Full review

FEW six-metre ’vans feel this spacious when you step inside. Of course, the side-facing settees up front lend an open aspect that’s well-lit from above by the giant wind-up rooflight.

There are decent-sized windows all around the vehicle (except in the rear wall – budget for adding a reversing camera) and floor space is more generous for the lack of any fixed bed in this layout.

Up front there’s a four-foot settee on the offside and a rather shorter single seat opposite. With the cab seats swivelled, five can sit here in comfort – and seating comfort is a real strong point as, although the cushions look flat and shapeless, they are unusually well-judged for their balance of support and squishiness.

Of course, you can swap the offside settee for a forward-facing half-dinette complete with two extra seatbelts (for £750 extra), but we can’t help feeling that this option is likely to have more appeal with some of the Excel’s other layouts. After all, the 600D’s dining area seats just two.

To the rear of the habitation door is the Excel’s second seating area – a conventional pullman dinette with wall-mounted table, but designed for just a couple.

The floorplan is completed by a corner washroom with separate shower on the offside and a neat wardrobe and chest of drawers unit in the centre of the rear wall, between the pullman seating and the bathroom.

There’s no doubt that much of the 600D’s appeal lies in the fact that its lounge and dinette are quite separate – or that you can have breakfast while your other half has a lie-in, or vice versa.

When it comes to meal times, the small rear nearside dining area is just the job for two, but Auto-Trail have not ignored the possibility of friends dropping in, so a second table is available for use up front.

When it comes to serious feet-up lounging, the Excel also has several options up its sleeve.

The offside sofa is long enough to spread out upon and the Excel thoughtfully provides a couple of matching scatter cushions for you to prop against the end of the galley.

Or how about sitting on one of the cab chairs with your feet up on the other, or better still, rotating the passenger seat through a full 180 degrees and popping your weary limbs onto the shorter nearside sofa?

If the separate dinette appeals, then it should probably follow that you enjoy cooking. And despite a stem to stern measurement of just over a metre (around 40 inches), the galley is pretty comprehensively appointed.

Yes, the fridge is on the small side (at only 77 litres capacity) and the sink lacks a drainer, but the (almost triangular) shape of the hob and sink permits a useable quantity of worktop space between them, while the Spinflo hob (three burners with ignition) gives the impression of being a real cut above the usual standard of cooker.

While the rear dinette makes up into a comfy single by simply dropping the table between the seats and rearranging the cushions in the fashion first seen in Noah’s Ark – or perhaps even before – surely much of the appeal of this motorhome is having the breakfast table ready for the morning?

The main bed is almost as simple to make. Each settee’s base just slides forward, taking support legs with it. Once they’ve met in the middle, the backrest cushions fill in the gaps and a folding flap and an infill board and extra cushion add a necessary few extra inches of width to the bed on the nearside.

Still, the double is eight inches narrower on this side, resulting in one occupant of the bed sleeping slightly diagonally. In our test ’van the issue was compounded by the infill cushion being of the wrong depth; the sort of thing we’re used to finding in prototypes.

With so much seating, a decent galley and plentiful storage perhaps it was obvious that something had to give if Auto-Trail weren’t to end up with an Excel measuring six metres… and a bit. Well, the compromise is definitely in the washroom.

Verdict

We love the way the Sport Pack version of the Excel looks – both inside and out. And there’s enough appeal here to bring new buyers to the Auto-Trail family as well as to convince marque devotees to think about downsizing. Even with our ideal spec of Sport Pack, cab air-con and the larger 130bhp engine, you could drive one away for under £40k, which sounds great value.

While other layouts have more direct rivals elsewhere, we also applaud Auto-Trail’s bravery with the more maverick approach of the 600D. This layout won’t be for everyone, but if you’re looking for a compact pure two-berth, it’s a new option that’s worth a close look. In fact, only the severely compromised washroom stops us being more effusive in our praise for this stylish newcomer.

A full version of this review first appeared in the December 2008 issue of Which Motorcaravan. To order a road test reprint ring 01778 391187. To subscribe to the magazine, click here.