Danbury Avenir 63TW 2019

STAR RATING 3.5 OUT OF 5

  • Price £49,009
  • Layout Rear single beds
  • Sleeps 2
  • Travel Seats 4
  • MTPLM 3500kg
  • Length 6.36m

The conversion provides two fixed single beds, a lounge with swivelling cab seats, a half-dinette double travel seat and a midships kitchen and washroom. The floorplan means easy access from bed to kitchen, washroom and lounge, and you can have swivelled cab seats and the half-dinette around a side-fixing table. You’ll pick up on the modern interior styling, too, with lots of gloss white finishes.

There are lots of other upgrades on this example, from the refined 150bhp engine to metallic paint. What you also get is Fiat’s 6.36m-long Ducato.

The kitchen has a slide-out, so the chef gets a sizeable worktop by the combined sink and two-burner hob and there is a Dometic three-way absorption fridge with freezer (capacity is 80 litres), set over a Thetford Duplex oven/grill combination.

There’s a step up to the rear beds. Initially, these are singles using Bultex mattresses, although there’s an option for a double. Opposite the fridge/oven area, the washroom has sliding-door access and a Thetford bench toilet which retracts to optimise space for showering.

BUY IF… you’re in the market for an extra-long model with fixed single beds

PROs
Competitive price
Retractable bench toilet to optimise shower space

CONs
Entry access with kitchen worktop slide-out in place

Read more in our Danbury Avenir 63T review

Wellhouse Leisure Trento 2019

STAR RATING 4.5 OUT OF 5

  • Price £48,000
  • Layout Camper without washroom
  • Sleeps 4
  • Travel Seats 5
  • MTPLM 3200kg
  • Length 4.97m

Wellhouse continues to make the case for Ford-based campervans, with this latest luxury item, the four-berth Trento.The Trento is also available using the long-wheelbase Transit Custom. Or you can have a high-top. It’s the short-wheelbase elevating roof model reviewed here.

The elevating roof is made by UK specialist Drivelodge, to Wellhouse’s specifications. It’s simplicity itself to raise and lower, and has an acrylic front window section and side mesh panels, each with zipped blackout covers. The Tourneo cab is even more impressive; indeed, possibly the closest a vehicle with commercial roots has come to providing a car-like environment. Those seats have eight-way adjustment plus heating function.There’s just one downside. Such is the overall height of the Transit, there’s no way the conversion can get below the magical 2m mark that means you can squeeze under height barriers.

Wellhouse has gone for a classic campervan side-furniture floorplan. That rear seat is configured for up to three passengers. It’s from German firm Schnierle, and has the bonus of being on rails, so you can vary the seat location/rear-storage ratios. The kitchen appliances are a standard camper two-ring hob and sink, plus Dometic compressor fridge and good drawer storage. The grill seen here is a £400 option.

BUY IF… you want a classy camper with some neat touches

PROs
Base vehicle upgrades cost less than VW equivalents
Clever design touches

CONs
Height prevents access under height barriers

Read more in our Wellhouse Leisure Trento review

HemBil Drift 2019

STAR RATING 4.5 OUT OF 5

  • Price £46,250
  • Layout Camper without washroom
  • Sleeps 4
  • Travel Seats 4
  • MTPLM 3000kg
  • Length 4.89m

Launched under CMC’s new brand, this is a stylish combination of traditional campervan design and cleverly innovative extras. The all-new HemBil Drifthas a standard VW-style layout with a rear bench and a side kitchen. It has two sliding doors as standard, allowing the kitchen to swing out so you can cook in the open. Our test model was based on the T6 petrol engine, although future Drifts will have the 2.0-litre diesel.

It also included CMC’s Comfort Pack. This costs £8500, although CMC claims the extras would amount to more than £10,000 if bought individually. Among other things, you get a VW Comfort Dash with a central console, drinks and bottle holders, and a top-loading glove box. Both cab seats swivel, although you have to lower the handbrake to get the driver’s seat fully round.

Control panels are sited under a small shelf above the kitchen. You’ll find a mains socket and a 12V socket here, and one more of each on the nearside of the bench seat by the sliding door. There are two more shelves below the controls on the offside, and a USB socket at the end of each of these.

The movable unit includes a cold-water sink with a tap, two-burner hob, and below that, three drawers down the middle and a cupboard with a shelf on the left, plus a pull-out extension flap. This unit can be swung out if you release a catch on the floor. When fully extended, it is still the same height as the floor of the motorhome, at least a foot off the ground, and cooking in this position might be awkward for some.

BUY IF… you want innovative extras

PROs
Swing-out kitchen
Variotech seat that folds flat easily to make a double bed

CONs
Lowering the handbrake to get the driver’s seat to swivel fully round

Read more in our HemBil Drift review

Caravaggio Lo 2019

STAR RATING 4 OUT OF 5

  • Price £48,888
  • Layout Camper without washroom
  • Sleeps 4
  • Travel Seats 4
  • MTPLM 2800kg
  • Length 4.89m

West Yorkshire’s Richard Baldwin Motorhomes names its special-edition vehicles after famous artists these days – and the latest, Caravaggio, is its first foray into the campervan sector.The Caravaggio is built to RBM’s specification by specialist manufacturer Hillside Leisure.

You get a standard VW-based camper, side-furniture layout. Hillside’s pedigree is such that the main fittings are top-notch – for example, the SCA elevating roof and RIB rear seat/bed. RBM also retains fittings such as Hillside’s hot water system and Eberspacher heating working from the VW’s fuel supply.

The side unit has been shortened (by comparison to the Hillside Birchover), to allow the best possible range for adjusting the driver’s seat. The kitchen worktop is set lower, too. Kitchen appliances are from Dometic – a typical two-ring hob and sink combination under twin glass lids. There’s also a grill, although this does steal storage space.

