Full review

Here – not before time – is something slightly different. Yes, the bedroom format is similar, but the French firm has put it into the extra-long (6.36m) panel van, rather than a usual 6m model for this format. Even that’s not new, because Adria does the same to allow a separate shower to be incorporated in its Twin 640 SPX, but here the extra length is used for a better lounge instead and, still more unusually, a better galley.

Let’s start with the lounge because Pilote first hinted that change was afoot when it showed the V630G at the NEC show back in February 2018. Now, it has integrated the L-shaped lounge into its slightly complex van conversion range and we reckon it’s onto something. Adding a small side section to the usual half-dinette and installing a pole-mounted table (rather than a wall-hung version) makes for a much more convivial, much less formal seating area – especially if you bag the place opposite the door on a warm sunny day.

Five could even fit around the table, thanks to a fold-away jump seat (which is backless again) in the doorway. But, if you want to sleep more than two, you’ll need to invest in the pop-up roof option with upstairs double bed – that’s now available on every Pilote campervan. It’s not just the lounge that’s genuinely transformed by the extra space, though.

The kitchen is perhaps even more of an improvement. It looks fairly straightforward at first glance, though the three large drawers, a slide-out unit with bin and the huge (especially for a camper) 141-litre, two-door fridge/freezer all win it brownie points. The cooker is a conventional two-burner gas hob with a hinged lid, but to find the sink you slide the worktop left – complete with the end wall of the galley – creating a much more expansive kitchen. The sliding section also reveals hidden spice racks. If you don’t want to stretch the tape this far, then this clever design feature is also found in a six-metre model. If you choose to specify it with a smaller under-counter fridge (such as the new 85-litre Vitrifrigo compressor unit), the expanse of worktop would shame a few tag-axle A-classes!

It’s not even as if Pilote ran out of ideas – or space – when it came to the bathroom, either. In here the washbasin is concealed behind a mirror and folds down from the side wall, while the bench cassette toilet slides away to create more room for showering. The bathroom entrance is a space-saving sliding door, too.

The rear bed’s mattress may only measure 1.79m long (by 1.32m wide) but the actual, usable bed length is a much more generous 1.93m and those moulded wall panels that give you the extra space mean you can prop yourself up in bed as well. You could sleep either way around, but there are only reading lights on the offside. A pull-out step below the bed is just one feature to like in this well-designed motorhome. In a very crowded sector this new Pilote really stands out. 

If you enjoyed this review, you can read loads more like it in What Motorhome magazine. You can get a digital version of this latest issue of What Motorhome magazine here.