Does anyone on here have experience of car camping? Want to join my family on a camping trip, but need to sleep in my car with a tent attached. Would like to hear ideas ect. I have a Ford Ecosport, which is not the ideal car for this, as the tailgate opens outwards. Any suggestions please?
------------- Anne Blackpool
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I have seen adverts for tents for car camping in recent months.
Have a Google and see what you can find to suit your needs and wants.
TentBox is very popular, however, they are not on and offable like a roof box due to the weight, more like a permanent feature once fixed to the roof of a car.
Is there any reason why you cannot put up a tent and need one that is attached the the tailgate of your car please?
You would also need to check with the campsites whether they would allow car camping with a tent attached to the tailgate.
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
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- 2026: FR+DE
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* Ex-tenter
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Don’t necessarily need a tent, unless you’re on a site that doesn’t allow car camping. Car campers regularly use our seaside car parks, which have gantries. Latest I chatted to (we were both watching a classic yacht race) was a woman on her own: standard 5 door car; passenger seat as far forward as possible with its back cranked forward; back seat folded down; and a duvet laid down as a mattress. No tent. Everything in stacked boxes & bags. I did ask her if she had a portapotti, she said she went into the bushes when the public toilets were closed at night (not a problem on sites, obviously).
There’ll be condensation at night, and the car can get cold at night too, but the main thing to work out is how to stop people looking in, and keeping the daylight out so you don’t wake up at dawn: silver screens or trap towels in the windows / doors or string curtains.
I've certainly slept in the back of an estate car, when the tent collapsed and was unusable, and for many of the reasons Fiona highlighted above, it was NOT an enjoyable experience, and I have no desire to repeat. It wasn't the bedding that was the issue, that was just as comfortable as when in the tent and the boot floor was completely flat, but it was not as warm as the tent, the condensation from the car interior positively 'rained' on us (you can get that in a single skinned tent too!), and you wake up with the birdies on sunrise as no curtains on windows, and once the sun is breaking above the horizon it got 'toasty' in the car as shining in on you through the windows! No privacy, as it's a goldfish bowl with the exception of the windows maybe being 'frosted' with condensation! It was a means to an end, but not something I'd opt for again!
All that said, it was a long time ago, cars are now better insulated, windows are often tinted/heat reflecting etc.
It's certainly a lot more relaxed these days than it used to be, but 'car camping' used to be an absolute no-no on probably most sites, tailgate tents have somewhat 'greyed' that area and it's a lot more acceptable now. Seem to recall some sites insisting of 'privacy curtains' in some form on the car windows.
I'm not sure I see huge advantages in tailgate tents over a conventional tent, I certainly see disadvantages. Why is a tailgate tent your first choice? If you are camping with others, presumably you can avail of their facilities for cooking etc. so you are only looking for sleeping space.
Little difference in cost between a tailgate tent and conventional tent of decent size, you'd probably want a 'mattress' of some kind to sleep in the 'boot' (assuming 'boot' floor is entirely flat without lumps and dips!), as even fully reclining car seats are not usually great for sleeping comfort (I've grabbed a few hours 'nap' a few times on long journeys, but of dubious worth!). You'll need a sleeping bag or some bedding to keep you warm, it can get quite chilly overnight when 'camping' in any form. You shouldn't be cooking inside a car with gas appliances, nor inside a closed up tent (risk of carbon monoxide poisoning from gas fumes).
If you want to go out in the car once pitched, you need to be a pretty good driver with excellent reversing skills to get the car back in correct 'mating' position with now freestanding tailgate tent, and that's going to be no more than a few centimeters latitude at most!
Everything is doable, only question is, is it the best way of achieving end goal? A fair number of people do car camping, but do they ever think about is it the best way, it may have merits for a 'quick and dirty' overnight stop (I may even question that!), but it does seem a hard way to camp properly IMHO, and I've camped in everything from huge 9 berth sprawling tents, to 2 berth 'canvas coffin' backpacker style tents.
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I've seen youtube videos from owners of vehicles the same as mine who have them fully kitted out for car camping. It does help its an estate with over 6ft length once the rear seats are down.
I too slept in my car once when I camped during Hurricane Katia in a tent in 2011.
The wind was very strong and the noise was terrible. My dog was very unsettled and so was I, so we went to sleep in the car, with me in the driver's seat reclined as much as possible.
I slept well enough not to know the top half of my Khyam Freelander tent had collapsed during the night, and could not be repaired, so we packed up early and went home.
It would have been very scary had we been inside the tent when it collapsed.
DK
------------- Apple The Campervan - A Van For Work, Rest & Play!
- 2027: ? NL+DE+FR
- 2026: FR+DE
- 2025: 17/77
'24: 10/49; '23: 9/47;'22: 8/46; '21: 9/34
* Ex-tenter
* Treat life events like a dog: if you can't eat it, play with it or hump it, p1$$ on it and walk away!
Hi Anne - the bit nobody's picked up on yet is your Ecosport's side-hinged tailgate. Almost every 'tailgate tent' is designed for a top-hinged door that lifts up to form a canopy; a door that swings out to the side won't seal the same way and it eats into the tent's floor space. For your setup you might be better pitching a small standalone tent and leaving the boot shut, or looking at a free-standing drive-away shelter you park alongside rather than clip onto a raised door.
On staying warm: everyone's right about the cold, but it mostly comes up through the metal floor, not the air. A boot conducts heat away far faster than a groundsheet on grass, so a mat with a decent R-value (3+ for UK shoulder-season nights) does more for you than an extra-warm sleeping bag. Cheap airbeds can actually leave you colder, as the cold air just circulates underneath you. And a finger-width gap on two opposite windows gives a bit of cross-flow, which really helps the condensation, since a car has no breathable fabric to let the moisture escape.
Happy to expand on mat R-values or drive-away options if useful.
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Topic: Car Camping
via mobile 04/7/2026 at 10:19am
