After the drenching days of late May, Stratford’s racecourse dried out nicely in time for the Motorhome & US RV Show and flaming June arrived right on cue. Gleaming in the sunshine were rank upon rank of motorhomes from British, Continental and North American manufacturers and - with the launch in the past year of new base vehicles from Fiat, Peugeot and Citroen, Mercedes and Ford, plus revised Renaults - there were models aplenty which could claim to be truly new in both their mechanical and habitation departments.

This year exhibiting dealers and constructors were asked to flag up their chosen entrant models for the ‘Motor Caravan of the Year’ competition. Some responded though many didn’t, so the judging panel had to weave its way through hundreds rather than just dozens of models to ferret out a shortlist of front-runners and, finally, the class winners.

Micro Motorhomes

Any model constructed on a base vehicle with a payload not exceeding 900kg

Winner: Romahome DuoHylo Exclusive on Citroen Berlingo

Shown by Freeborn Motorhomes of Southampton, Tel. 02380 406777

Romahome (formerly Island Plastics) has its origins in boatbuilding and has been making micro campers for over 25 years. The company is a master par excellence in the art of GRP construction and the Duo’s double-skinned and insulated body is a perfect complement to its Berlingo host and beautifully finished. Overall vehicle length is 4.9m, it will fit a parking bay, it stands just 1.93m tall to slip under height bars and at just 1.75m wide it can pass between those narrow-road marker posts – two meters plus a bit for clearance – with plenty to spare. This is a motorhome which can serve as a real ‘daily driver’ and with the new 1.6HDi turbo diesel (90bhp) it should prove to be exceptionally economical – for the light-footed perhaps even a magic 50mpg.

The Berlingo comes with the goodies we expect on a small car: power steering, electric windows and mirrors, immobiliser, remote central locking and a radio/cassette player. Options include ABS and cab air conditioning, while Romahome enhances the cab of its ‘Exclusive’ version of Duo with half-leather upholstery. On the caravan side this micro surprises with the level of its equipment: a Domestic 3-way fridge; 85 Ah battery, mains electrics and charger; blown-air heating and hot water both provided by diesel-fired Eberspracher units, and blinds and flyscreens to double-glazed windows. The 20-litre water tank is located inboard and the same size waste tank underneath. With just a modest area of canvas skirt to its front-hinged elevating (it gives full standing height only in the rear kitchen) this little camper will cope except in harder winter weather.

Seating in the ‘Exclusive’ comprises an offside couch and a nearside ‘Pullman’ – in simple language a one-plus-one dinette – which layout offers comfort for a couple and room for five or six at a ‘party’. The seats convert to make two single beds, footends stretching into the cab, or can be converted to a double. On the road the ‘Pullman’ has a three-point belt for its front-facer and a lap belt for the rear-facer. Take the grandchildren for a picnic day out perhaps? There’s payload enough, 350kg after allowing for full tanks etc and a driver and passenger each of 75kg. Kitchen equipment is basic: small SS sink nearside, two-burner-plus-grill cooker offside over the fridge. As an option the cupboard space below the sink can be adapted to house a Porta Potti, the arrangement making extra legroom for its use – otherwise a small portable toilet could stow beneath the couch but users will need to be both small and supple!

This micro coachbuilt is a flexible, clever and quality, go-anywhere and park anywhere outfits for those who manage to take little and live tidily; storage is at a premium. But Romahomes have had a strong following and even smaller, earlier, models have taken their owners inside the Arctic Circle or south to the Pyramids. The DuoHylo starts from £26,795 O.T.R. for the Exclusive or the lower spec. ‘SX’ model is £1,500 cheaper.

Van Conversion

Any van conversion costing less than £65,000

Winner: Romahome Dimension on Citroen Relay awb

Shown by Freeborn Motorhomes of Southampton, Tel. 02380 406777

The Relay is powered by Citroen’s 2.2HDi turbo-diesel delivering 100bhp and is equipped with ABS and Emergency Braking Assistance, electric windows and mirrors, remote C/L with deadlocks, immobiliser and radio/CD player, while bonus features are the Trafficmaster Smartnav satellite navigation system and Trackstar GPS locator to aid in recovery if the vehicle is stolen. That’s a good package for starters.

