then we'd recommend trying one out first. For two adults there was ample space, but adding in a child could make it quite cosy.
The Thule Approach folds up just as easily as it is set up - push the ladder upwards and the tent will collapse in on itself and the ladder packing away on top. Chuck the cover back over it and zip it up and you're good to go.
Thule also sells a couple of accessories for the Approach as well - these include an awning you can put up, while those looking for a bit more space (or somewhere to change standing up), there's an annex that covers one end of the tent, ladder and some space round it.
Should you buy a Thule Approach roof tent?
The Thule Approach is a brilliant root tent - it has the brand's typical attention to detail, the quality is excellent and we really like the design with the four roof openings. Compared to a lot of rivals, there's no ignoring the hefty asking price. You're certainly getting a premium product, but the occasional user might be better served looking as something like a TentBox Lite 2.0. If you can see yourself using it regularly, and with the peace of mind that comes with the locking mounting brackets, then you might be able to justify the extra expense for what is a first-rate roof tent.
