Verdict
This really is pure luxury in a manageable package: it oozes innovation, quality and pizzazz.
This was a prototype – I’d like to see colour co-ordinated exterior slide-out walls on production models.
Overall, the real value of this IH N-Class 630 RLS lies in its design and build excellence, and use of quality materials.
It’s certainly not cheap, but you usually get what you pay for and, in this case, rather more!
This is a two-berth panel van conversion that feels like a coachbuilt… but is much more solidly built.
Buy it to keep long-term.
Pros
You get a great amount of space, thanks to that slide-out
This is a well-built, high-quality product
Cons
A microwave isn’t fitted as standard
It’s expensive
Knottingley-based IH Motorhomes is a well-established, highly regarded designer and converter of quality motorhomes based on SEVEL panel vans.
In the past, it has converted Mercedes-Benz and Renault vans, and produced coachbuilts on VW and Mercedes chassis-cabs.
But recently, it has concentrated on its core business – and one of the benefits has been this new rear-lounge N-Class, with motorised slide-out.
UK volume manufacturers and converters seem to shy away from slide-outs, even though they are a solution to the ‘big on site, small on the road’ conundrum.
Their reluctance is IH’s gain – this will be a strong seller.
My only concern with the current base vehicle is that (as yet) there is no petrol/LPG alternative, or a hybrid, which environmentally aware buyers might wish to opt for.
This really is pure luxury in a manageable package
Living
Inside, seating is at both extremities of the ’van.
Deploying the rear slide-out lets even the tallest occupants of the forward-facing sofa enjoy acres of legroom.
Out of interest, I measured the amount of ‘extra’ length the slide-out provided and it was a modest 700mm. Yet it felt like several metres.
However, the lounge is accommodating even without deploying the slide-out.
There are two locations for the island table leg, and a brace of differently shaped tops – the larger one has dedicated storage in the washroom.
Kitchen
A linear kitchen is between the two seating areas, along the nearside of the IH N-Class 630 RLS.
The moulded side infill panel with hinged door and adjacent window facilitates a longer run of base units than is the norm.
The only kitchen ‘stray’ is one of the two absorption fridges fitted as standard – this one is on the offside, to the rear of the washroom.
The more we thought about IH’s decision to fit two smaller fridges instead of one large one, the more we agreed with it.
On day trips or overnight stays, you don’t need to cool a huge volume if you just want to keep a splash of milk fresh.
The hob’s a cracker, but my partner thought the absence of a microwave was rather odd (it is available, but only as a cost option).
Washroom
The washroom boasts a foldaway vanity sink, a separate shower head and an electric-flush toilet with wheeled cassette.
Plenty of storage and good lighting complete the inventory.
Beds
This is known as a three-room layout, because it has two sitting rooms and a kitchen in the main salon.
During the day, it provides separate areas for mutually incompatible activities, and it also enables the rear lounge to be left made-up as a bed (or beds) on extended trips, with the front area for seating.
For those of us who have non-synchronised bedtimes, the chief advantage of always having the cab seats available is that it allows the owl to stay up late when the lark has gone to bed, and the lark to get up at the crack of dawn while the owl sleeps on.
Sleeping longitudinally, there’s a choice of two easy-access single beds (each 6’6” x 2’6”) or a domestic-size (6’6” x 4’6”) double.
Note that the supersize double in the non-slide-out 630 RL is a lot wider.
Storage
Well-designed and varied storage abounds throughout the interior of this motorhome, but we wanted to flag up the superbly executed one-piece rear infill moulding with full-width exterior access ‘boot’ lid – it’s practical and is beautifully integrated, too.
That ‘missing’ microwave aside, the equipment level was more than commensurate with the not-insignificant price tag.
Technical Specifications
MTPLM | 3500 kg |
Shipping Length | 6.36 m |
Width | 2.05 m |