Dimension is just 3cm longer than its DuoHylo stablemate at 4.93m but fitted with Romahome’s own GRP hightop it stands 2.7m tall. The cab comes with Remis pleated blinds to windscreen and side glass, while replacement cab seats and a matching pair behind combine to make two 1.88m long single beds or a pair of two-place dinettes. The steel base units of the two rear seats provide on the nearside a gas locker taking two 3.9kg bottles and on the offside a large lockable security compartment. The double floor in the seating area meanwhile makes space for two sizeable storage spaces – room for mains cable, shoes, tinned goods etc.

Romahome’s skills with GRP are used to good effect at the rear. The one-piece moulded washroom with its sliding door will be 100% watertight, provides a mini basin, swivel cassette WC, shower facility needing no curtain, shelves and a small locker. The GRP kitchen unit – top with spill-retaining upstand and integral splashback – incorporates a good sink, large drainer area and has a 4-burner hob, while an extension spanning the rear gangway adds much more workspace. A 3-way fridge and SMEV oven/grill complete with the equipment and there’s a modest cupboard with cutlery drawer. At first glance the storage space in this conversion seems limited. But then there are lots of eye-level lockers and they’re large, the overcab is spacious and will swallow bedding and much more and one discovers a slide-out wardrobe – the equal and more of clothes hanging space in other swb van conversions.

Dimension does live up to its name. Four people can travel in comfort safely belted and can sit down to dine with easy access to seats and no interference with rear facilities. There’s a kitchen more spacious and workable than in outfits half as big again and twice the price, the toilet facilities are self-contained and storage really is sufficient for the long term travelling couple. Standard features include the Morco storage water heater, Heki 3 rooflight, mains/charger/battery and very generous light provisions. Well finished in fit and detail and winning high marks for practicality, this Romahome starts at £32,790 O.T.R. Extras on the show example included cab air con. (£800) and Eberspracher diesel heating with blown air (£790).

Budget Buy

Any motorhome costing less than £30,000

Winner: Auto-Roller 200 on Ford Transit

Shown by Brownhills Motorhomes Ltd of Newark Tel. 01636 704201

Built on the new Ford Transit, voted International Van of the Year 2007, this 6.32m low profile is produced by Roller Team, part of the Trigano Group. The 350M Transit base has a 3300mm wheelbase, a 3500kg max. weight and comes with the 110 bhp turbo-diesel, uprated motorhome suspension and tyres. Notable details are ABS, electric windows, driver and passenger airbags, remote C/L and cruise control. Insulated screens and removable carpet are provided for the cab. The body with its sleekly styled overcab benefits from GRP-clad side-walls and rear, has attractive skirt mouldings, mounting points ready to take a rear bike rack and a hatch for access to the offside seat locker, while an electric double step is fitted at the caravan door.

Strictly a two-berth, the 200’s couches are well proportioned for comfort, low backs providing lumbar support, and make two single beds or come together as a big double. Windows come equipped with flyscreens and blinds and there are flyscreened rooflights to the seating and kitchen areas. The rear kitchen has a good sized SS sink/drainer, 3-burner hob, a SMEV grill/warmer oven, large cutlery drawer and ample cupboard capacity. Turning forward, the cook will find a small workspace above a slide-out storage rack and more space over the 80-litre fridge. Fresh and waste water tanks are respectively of 100 and 105 litre capacity, a Truma storage unit provides hot water and space heating again is courtesy of Truma with the blown-air system rated at 3kW max.

A good sized wardrobe, heaters housed below, and the washroom take up the rear offside corner of the motorhome. The separate shower cubicle is closed by a curtain rather than a pricier folding screen but this is one of the few skimpings in the specification (the others are the open fronted lockers to the overcab and in the kitchen area). The Thetford cassette toilet features electric flush, the shower control is a smart, chromed one-handed mixer – as are the taps to the deep and practical handbasin and the kitchen sink. There’s an opening, frosted window to the washroom, an under-basin cupboard and a couple of eye-level lockers, while the door to this area shows that saving pennies (or rather cents in the EU) has not been a primary concern of the designers of this ‘Roller’. There’s a full height stiffening piece to the door and a two-point locking bar (just like you’ll find in an Auto-Sleeper!).

