Panama P57 2025

Campervans are extremely popular at the moment – you only have to witness the number of visitors frequenting the campervan halls at the NEC shows to see that – but one thing that can hold buyers back is the lack of a washroom. After all, whether you choose a campervan or motorhome, compromises will always be necessary. Okay, so you can use a Porta Potti, but you still need to store it somewhere – and many would also appreciate the inclusion of a shower, which allows you to be much more flexible when it comes to touring away from full-facility campsites. That’s why the arrival of the Panama P57 is such big news.

It’s unusual, in that not only is it on a compact, 5.4m base vehicle – the popular Ford Tourneo Custom – but it also features a fitted swivel toilet, a handbasin and even a shower.

Panama is a Spanish brand, and the P57 has been brought to our shores by the UK’s biggest motorhome dealer network, Marquis Leisure.

Two models are now on sale here: this four-berth, end-washroom and kitchen model, alongside the shorter-wheelbase, side-kitchen Panama P12.

The P57 is not only short in length, but at a whisker over 2m in height when the elevating roof – made by German brand SCA – is down, it’s a practical size for an everyday driver, too, the type of feature which can be very attractive when you’re looking for the best camper van.

So how does its layout feel, and will it appeal to campervan buyers? Here’s my full verdict.

Exterior and cab

I think the Panama P57 looks very attractive: its white body emphasises the sharp, modern looks of the Ford Tourneo Custom, particularly around the bonnet.

The orangey and black graphics are kept to a minimum, and appear very smart, enough to differentiate this from a commercial vehicle without going over the top. The 17-inch wheels look great, too.

Given that this is a Continentally produced campervan, I was pleased to see that both side doors open, allowing rear passengers to egress where suits them. It also means that you can throw both doors open during the warmer months, flooding the interior with natural light when pitched up at one of the best campervan sites.

As for the facilities, you’ll find the electric mains hook-up point on the UK nearside, towards the rear of the ’van. The fresh-water point, meanwhile, is located on the offside, again near the rear of the vehicle. The waste-water drain pipe is below this, on the rear offside corner.

Access to the toilet cassette is via the rear, upwards-opening tailgate; the cassette is hidden inside a dedicated locker. The gas locker, which can hold a 2.8kg bottle, is in this area, too.

Step into the cab and you’ll find a big touchscreen in the middle of the dashboard, which allows you to control various features and includes DAB, Apple CarPlay/Android Auto and much more. A reversing camera and front and rear parking sensors are also included. Among the many driver comfort and safety features here are cruise control, pre-collision alert, lane-keeping alert, wrong-way alert, speed-sign recognitions and traction control, among others, things which should all help your experience when driving the campervan.

The interior feels as smart as the exterior, because there are lots of automotive styling cues, including the steering wheel, which is an unusual and attractive shape.

I found it easy to attain a comfortable driving position; the front seats are supportive and should make long journeys a pleasure.

The parking brake switch is located in the centre of the main console, below the touchscreen. My test ’van was an eight-speed automatic with, unusually, controls on the right-hand stalk. Beneath the bonnet is Ford’s peppy EcoBlue 136bhp engine.

I was pleased to see the cab include USB sockets. Two large drinks holders can be concealed via a small tambour panel when they’re not in use.

Both of the swivelling cab seats have armrests, making them more comfortable whether you’re on site or on a UK road trip – and they’re heated.

Lounging and dining in the Panama P57

It’s easy to set up the lounge in the P57, one of the features that saw it secure the title of best campervan for a family of 4 at the Practical Motorhome Awards 2025: you simply swivel both of the cab seats. The rear bench can be pushed backwards and forwards, too.

There’s a freestanding table strapped into place in a tall, narrow locker just in front of the washroom.

Once retrieved, the table stands freely between the seats, and it’s quite big – it’s a bit of a squeeze to get it in between the seats. Once it’s in place, though, there’s a campervan layout that means there’s plenty of room for all occupants to dine comfortably.

The rear belted seats are fairly automotive in style, but they are comfortable and you can recline the back rest to give you additional comfort.

There’s plenty of headroom in the area. The upper bed sits so far up when it’s raised that there should be loads of room, even when you’re standing up, unless you’re very tall.

Both of the side windows here can be opened, and have a flyscreen and a cassette blind that pulls up from the bottom. All of the windows at the back of the ’van have blinds, while the cab has detachable insulated screens.

In terms of lighting, there are two long striplights underneath the base of the bed above – there’s plenty of light here to read in the evening.

The table being freestanding means that you can also take it outside, which is very handy for al fresco dining.

