Verdict
Great as a day or weekend ’van, but for longer-term touring you might want more comfort.
Pros
Great to drive; very good build quality
Cons
Lacks the homely feel of coachbuilts
Living
The lounge seats four with the cab seats swivelled – a process which took some to-ing and fro-ing, although both rear passenger seats can be turned into a sofa. On the driver’s side, a backrest cushion fastens to a wall-mounted rail, and there’s a separate armrest cushion. In dining mode, the Elegans’ table clips to this rail, and when it’s not being used it has its own storage space behind the wardrobe at the rear of the ’van.
Lighting is the usual mix of downlighters and directional reading lamps.
Kitchen
Kitchens and washrooms are often compromised when you’re struggling for space in a small van conversion, and there is evidence of this here. However, there’s a fold-out 30cm x 35cm worktop extension that stretches across the galley to form a U-shaped kitchen. It has three gas burners and an integral sink, a mini-grill for your toast, and a compressor fridge.
The compressor fridge runs from 12V power only, and there’s a beefy leisure battery for just this purpose. Additionally, there are wire spice racks and a moulded cutlery tray.
Washroom
The Elegans is somewhat handicapped in the washroom stakes by its shorter overall length and by not having a fixed high-top roof. But it has a plumbed-in, fixed, swivel-head Thetford toilet rather than the Porta Potti you find in most raising-roof campers – and it is concealed from general view by a shelf and a vinyl cover.
Beds
The Elegans comes with twin single beds – that is, the sofa plus the swivelled cab seats – but our test model had the double-bed option. After rolling the seat squab forward, you can slide the driverside sofa to meet the nearside one. Then, pull out steel extensions from the driver’s side and infil with the sofa backrest cushion – easy.
The roof bed is a cost option, and comprises as many 60cm-long, cushioned, hardboard sections as you like, to sit across the roof gunwhales. A ladder is a further cost option, but it’s simple enough to clamber up there, anyway.
Storage
The Elegans, by virtue of its corridor-style layout, has a good load bay, accessed through the rear doors.
Technical Specifications
| Payload | 680 kg |
| MTPLM | 3200 kg |
| Shipping Length | 5.29 m |
| Width | 2.04 m |
