Full review

THE Startrail layout, which includes an L-shaped central kitchen and side-facing settees in addition to a French bed, is very much the British take on the fixed bed theme, and for two people, it works well.

There are no rear travel seats though, so the Startrail is resolutely a two-person ’van, despite the (rather pointless) ability of the lounge to convert into a second double bed.

Of course, it’s the design of the lounge that differentiates the Autocruise from the myriad of foreign fixed bed motorhomes. Side settees are becoming rare in continental designs as European customers mostly demand seatbelts in the rear, while the removable free-standing table is very much an English feature.

Just look at the details – a worktop flap on the forward end of the kitchen which adds more space for the cook to work or a surface for the TV (complete with power points), and the similar flap on the end of the nearside settee which is perfect for resting your cuppa while you peruse the Sunday papers. It’s this sort of thoughtful and practical design that has always been an Autocruise trademark.

The galley also benefits from its L-shape and its slot-in sink cover, both of which add worktop space, though the latter will require stowing before travel.

And on the safety front we were also slightly disappointed to find that none of the high-level lockers have any positive locking catches. That’s particularly relevant here as low-level kitchen storage is not especially generous.

It does include three small drawers though, none of them specifically fitted out for cutlery, and there’s no swing-out storage unit to surprise and delight as in some of Autocruise’s other galleys.

You’ll have no shortage of fresh food capacity, as the Startrail comes with a 150-litre AES fridge/freezer as standard. And for an extra £250 you can add a microwave in the cupboard above it. That is perhaps an unnecessary luxury, as there’s already a Spinflo domestic-style cooker with mains hotplate, three gas rings, grill and oven – plus stainless steel splashguards that do slightly restrict pan size.

When it’s time to serve up, you’ll need to extract the table from its cupboard alongside the fridge and now you’ll find that it’s best to sit side-by-side to dine as the table is too narrow to comfortably be reached from both settees at once. Dining is only really for two, but once the table is stowed away again, six can sit here comfortably – really comfortably, thanks to armrests and scatter cushions – while the pair of cab chair occupants look down on proceedings from their loftier pews.

The front lounge and the kitchen can also be fully utilised while your partner has a lie-in – thanks to a concertina division that closes off the rear en-suite bedroom.

And a proper headboard where some rivals fit an unwanted window makes this feel more like a real bedroom. The thick and very luxurious mattress, TV shelf and magazine pocket at the foot of the bed and pleated window blind are further classy touches, but as ever in motorcaravanning there’s a price to pay and this time it’s a rather severely chopped off corner to the bed.

Alongside the bed, the Swift-style washroom places the swivel cassette loo (rather than the shower, which is more common practise) in the back corner. That means there’s a wet floor to mop up after showering before anyone else can use the loo, but on the plus side there is more floorspace at the basin that in many rivals.

Generally, there’s no shortage of storage in the Startrail with a vast under-bed locker that can be reached by tipping up the bed base on its gas struts or via an external hatch.

The under-seat lockers on each side can also be accessed externally but internal access to these lockers is not so easy – drop-front doors would be a boon. And we’d also like to see some protection for the water pump in the under-seat area and the new more compact gas/mains Combi boiler in the under-bed location, as each is currently vulnerable to damage from items less than carefully stowed away.

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