If you’re not going to be storing your ‘van but instead want to tour during the colder months, the interior of the P57 will still be kept snug and warm. This is thanks to its heating system, in the form the Webasto Air Top 2000 STC 2kW diesel heater, although you could always pack the best heater for a campervan if you want a bit of extra warmth too.

Kitchen in the Panama P57

The Panama P57’s L-shaped kitchen is located on the offside of the vehicle, and this is a great area – I actually think it was one of the best kitchens I had seen in a campervan of these compact dimensions.

A two-burner hob – with one large burner and one small – sits on top of the kitchen unit, and features electric ignition. You’ll also find a square sink with a large plughole, hot and cold running water on a single moveable mixer tap, and two glass covers above the sink and the hob – these covers can be lowered separately or clipped together, for extra practicality and food-preparation work surface.

The mixer tap drops down to allow you to lower the glass covers.

There’s loads of worktop available here – the only niggle I had was that the sink felt rather low, which would be more noticeable if you’re on the taller side, when you might find you need to bend down to use it. But that’s a small price to pay, given how good this kitchen is otherwise.

A 42-litre Mestic fridge with freezer compartment is fitted in the rear-wall kitchen unit. It’s small, but should be large enough for the essentials, and could also be supported with the best cool box for a campervan if more space is required.

Below the sink unit is a USB socket, a mains plug and a light switch.

To the left of this is the campervan’s control panel, while a cupboard at the front end of the kitchen unit houses the fuse box and the motorhome inverter, as well as the remainder of the vehicle’s electrical system controls.

Located to the left of this are another two sockets – one of which is on the handy inverter, so you can use this when you’re camping off-grid – a USB port and a 12V socket (which means you could site a TV here for watching when you’re sitting in the swivelled cab seats). The controls for the Webasto heating are here, too.

Washroom in the Panama P57

So now I come to the star of this show – the washroom. It’s fitted at the rear nearside corner of the ’van, and is well equipped: it has a Thetford swivel cassette toilet, three small shelves and a rectangular sink with one plughole. There’s a shower head, which pulls out from the tap, and hot and cold running water. There’s also a large mirror here.

It’s a surprisingly decent size – and because the door and the walls are only half-height, you can stand up to have a shower quite easily, and get in and out through the door comfortably, so long as the roof is in the raised position.

The washroom can also become a shower cubicle – there’s a duckboard below to help keep the floor dry. You’ll need to take care not to splash water on the rest of the ’van, but it’s a really clever solution in such a small space.

The tambour door latches firmly, so shouldn’t open when you’re on the road.

One thing I will highlight – there’s not a huge amount of privacy when you’re using these facilities, because of those half-height walls, so you’ll need to be comfortable sharing the space with your companions.

If you have the roof down, you’ll get more privacy to use the toilet, although the headroom will be limited.

However, if you find this level of privacy acceptable, the washroom in this ’van offers huge appeal.

Sleeping in the Panama P57

This is a four-berth campervan: there is a small double bed made up from the lounge seating, and a further two berths in the roof.

Making the downstairs bed feels a little complicated at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s easy to erect.

To set up the bed, you have to slide the whole bench seat forward using a large handle, drop the rear backwards, then slide the unit back underneath the storage cupboard. Then you pull the bench seats forward, drop the back of the seats down and fold a flap over the top to create a flat surface.

It’s rather a narrow bed, so would only really do for two adults in an emergency, but I reckon it would be great for children or an adult sleeping alone, while other adults use the roof bed.

That roof bed is a good size, and the 4cm high-density mattress feels thick and comfortable.

The fabric surrounding the pop-top is grey in colour, so you shouldn’t be woken too early by the daylight on summer mornings. There are lots of zippered sections to give you a good view out from there, too.

There’s a carbon monoxide detector and smoke alarm up here, and plenty of headroom if you lie with your head towards the rear of the vehicle.

A fabric panel can be zipped around the head of the bed, to separate it from the rest of the interior. That means children up there will be kept safe at night, and there won’t be any draughts to bother those in the upper bed.

The ladder to reach the roofbed clips onto the rear wall of the ’van, so you have room to climb up and down – you need to climb up and reverse yourself back onto the bed. With the ladder in place, the washroom can still be used at night. The ladder folds and is stored behind the rear bench seat.

Storage in the Panama P57

Despite its rather compact dimensions, there’s a great amount of storage in this ‘van, allowing you to make use of the vehicle’s 350kg payload and the flexibility to pack the best campervan accessories.

Options are a bit lacking a touch in the cab – there’s a glovebox and not a huge amount else here – but there are plenty of places to store your kit further back in the ’van.

For starters, there’s a slide-out drawer under the rear bench seat, which would be handy for storing books, games and other loose items. There are also side pockets in both sliding doors, offering lots of space.

