Hobby Siesta T 650 AK KLC - Practical Motorhome

Verdict

This is very nearly a five-star ‘van. The layout is excellent, the build and quality top-notch, and the amount of storage impressive. Despite its six-berth capacity it’s more suitable for four: it’d be tricky to use both doubles at once, and there are only four belted travel seats. But for a family with children, this motorhome makes a sensible choice.

Pros

Excellent layout, quality and storage space

Cons

Cramped if used as a six-berth

German manufacturer Hobby has been active in the caravan market for over 40 years, but it’s only relatively recently (since the start of the century) that it’s really expanded its motorhome range, which now encompasses a wide variety of layouts and styles.

The Siesta 650 AK KLC is a true family ‘van, with two double beds and a set of bunks at the rear; it also has a spacious kitchen, plenty of storage, and a large payload.

Living

There’s plenty of room for six to dine in comfort around the huge, sturdy dinette table; it moves easily on a telescopic leg to allow diners to and from the swivelled cab seats. There’s a pleasant, comfortable ambience within the lounge area, thanks to the gentle lighting from moveable halogen spots and soft, opaque strip units.

A blown-air heating duct beneath the table helps keep feet warm during the winter, and there’s a mains socket – one of four in this motorhome – located here too.

The cushions themselves are firm but comfortable, and the L-shaped corner sofa makes a great place to lounge in the evening.

Kitchen

If you enjoy cooking in your ‘van you’ll love this kitchen: it’s well-designed, well-constructed and teems with space and storage options. There are a wealth of cupboards and drawers, and the 150-litre fridge/freezer combination (in the Tec Tower opposite) provides enough room for the food of a large family for at least a week. An oven/grill comes as standard, and there’s a three-ring gas hob atop the worktop.

The whole area is light and airy, and we were pleased to see the inclusion of two mains power sockets on the worktop – these have been thoughtfully placed for the use of kitchen appliances.

Washroom

A tambour door leads into the washroom, which consists of a separate shower, swivel Thetford cassette toilet and a decently sized vanity unit. It’s the shower that’s most impressive: this longitudinal washroom layout allows for a good-sized cubicle with plenty of elbow room. The knee-room around the mid-ships toilet isn’t quite so impressive, and you have to swivel it right round to allow full access to the shower, too.

There’s plenty of room for your toiletries in here, though – the large storage cupboard, the cubby behind the toilet and three small shelves will swallow all manner of pots and potions.

One omission that we would liked to have seen would be a blown-air heating duct to keep the area warm during the winter, but other than that the washroom is attractively designed and perfectly functional in use.

Beds

The pay-off for that bulbous luton is the inclusion of an enormous, spacious overcab bed – inside it’s light and airy, aided in part by the addition of a window at either side, and is easy to pull down into place.

The second double bed is made up from the cushions of the commodious dinette below; which itself creates a small problem, in that the ladder from the overcab can’t be erected and therefore used when the additional bed is in place. Fine if you’re travelling with children, and put them into the overcab bed, but isn’t that what the bunks are for?

The bunks themselves – which lie longitudinally on the driver’s side at the rear of the ‘van – are spacious enough, although the top one has a weight limit of 45kg (approximately seven stone). The addition of a curtain in front of the bunks – ideal for allowing the grown-ups to stay up while the children sleep – is an excellent idea, but we’re not too sure about the soothing nature of the somewhat alarming, plastic ‘teddy night lights’ that glow bright blue at the head of the bunks.

Storage

A six-berth ‘van should offer a decent amount of storage space, and the Siesta 650 AK KLC doesn’t disappoint. There are storage cupboards and bins everywhere; most notably the large wardrobe behind the kitchen, and the four-shelf, full-length cupboard aside the bunks. There’s even a cabinet dedicated to storing nine wine glasses: this is lit up in a shade of electric blue, which might not be to everyone’s taste, but which can be switched off independently of the other lights.

There’s some external storage too, in the form of a long, shallow locker underneath the bottom bunk; it’s spacious enough to store levelling ramps, your hook-up cable and water hose, as well as any muddy boots.

Roof rails on top of the ‘van (part of the All-Inclusive pack), as well as a ladder up to them, allow you to carry even more luggage. Fortunately, the motorhome’s MTPLM of 3850kg (a result of the uprated chassis, from 3500kg) allows for a substantial payload of 740kg.