Full review

Can a panel van conversion really satisfy the requirements of a family of four on a touring holiday? The Editor heads off to Paris for a week’s family holiday in Britain’s newest family-friendly van conversion – a tough first assignment for our new long-term test ’van!

The Quartet is our latest long-termer and has the Peugeot lion on the grille. The Fiat 2.3-litre 130bhp Multijet motor has had pages of praise heaped upon it, but the Euro V 2.2HDi Peugeot unit is less well-known. At six metres long, the Quartet fulfills the ferry tariff criterion but is about as big as you’d ever seriously consider using every day. At over 5m long Audi’s biggest 4x4 isn’t so much smaller, and with reversing sensors fitted as part of the must-have Comfort Pack, you’ll be surprised at how usable it is for a trip to Tesco.

The space race

You soon discover the Quartet’s biggest compromise – storage. One coat each (plus a few shirts and other non-bulky easily-creased garments) went into the wardrobe. It has a hanging height of 930mm and a width of 360mm, so it’s hardly huge, but it’s adequate for a camper, and we even squeezed in a few shoes at floor level.

Probably the largest single area of storage in the Quartet is the area below the bottom bunk bed. This is home to the Truma Combi boiler and a rather bulky wheelarch but we still managed to squeeze in four umbrella-style folding chairs and a pair of levelling wedges – and we could extricate them (just) via the rear doors. Swift were insistent on allowing loading through the back doors, although larger items such as bikes will encroach upon the washroom.

Compared with the two-berth (sister model) Jazz’s shapely RIB rear seat, the Quartet’s rather square bench makes few concessions to passenger comfort, but then it is also no worse in this regard than many other motorhomes. Where Autocruise should be congratulated is in providing proper storage for the table and for the fitment of sliding windows (which can of course be opened while travelling).

The Boxer/Ducato panel vans remain great vehicles to drive, but where Fiat’s Ducato has made useful steps in refinement and economy, it appears that the Peugeot lion may have been left behind. Our Boxer is distinctly gruff from a cold start and our early MPG figures suggest that it may be a couple of miles adrift here too.

The side-hinged top locker doors in the kitchen (secured only by magnets) fly open regularly. They clatter shut again on the next sharp bend but it’s made us very wary of what we store up there. That’s a pity, for the rest of the kitchen is very well designed with worktop space beating many coachbuilts in this department. There’s a decent amount of storage, too, both at high and low level, but some might point to the lack of a draining board.

We’ve long been advocates of compressor fridges in compact van conversions as they need no external (ugly) vents and once you’ve switched them on they simply hum away and do their thing. What’s unusual here is the convenient height and a decent (80-litre) capacity.

Cleverly concealed

The offside part of the main bed is formed via a fairly conventional slide-out support and folding panel from the half-dinette and a little cushion re-arranging. It’s not the easiest, or simplest, of beds to make and it’s best to put the younger occupants in the bunks first, otherwise there simply isn’t enough floor space for everyone. After six nights it seemed to be getting easier to erect, but I did need to sleep on the forward half of the bed to have sufficient room for my 5ft 10in body to stretch out.

Our 6ft 2in teenager just fitted into the lower bed but the top bed is much smaller. Autocruise apply a sticker that says ‘not suitable for children under six years old without supervision’.

Bathing baby

With little ones on board, the Quartet’s fully equipped washroom becomes a real boon (and a huge plus over over VW campers and the like). We spent a couple of nights on (facility-free) aires, with all four of us showering on board. Yes, you have to use a shower curtain, but space is good, shower pressure excellent and the shower tray has two large drain holes. Despite the dated tip-up basin, it’s here that the Quartet shows its ace card over rival Windrush.

Everyone who enters the vehicle seems impressed by the décor and finish, with the upholstery being particularly pleasing. But there are glitches; the trim on the rear doors seems prone to showing water marks and the trim panel surrounding the window next to the table is very slightly bowed. Biggest criticism by far concerns those top lockers’ inadequate catches.

Storage and bed make-up are compromised, but the Quartet packs full facilities for a family into a panel van.

This motorhome review of the Autocruise Quartet family van conversion was published in the July 2012 issue of Which Motorhome. You can download the full magazine by clicking HERE