Behind the rear bench seat is a smart cupboard with a double tambour door, which is really cleverly designed – the pair of doors (one on either side) means that you can easily reach it from either the rear seat or the kitchen.

There’s a small locker underneath this, which opens out from behind the bench seat – we reckon this is where occupants are most likely to keep clothes and shoes. You can also get access to this space via a lift-up panel behind the rear seats.

The kitchen storage is the strongest area in the ’van – there are two drawers and two lockers, as well as the fridge, which should provide plenty of room for food and crockery, always useful when kitting out a campervan.

Storage is a bit more limited in the washroom, but there are three shelves for toiletries or a washbag.

There’s also a great deal of storage space in the rear tailgate. Here you’ll find a drawer and a couple of lockers that could hold outdoor items, such as your hook-up cable.

The rear tailgate also features a pair of hanging rails, from which you could hang damp coats or towels when the tailgate has been raised.

Equipment in the Panama P57

The Panama P57 comes with a high level of kit as standard. In the cab you’ll find electric windows, keyless entry and start, an electric handbrake, a leather steering wheel, a reversing camera, front and rear parking sensors, lane-keeping alert, trailer sway control, remote central locking and much more.

In the kitchen, there’s a two-burner hob, a 42-litre fridge with freezer, and hot and cold running water.

Power is provided by a 90Ah leisure battery, and sockets throughout the ’van include three USB charging points, two 230V sockets (one of which has an inverter system, 22), a 12V socket, and a couple of USBs in the cab. Illumination is from 12V low-energy LEDs.

Heating is provided by Webasto’s Air Top 2000 STC 2kW diesel unit, and the plumbing includes a pressurised fresh-water pump.

Two water tanks are fitted, too: the fresh-water tank is 50 litres in size, while the waste-water tank’s capacity is a respectable 32 litres.

So the spec level for the P57 is already high, but there are a few optional extras to choose from if you fancy them.

These include interior carpet (£299), a fixed towbar with electrics (£995), a 200W solar panel (£899), a bike rack (POA) and a Thule side awning (£1195).

Alternatives to consider

We thought Bilbo’s Celex HL  offered good looks, a practical layout and plenty of neat features when we put it to the test, although unlike the Panama P57, the VW-based ‘van doesn’t have a washroom per se. If the washroom is important, the Ducato-based 2024 Benimar Benivan 161 could be worth considering – the designers have managed to fit two single beds, both two metres in length, into a ‘van which is only 5.99m – impressive.

Technical data

• Chassis: Ford Tourneo Custom EcoBlue
• Engine: 2.0-litre EcoBlue 136bhp
• Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
• Price: £63,995
• Sleeps: 4
• Belts: 4
• Length/width/height (roof down): 5.4/2.15/2.06m (17’8”/7’0”/6’8”)
• MTPLM: 3225kg
• Payload: 350kg
• Water (fresh/waste): 50/32 litres
• Leisure battery: 90Ah
• Gas: 1 x 2.8kg
• Contact: www.panamauk.co.uk

Features include Cruise control; touchscreen with Apple CarPlay, Android Auto and DAB radio; rear-view camera; front and rear parking sensors; heated swivelling cab seats; Pre-collision assist; Lane-keeping alert; Traction control; Side Wind Stabilisation; Speed sign recognition; Hill start assist; cab air-con; 70-litre fuel tank; 17-inch alloy wheels; electric windows; electric and heated wing mirrors; keyless entry and start; electronic handbrake; two 95Ah engine batteries; three-year Ford chassis warranty

Conversion

SCA pop-up roof with mosquito nets and panoramic view; sliding floor track rear seating system; 30mm XPS flooring; cushioned vinyl flooring

Lounging and dining

Swivelling cab seats; dimmable touch LED ambient lighting; water/scratch-resistant laminate-coated furniture doors with positive catches; freestanding table; Webasto Air Top 2000 STC 2kW diesel heating

Kitchen

Two-burner gas hob; 42-litre Mestic fridge with freezer compartment; hot and cold running water; cutlery drawer

Sleeping

Make-up double bed in lounge (1.89 x 0.96m); double bed in pop-up roof (2.01 x 1.16m)

Equipment includes

Shower; Thetford electric-flush toilet; pressurised fresh-water pump; 50-litre fresh-water tank; 32-litre waste-water tank; 1 x 2.8kg gas bottle capacity; Webasto Multicontrol digital display; inverter system

Thinking of buying a pre-owned campervan instead? Then how about considering a used Volkswagen Grand California, an option with a contemporary interior and one that is integrated with the base vehicle.

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