Verdict
The Twin is a fine ’van but lacks the clever design touches needed to set it apart from the rest.
Pros
Wide storage area; convenient gas locker; large, rear double bed
Cons
Budget-feeling materials; small engine; basic equipment levels
Living
Cab swivel seats create roomy lounges for four. The single-leg lounge table is rather on the small side, at 90.5 x 49cm, so the occupant of the passenger cab seat may find it awkward to join in with the merriment.
When the side doors are opened, the table can be unclipped from the lounge and placed on railings located behind the kitchen unit, allowing it to be used for al fresco cooking and dining. There’s a roof light and large window next to the half-dinette, so the lounge is well-lit during the day. At night, there are two power-saving LED swivel spotlights over the lounge.
Kitchen
With the side door slid open and the ’van parked up in a nice spot on a sunny day, the kitchen will be very pleasant to use: the cook will have a nice view, feel involved in the fun and be able to easily hand food out to the hungry masses.
What about when the weather’s poor, though? The Twin has a problem right from the beginning, due to the small amount of space between its kitchen unit and washroom, which makes it difficult to move around while you’re cooking. This can also make it awkward to retrieve food from the small, knee-level oven/grill unit.
The large kitchen unit does, however, provide significant space on the two-burner hob (which lacks electronic ignition) for larger pots and pans, and also allows for a full-size sink (36cm in diameter and 15cm deep). A small fridge-freezer unit is located under the wardrobe.
Washroom
Of course, any habitation design that has to be crammed into a panel van suffers from compromises, and the washroom often bears the brunt of that.
The small washroom is almost a joint shower-toilet cubicle, using curtains to divide the two spaces. In both cases the foot space for the toilet is the shower stall floor, meaning that the floor may still be wet when you want to make use of the toilet.
The shower curtain draws across in front of the sink so that the pull-out shower head – which doubles as the sink tap – is cut off from the actual shower stall. This means you’ll have to work it around the curtain in order to use it.
Beds
The rear bed is big and transverse, and sports a 13cm-thick, comfy foam mattress. It’s huge at 196 x 140cm and the mattress folds in order to accommodate the lifting action of the beds. There is a roof light in the bedroom area, but no power socket.
The dinette makes up into a single bed, which is on the short side for adults; the small, single bed – which is easy to make up – measures just 160cm long and only 90cm at its widest point, meaning that it is really only suitable for children.
Storage
Storage space is the big attraction of this layout. Once the rear bed is lifted, the Twin will easily accommodate two bicycles, although care will need to be taken to ensure that the floor and the underside of the bed don’t end up covered in mud.
It’s a shame that the Twin lacks anchorage rails in the rear. And, when raised, the bed blocks access to the offside overhead lockers in the bedroom area.
There are useful partition sections that can be popped into place to keep luggage from sliding towards the front of the vehicle when on the move.
The wardrobe is above the fridge, and is shallow but usable. There are also little cubby holes in the floor, under the lounge table.
There are four overhead lockers in the rear and two above the half-dinette. We were concerned, however, by the plastic struts that hold up the locker doors – they seem quite flimsy.
Technical Specifications
| Payload | 595 kg |
| MTPLM | 3300 kg |
| Shipping Length | 5.99 m |
| Width | 2.05 m |
