Swift Esprit 494 - Practical Motorhome

There's plenty to love about the Swift Esprit 494, including its new body and wallet-friendly price, says Practical Motorhome's expert in this full review

Verdict

Island beds offer considerable creature comforts and used in a transverse configuration, they save valuable body length to be used elsewhere. In the Swift Esprit 494, buyers get a generous galley kitchen and a decent washroom with separate shower compartment – all for well under eight metres in length. Design and specification-wise, this new Esprit model looks great (we love the sunroof!) and has lots of desirable kit, fitting into a range that’s been remade with new Fiat cabs and timber-free construction. The Esprit 494 will give you change from £50,000, and added value from its four-season touring credentials and 10-year body shell warranty will propel it to the top of many wish lists.

Pros

Transverse island bed in the rear
Separate shower cubicle
A galley kitchen you can really use

Cons

It’s quite a long motorhome to fit on the driveway at 7.7m (25’5
There is no external hatch into the underbed storage area
The long overhang might hit the ground when you drive up ramps onto a ferry

Swift’s decision to retire its established Sundance range for the 2014 season was a good one, as its replacement has gone down well with the UK motorhome fraternity. With Esprit sales 35% higher than the final season of Sundance, the new line-up has clearly struck a chord. Will the transverse bed, increased spec and smart interior of the 2015 Swift Esprit 494 win over buyers?

Swift re-energised its mid-market coachbuilt range by adopting a cheaper-to-manufacture bodyshell and packed the new models with an improved specification. Prices weren’t massively lower than they were for Sundance, but there was clearly an improved value proposition and buyers’ response was positive.

Esprit is back with a bang for the 2015 season. New Fiat Ducato cabs and timber-free habitation area build lead  the changes, but Swift has grasped the chance to add  a raft of spec bumps that will tickle the motorcaravanner’s buying bone.

There are two new models: the 424, a 5.99m-long end-washroom two-berth, and the four-berth 494, which features a transverse island bed on a body of less than eight metres in length. To find out how good the larger of the two is, we took a demonstrator unit to the Camping and Caravanning Club’s Chertsey site to test it.

The main attraction in the Esprit 494 is its transverse island bed, seen by many  as the epitome of luxury

Living

The 494’s half dinette will seat up to six people at mealtimes, using the nearside sofa and rotated cab seats. A folding leg table provides the lounge’s focal point; this can be extended to reach those sitting on the nearside of the vehicle and stows in the wardrobe nearest to the kitchen.

The lounge seating is firm and comfortable with good back support and there’s plenty of natural light available, thanks to two side windows and the rooflight above the driver’s cab – being full-width, it really does flood the area with light.

For evenings, a pair of  LED spotlights is located  on the underside of the lounge’s nearside overhead lockers, and ambient lighting runs along the  top edge of the overhead lockers. Downlighters  are fitted in the sunroof surround, and each cab seat has a flexible reading light.

Kitchen

The nearside galley is well equipped, and it looks good, too. Dual-fuel hobs offer  a handy fallback if the gas supply is running low and  sit atop the new oven and grill unit. As well as being re-engineered to be quieter during transit, it has a facelifted front panel including a new design for the controls. Up above, at head height, a microwave oven offers a further option for heating food, but our testers would have preferred this to have been mounted lower down, for safety.

The preparation area isn’t extensive, but the addition of a tip-up flap at the end of the kitchen unit adds space, augmented by the cooker cover when left in the lowered position. A sink cover is also included, and stows with the drainer in the narrow cupboard between the cooker and dual-fuel fridge. The round sink gets  a new chrome tap design for 2015; taken with the smart illuminated splashback, the kitchen has a pleasing look.

Practicality points were awarded for the double plug sockets at the right hand side of the galley; these  are sensibly mounted at 90 degrees so that cables won’t be fouled by the worktop. These sockets are encased  in a smart chrome-effect surround – another enhancement for 2015. If using a stove-top kettle, then there are two usable plug points in the kitchen – enough to run appliances like a toaster and coffee machine simultaneously.

An Omnivent above the galley, and the window in the splashback, will allow steam and cooking odours  to escape the ’van quickly.

Washroom

The 494’s washroom is a  sea of woodwork, thanks  to extensive cabinetwork and the oak-effect floor covering. The white swivelling cassette toilet  and oval basin provide some contrast, augmented by the beige-coloured worktop and off-white washroom wall.

With a 7.75m body length to utilise, the shower and toilet areas have been kept separate, which will please buyers not keen on more compact wet rooms. A half-length mirror is fitted above the basin, which gets a new chrome-effect tap  for 2015. Two task lights and over-locker lighting provide artificial light; a rooflight will suffice for daytimes.

The shower compartment is a moulded plastic unit, with a bi-fold door to prevent spray contacting the adjacent wooden finishes. An EcoCamel shower head is standard-fit; this mixes air with water to increase the flow and uses less water than a conventional shower head. It’s operated by a mixer tap on the left-hand side as you enter; there  is a recess underneath for shower gel and shampoo. The offside wheel arch intrudes into the shower compartment, providing  a low shelf to sit on.

Beds

The main attraction in the Esprit 494 is its transverse island bed, seen by many  as the epitome of luxury: occupants can get out of bed during the night without disturbing their partner. Measuring 1.85m x 1.33m (6’1” x 4’4”), the bed is big enough to accommodate taller motorcaravanners, and its Duvalay memory foam mattress – a Swift Group exclusive – scores on comfort.

The bedroom is a civilised place, with a headboard design to match the curtain fabrics; an upholstered panel referencing the headboard material takes up the empty space on the end wall of the motorhome. A pair of reading lights is mounted above either end of the headboard, and a small shelf in front of the wardrobes flanking the bed will be ideal for books and spectacles.

A vanity unit at the left-hand foot of the bed features a half-length mirror and a deep shelf that will take a large flatscreen TV; two plug points, plus  the necessary aerial connections, are provided.

Another double bed is available in the front lounge, made up from sliding out the nearside seat frame, dropping the lounge table and bridging the gaps with seat cushions. This measures 2.13m x 1.23m, tapering to 1.04m (7’ x 4’/3’5”).

Storage

With its cavernous under-bed storage in the rear, plus an extensive selection of alternatives, the 494 is well equipped for storage. The fixed bed has a lightweight aluminium frame and lifts easily on gas struts, although two cross-members cut the space into four.

Unusually, this space is not accessible from outside the ’van, where you’d normally expect to find a hatch,  so everything must be taken into the ’van and top-loaded in the bedroom.

There are eight overhead lockers in total (four in the lounge, two in the bedroom and two in the kitchen), plus two wardrobes, three drawers and four cupboards in the bedroom. The washroom has two cupboards and there is one cupboard in the kitchen. Further storage is available in the nearside lounge seat box, although the gas locker takes a bite from the space.