Full review

Auto Campers won Campervan of the Year at the 2015 National Motorhome Awards with its Day Van. Then it produced the Leisure Van, its slightly less adaptable but possibly more comfortable sister.

Now from the same stable comes the MRV, designed as a crossover between the two. The only significant way it differs from the Leisure Van is that it has dispensed with a rock ’n’ roll bed for one that rests on removable slats across the back of the Ford Transit Custom.

Auto Campers points out that the apparatus that makes rock’n’roll beds possible takes up a huge amount of room under the seat. Take this away and you have lots of extra boot space that can be made even larger with the bed removed.

The MRV is adaptable when it comes to seating, too. Our test model had just one travel seat in the back but it can take up to three, and they all slide in on rails on the bonded floor.

Our test model was a Hi-line, which, Auto Campers also points out, will provide you with extra insulation and much more storage than a pop-up roof version will.

A pop-up roof does give you extra head room, but Auto Campers thinks most parts of a camper van should be accessible without you having to get up and walk anywhere.  And if you do want to stretch your legs, the MRV, like all Auto Campers, comes with a sliding door on either side. That means you have the option of putting up two awnings.

On our short drive, the cab really impressed us. Auto Campers orders all its Transits for conversion with the Trend Pack. This pack of goodies includes a DAB radio which magically cuts off if you open the door and an excellent reversing camera.

Both cab seats swivel – you just have to get used to the idea of releasing the handbrake and putting the ’van in gear before you swivel the driver’s seat. We found the passenger seat a much more comfortable place to sit for a couple of hours than the slab-like seats in many conversions. With the table still tucked away in the nearside sliding door, there is plenty of room in here to stretch your legs. Even with the table in place, there is still room to move and enough slightly wobbly table space for at least two to eat. A double crank in the table base means the table can swing across the cab, or along the cab, or you can even butt it up right against the kitchen unit to extend the already generous workspace.

If you are just stopping for a quick nibble, however, lifting up the flap at the end of the kitchen might be sufficient. There’s a flap on the outer edge of the kitchen unit, too, which provides a useful workspace if you have all moved outside.

The fridge is a 50-litre compressor drawer-style unit opening out of the end of the galley, giving you a clear view of what’s inside. You get a two-burner gas hob that is flush with the worktop, so is easy to clean. The sink is unusually oval-shaped. Underneath is a space that could hold a couple of mid-sized pans and gives you access to the water pump, while a similar space underneath this houses a Dometic portable toilet.

Up above, you get two tambour-doored lockers over the kitchen, two similar lockers on the other side and one over the wardrobe, and a very large tambour-doored locker over the cab. The wardrobe includes two shelves that can be folded away if you’d prefer to use the hanging rail.

Heating is provided by a Webasto Air Top 2000 diesel heater operating through one vent. You are well served with lighting, with two LED lights in the ceiling that operate on three settings. Then there is ambient LED lighting for the kitchen, a useful swivel LED light by the bed, and lights in the cab, too.

The bed is comfortable and roomy, as you unfold it out over the collapsed travel seat and support it with the table mounting on one side and a seatbelt arrangement on the other.

You get a choice of two height settings: if you are willing to give up some of the huge space under the bed you can lower it to a more accessible position which also gives you unencumbered access to the wardrobe.

This is an abridged version of the full review appearing in the June 2016 issue of What Motorhome. Buy it now.