Bilbo's Nexa+ T7 Campervan

This popular rear kitchen camper with a built-in cassette toilet is now based on the T7 Transporter

Bilbo’s has long offered a rear galley layout in its Volkswagen campervan range, even back in the days of the T4. The Nektar morphed into the Nexa on T5, T6 and T6.1 with, latterly, the Nexa+ joining the range to offer a plumbed-in cassette toilet instead of a slide-out Porta Potti in a cupboard. It is one of the few companies to combine this style of floorplan with a short-wheelbase Transporter – and one of an even smaller band to do so successfully!

At the Caravan, Camping & Motorhome Show at the NEC in February, it launched the new Nexa+, based on the T7 Transporter, while also unveiling the latest version of its Low-Lie pop-top for the new van. Poignantly, such big news came just a short time after the passing of company founder and co-owner, David Latham.

Bilbo’s continues under the leadership of his daughter, Elesha, and Chris Batty, both long-standing directors, so we’re confident that this 49-year-old brand will continue to offer some of the best-quality campers in its sector with the same renowned reputation for aftersales service. 

New side-hinged pop-top roof

What we never expect from Bilbo’s is revolution, so the latest Nexa+ is a gentle evolution of what’s gone before, starting with that new roof. Unlike almost every other VW camper converter, Bilbo’s makes its own pop-tops, which are not just a copy of everyone else’s rear-hinged design.

The Surrey-based firm has long preferred to use a side-hinged roof, which works particularly well with a layout like the Nexa’s because it gives the same headroom (up to a top-hat-wearing 2.24m) along its full length. The new Low-Lie roof will also, of course, be offered on the latest T7 Celex, with its side kitchen.

With two windows on the nearside and flyscreened vents at each end, the Low-Lie top caters well for daylight and ventilation but the key improvement on this latest version is a bigger bed (an £895 option). Measuring 1.72m long, with a usable width of 1.26m, its mattress now sits on Froli springs.

Twin sliding doors

Another option on this show model was a second sliding door (£685), a feature that works well with the Nexa+ layout, particularly when using it as a daily driver. Immediately inside each of those rear doors is a crash-tested RIB single seat (with three-point belt and head restraint).

Then, when you’re parked up, the cab seats both rotate to create a surprisingly spacious four-seat lounge. It’s a totally different feel to the typical VW camper and keeps the relaxing area quite separate from the kitchen.

Rear kitchen and cassette toilet

Open the tailgate and you see not only the galley (primarily on the nearside), but also the cassette toilet in the rear offside corner. This is part-concealed under a worktop flap when not in use, while behind is a shallow shelved cupboard.

Storage is a strongpoint of the Nexa+, with cupboards above and below the 50-litre compressor fridge mounted off the floor, forward of the loo. There’s a decent amount of stowage in the galley itself, too, despite the optional fitment of a microwave here (£250). Under those rear seats, you’ll also find useful space for bedding, etc.

The galley itself comes with a Dometic two-burner hob and sink combination, with a useful amount of preparation space adjacent. All the facilities here, including of course the loo, remain fully accessible when the Nexa+ slips easily into night mode. The rear seats flatten to join the cab chairs and create two 1.85m single beds with a useful gangway between them.

And Bilbo’s stays traditional with lined curtains throughout, but then this company – one of just six in the whole of the UK to be approved under the VW Motorhome Qualified Converter scheme – knows what its customers like after almost five decades specialising in VW campers.

The Nexa+ evolves to suit the new Transporter, offering a little more space and a bigger roof bed, whilst retaining the quality and practicality for which Bilbo’s has become synonymous.