This budget priced model from the Trigano stable is a good-looker on the outside, smart but simple on the inside with cabinetwork in a light oak finish and plank-effect vinyl flooring. Curtains feature to the side windows and scatter cushions are added for the couch. There’s more than one might expect, for the £25,995 price, to the Ford foundation and more, too, to what the Roller team have built on it. Definitely a good budget buy.

Coachbuilt 

Any European coachbuilt motorhome costing less than £65,000

Winner: Bürstner Argos A747-2 on Fiat Ducato/Al-Ko

Shown by Lazydays of Hinstock nr. Market Drayton Tel 01952 550282

Impressive is scarcely a big enough word to describe this distinctively clad 8.86m five-tonner built on the twin-axle, lowline Al-Ko chassis and powered by the 3.0-litre JTD engine (155bhp). It is, of course, a ‘garage’ model – this topped by a king-sized bed – and payload is a handy 775kg with some of your kit stowable in the underfloor compartments within the wheelbase and reached through three external hatches. Standard spec items include ABS, traction control, driver and passenger airbags, cab air con., Blaupunkt ‘Travel Pilot Exact’ sat. nav. integrated with radio/CD-player, and a reversing camera.

The dinette group, cushions contoured for real travel comfort, has four 3-point seatbelts (makes a good double bed if the rear and overcab sleeping quarters are not enough). The couch is adjustable – upright for sitting to the table extension or tilted back for relaxing. For warmth in winter Bürstner installs the Alde radiator central heating. On the move, there’s a heat exchanger system to keep rear passengers cosy, while on site the cab can be sealed off from the rear. The kitchen department boasts a 150-litre fridge/freezer, a full domestic sized cooker with extractor hood over, SS sink/drainer and has a small amount of workspace. To the rear shower cubicle, offside, and washroom with WC and basin are separate and both are spacious. They can be closed off together with the big wardrobe as an en suite washing/dressing area.

Practicality is well to the fore in the design of this Bürstner giant. The double floor increases insulation, is a frost-protected location for tanks and pipework and a bonus for storage. Rear corner steadies are worth their weight and particularly on windy days, while doors to both sides of the garage are a great convenience when loading. But a model in this higher price bracket can also afford some details which are more about style. Windows, which all round have pleated blinds and flyscreens, gain net curtains and side drapes, too, in the lounge for a more homely look. And bringing in more light as well as the ubiquitous Heki and mini Hekis the 747-2 has a spectacular curved rooflight to its Luton, while for night-time there are some lights whose design is more about art than illumination.

This is a spacious, well-equipped family motorhhome for four, five or even six which can take its owners comfortably and safely on tour and also get them noticed. For what it can do, its looks and quality both outside and in, the judges rated it good value for its O.T.R. price of £54,750.

North American 

Any motorhome constructed in the USA or Canada

Winner: Damon Challenger 355 on V10 petrol engined Ford chassis

Shown by Destination RV of Manningford, Pewsey Tel. 01980 635063

‘In a class by itself’, is the phrase used by Damon to describe its Challenger range and that is certainly true if one tries to make comparisons with the motorhomes we are familiar with on this side of the Big Pond! The 355 is an inch over 36ft. long, a just-legal-here 8ft.5in. wide and stands 12ft. tall to the tops of its air conditioning units, one for the lounge and one for the bedroom. And if those dimensions are not enough, Damon gives its giant a three-way stretch with slide-outs to the lounge – hanging out both the couch and the dinette – the kitchen and the bedroom. The latter boasts a king-sized bed, the dinette (not unusually in a US RV sized for skinnies) is a decent 40in. wide and the kitchen not only comes complete with all the hardware of an American home but also has masses of workspace. The twin sinks sit in a ‘wing’ of their own, there are large working areas left and right of the cooker and then a handy slide-out worktop.

This is a motorhome big in every way and packed with home-from-home features, too many to describe in a brief report, so we’ll let the pictures tell the story. The only thing small about it is the price. It must be well into six figures, you might think. The price of a small house? Well only of a very small, mean one in a down-at-heel area. The Damon Challenger 355 was ticketed at just £85,000. That’s down to the present low value of the Dollar and to the importers buying a big batch of Challengers for the European market and striking a hard bargain.