Benimar Tessoro range overview

The Benimar Tessoro range

What happens when you combine Ford’s latest Transit with Spanish motorhome manufacturer, Benimar, and Marquis Leisure’s knowhow? That’s the Tessoro!

It’s an eight-model line-up of low-profile coachbuilts for 2023, in lengths ranging from 6m to 7.4m, all with four berths and four travel seats. They are all on 3,500kg chassis, meaning drivers with a standard car licence can drive them.

All come with the more powerful 168bhp Transit engine allied to a smooth six-speed manual gearbox (automatic is available as a £2,500 optional extra). The only other factory-fitted option is a towbar and electrics (£1,400).

All Tessoros have their habitation doors on the UK nearside – unusual for imported motorhomes. Similarly, all have NCC (National Caravan Council) approval.

New for this season, across the whole range, central locking now includes that habitation door. All models come with warranties for five years covering the coachbuilt bodywork, two years for the conversion/habitation, and three years for the Ford base vehicle.

Where to buy a Benimar Tessoro

As well as Marquis Leisure’s 13 locations throughout England, new Benimars are sold by The Motorhome Company in Scotland and Camper NI in Northern Ireland.

Benimar Tessoro 413

A favourite among families, due to the bunk beds across the back, as well as the electric drop-down double over the front lounge. The lounge comprises an L-shaped settee and inward-facing sofa, plus the cab seats swivel, giving seating for up to five around the table.

The washroom provides a separate shower cubicle, along with a swivel toilet and fixed handbasin. The kitchen is home to a hob with two gas rings and an electric hotplate. Plus, there is a combined oven and grill, decent storage and a 145-litre fridge/freezer with automatic energy selection.

As with all Tessoros, the 413 has a high spec – everything from a solar panel to a tracking system (including first year’s subscription), and Truma’s more powerful Combi 6 heating and hot water system are included.

In the cab there is air-con, automatic wipers and headlights, Xzent infotainment system (DAB, Bluetooth, sat-nav, reversing camera monitor, etc) and more.

Benimar Tessoro 463

An overall length of 7.38m (over 24ft) allows for fixed single beds set over a sizeable garage at the rear. Washroom facilities are found at the foot of each bed – a shower compartment on the offside and toilet room nearside.

It’s the same forward lounge format as its fellow Tessoros (it’s a single side sofa in this model, though), and you get the additional benefit of that drop-down double bed (maximum dimensions 1.90m by 1.39m). Just be wary of a rather tight payload here, especially if you are considering four-person use.

Benimar Tessoro 481

Benimar Tessoro 482

Here’s a floorplan that gives you settees at the rear and a typical Benimar lounge at the front – over both of which are drop-down double beds just waiting to glide down into position at the touch of a switch.

It’s that U-shaped rear lounge, though, that will draw you most to the 482. Enjoy views out to three sides wherever you park up and, if there’s just two of you, there’s plenty of space to sprawl.

All Tessoros boast Truma’s Combi 6 system operating from gas and/or 230V mains electricity. It comes complete with iNet X control panel, which includes an app so you can use your mobile phone to set your heating and hot water controls.

Benimar Tessoro 483

Another Tessoro that’s particularly favoured by couples for its appealing layout that features a huge storage area across the rear. The full-width washroom is just forward of this and is the star of the 483. It features a shower cubicle, fixed handbasin and swivel toilet in roomy surroundings.

Forward of this is the well-equipped kitchen – as with all Tessoros, it even has a microwave fitted as standard.

At the front is an L-shaped sofa facing a second sofa and, above, is the drop-down double bed.

Benimar Tessoro 486

The only Tessoro not to get a 145-litre fridge/freezer, although the 135-litre model should be more than sufficient. Its kitchen runs along the nearside, also coming with a decent amount of permanent worktop. Directly opposite is the washroom, leaving space across the back for extensive clothes storage, set over a large garage, accessible externally from both sides.

Up front, the lounge is larger than most of its siblings, giving you much more space for entertaining. For travel, a section of on-site seating can be removed to create more legroom.

Benimar Tessoro 487

Another floorplan with huge storage area at the rear and large washroom just forward of this.

At the front is the lounge with twin inward-facing settees. If you want to carry four passengers, there are two rear travel seats, both with Isofix, that fold down into the settee bases when not required.

One feature of the central kitchen you’ll love is the slide-out, floor-to-ceiling racking system.

Benimar Tessoro 494

The only model with an island bed, flanked by wardrobes (the one on the nearside is shelved; the offside offers full hanging depth), plus drawer storage in the bed base – and you still also get an electric drop-down double over the lounge.

With that permanent bed at the back, however, you can give yourselves all the privacy of a closed-off bedroom, complete with en suite facilities.

The 494 has a separate shower cubicle and toilet room, on the offside and nearside respectively.