BUY IF… you want a welcome-priced van with impressive spec

PROs
Impressive ‘extras’ as standard
Sturdy build quality

CONs
Carpet trim and curtains dated
Short bed

Read more in our Caravaggio Lo review

WildAx Triton 2019

STAR RATING 4.5 OUT OF 5

  • Price £47,995
  • Layout Camper with washroom
  • Sleeps 4
  • Travel Seats 4
  • MTPLM 3100kg
  • Length 5.34m

The Triton has two sliding doors; the offside is obscured by a side-facing sofa, but this can be removed to have clear passage across the ‘van and out the other side.It’s on a Ford Transit Custo, the 130PS engine has a six-speed manual gearbox as standard, but for £1500 extra you can opt for an automatic.

If there were only two of you, you could leave the side sofa at home. Even without it, you still get two forward-facing, fully-belted travel seats in the lounge. In standard fitting, only the passenger seat swivels; but as an option, you can have this on the driver’s seat, too. The lounge looks classy, with seats in a Chesterfield style and cross-stitching in pale grey. It’s also bright because, apart from the windows, you get LEDs on the ceiling and running along the seats.

The side kitchen includes a two-burner gas hob and rectangular sink, with mains and 12V sockets close by. So far, this looks much as you’d expect in a campervan, even if it is better lit. But the three drawers here are larger than usual, and a locker on the right holds five bottles.

With the roof raised, the roof bed comes down in an easy two-fold operation. It’s a comfortable, sprung bed and, thanks to the LEDs, it is well lit, too. The sizeable lower bed is made by folding down and pulling together the sofas, and using infill cushions.

BUY IF… you want a stylish van with innovative features

PROs
Classy lounge
Innovative shower tray

CONs
Lack of storage space

Read more in our WildAx Triton review

Rolling Homes Kingsley 2019

STAR RATING 4.5 OUT OF 5

  • Price £48,995
  • Layout Camper without washroom
  • Sleeps 4
  • Travel Seats 4
  • MTPLM 3200kg
  • Length 4.97m

Known for its campers based on VW Transporter and Mercedes Vito, Rolling Homes now turns its attentions to Ford’s Transit One of the Ford Custom’s key aspects for RH is the dashboard. Car-like doesn’t even begin to describe it, from the multifunctional leather-clad steering wheel to the touchscreen DAB stereo (and more) system. Needless to say, it comes with air conditioning, cruise control, electric mirrors and more, all as standard. There are some attractively priced optional extras, such as automatic transmission (£680), and a more powerful but impressive 168bhp engine (£2725 – it’s a real belter).

For mealtimes, occupants sit around a pedestal-leg table (the top’s in matching wood, of course). Although my personal bug-bear – carpet wall lining – is here, it does all seem well finished. The kitchen sticks firmly to campervan roots. There’s no surprise in the stainless steel two-burner gas hob and sink combination. Nor the 50-litre Waeco compressor fridge. But you don’t expect to find a Corian worktop in a vehicle like this.

The fabulous full-size double bed uses a one-piece mattress on plastic springing that offers excellent support and all-important ventilation. The downstairs bed is a bit smaller. The RIB seat opens out flat for a good-sized sleeping area.

BUY IF… you want a great camper that simply oozes class and quality

PROs
Great furniture finish
Alternative to VW base vehicle

CONs
This is a fairly tall vehicle

Read more in our Rolling Homes Kingsley review

Devon Arizona 2019

STAR RATING 4.5 OUT OF 5

  • Price £45,075
  • Layout Van conversion, rear washroom
  • Sleeps 2
  • Travel Seats 3
  • MTPLM 3500kg
  • Length 5.99m

End washrooms in van conversions used to be a rarity. Now they are springing up all over the place. Still, you don’t often find an end washroom with a separate shower cubicle in a ‘van under 6m long that also boasts an oven and a four-burner dual-fuel hob. Enter the Devon Arizona, this two-berth is based on the long-wheelbase version of a Fiat Ducato or a Peugeot Boxer – a Sevel van.

The Arizona features the standard Peugeot Boxer cab, with cupholders in the middle. There were no cab blinds, just silver screens; but you do get a stereo with sat nav, and cruise control.

The gas that fuels the hob (and can feed the Truma Combi heater) comes from a 25-litre underslung tank. Kitchen storage is good, with a drawer under the sink for a cutlery tray, and a sizeable locker above. The locker below is mostly taken up with the heater. There is also a small cupboard.

At bedtime, the sofa can be pulled out to meet the extended travel seat (and one infill cushion) to make a large transverse double bed. We found the mechanism for this a bit tricky, but once all is down, the scatter cushions can double up as pillows. The shower cubicle takes up the rear nearside corner of the ‘van. It is closed off with a tambour door and isn’t huge. But you do get a large mirror next to it, a heating vent and a rooflight with a flyscreen as well as a light.

BUY IF… you like a small vehicle that still has all of the necessary creature comforts

PROs
Kitchen storage is good
The sink has a permanent drainer

Read more in our Devon Arizona review

For more campervans check out Best campervans over £50,000 or Best campervans under £45,000 or why not consider a motorhome. And if you’re actually considering purchasing a touring caravan, hop across to our sister site, Practical Caravan, where you’ll find our buying guides with vans for all sorts of different criteria.


If you’ve enjoyed reading this article, why not get the latest news, reviews and features delivered direct to your door or inbox every month. Take advantage of our brilliant Practical Motorhome magazine SUBSCRIBERS’ OFFER and SIGN UP TO OUR NEWSLETTER for regular weekly updates on all things motorhome related.