In an ideal world, ‘van manufacturers would work out which models and layouts have sold the most, and why, then put the best bits from each together to make a world-beater.

This idea seems to have informed Auto-Sleepers in creating the Symbol Plus. The new model takes the L-shaped kitchen and rear washroom from the Stanway, and adds it to the Symbol’s front lounge. Auto-Sleepers’ customers like the rear layout in the Stanway, but weren’t taken by its front lounge – one reason why it has been discontinued. 

So the thinking is that you enjoy the front lounge from the Symbol, with its side-facing sofa and nearside forward-facing travel seat, tacked to the stanway’s rear, on the 6m, long-wheelbase Peugeot Boxer. 

It certainly appealed to our Motorhome of the Year 2019 judges, who awarded the Symbol Plus first place in the high-top van conversion category. But on a three-day trip to Sussex in December, how did it fare?