Full review

When it comes to coachbuilt motorhomes, Roller Team are no strangers to the UK market, but 2019 sees them join the campervan fray with two new Toleno models based on the ubiquitous Fiat Ducato.

The two-berth Toleno L costs £39,995, while the R model offers an extra two berths for its £41,495 price tag.

Both vehicles are a mere 5.99m long, making them compact enough to bag all the cheap ferry deals, and weighing under 3,500kg makes them appealing to all ages, too. As well as being able to park in a typical car park without overhanging the parking bay too much, the Toleno could, at a pinch, be used as a daily driver and its compact size makes it an easy vehicle to pilot. It’s also fitted with a handy mirror-mounted reversing camera as standard.

The standard engine with the Toleno R is the 115bhp Euro 6 Ducato engine and this was the engine fitted to the test vehicle.

If you wanted to tow anything or use all four berths, then you could opt for a higher- output model – the 130bhp engine offers good value for an extra £900 while the 177bhp engine is £2,820 and Fiat’s robotised manual Comfort-Matic gearbox costs an extra £2,040. Aside from the engine upgrades, there are only a handful of other options available on the Toleno models and these include the essential £1,250 Driver's Pack, which includes cab air-con, cruise control with speed limiter, a passenger airbag and radio controls on the steering wheel, as well as electrically adjustable and heated mirrors.

None of these are really items you want to do without on a campervan and you’d also be mad not to tick the box for the 100W solar panel – priced reasonably at £299. There's also enough space to upgrade the leisure battery, which we'd recommend as the standard one is only 72Ah.

The first pleasant surprise about this Italian-blooded camper (which is built by Auto-Trail in the UK) is that the sliding side door is on the correct UK kerbside – something that you’ll appreciate if you ever have to drop kids off at school or let passengers out on a busy road, and don't want them being run over.

A half-dinette style lounge layout

Inside, the lounge has a half-dinette style layout with two forward-facing travel seats. These are particularly good, as they have sculpted backrests and contoured seat cushions that make them more supportive and comfortable. Even though the roof lockers look a bit close to the offside seat, in practice, they’re not and there’s plenty of space for six-footers like me to get comfortable!

They come with three-point seatbelts and the only minor point – particularly as this type of vehicle will be used by people with younger children – is that there are no Isofix fittings built into the seat bases. But, overall, these are excellent travel seats, far removed from the bolt upright ones fitted to some campervans.

Both the cab seats have been neatly trimmed to match the rear travel seats in a practical grey tweed with dark grey bolsters, and these easily swivel to face rearwards (with the handbrake lowered).

As all the seating in the lounge is on the same level, the dining table set-up works well, and this single-leg item is sturdy and has a useful extra leaf that easily spins around the leg to create extra space. It roughly adds about a third more room and can be angled to suit diners in the swivelled passenger seat.

A well-kitted out kitchen

There are no surprises in the kitchen area and the layout uses a kitchen pod design that partially covers the sliding door – but not to the extent that it will spoil your view from the lounge. The compromise here is that, to gain lounge and kitchen space, the corridor between the two is a little narrow.

It’s quite well kitted out for its size and, as well as the default Dometic two-burner stainless-steel hob and sink unit, you also get a 20-litre 800W microwave inset into the cabinets beneath. This is 240V-powered, so you’ll need to be on a hook-up to use it. When you are hooked up, you’ll also appreciate all the 240V sockets in this van – I counted five! Two of these are next to the kitchen unit and ideal for a coffee machine, toaster or kettle.

There’s no extractor fan fitted but, as you can cook with the sliding door open, or the Polyplastic window raised, it's not an issue.

There’s not much worktop around the sink and hob unit, so Roller Team have added a flip-up extension at the front edge of it, which works well (although you need long fingers to reach the catches. The overhead locker above the kitchen benefits from a positive locking catch but isn’t that deep and is angled, so you’ll probably want to use the storage spaces built under the hob.

These comprise a good-sized cutlery drawer under the sink and two cupboards. The rearmost of these opens to reveal a shelved storage space and is also home to the gas shut-off taps, while the forward cupboard is deeper and ideal for pots and pans. The only niggle is that the front cupboard door hits the base of the travel seats, so you have to stand to one side to get into it.

Pros and cons with the shower

There are no great surprises to be found in the washroom and it offers a Thetford swivel bowl loo with electric flush that’s mounted at a convenient height for most people – it’s not fitted over the wheelarch so there’s no leg dangling for shorter folk!

The shower scores points for using a separate tap and having a separate push tap on the spray head itself but, for some strange reason, Roller Team have sited the mixer tap right next to the loo where it can either dig into your hip or very easily get knocked off.  A shower curtain keeps the water off the loo and sink cabinets.

The shower tray itself only has a single drain hole but, as it’s centrally mounted and has ridges in the base feeding into it, it won’t be an issue on a campsite. It would have been better to have a larger vent in the shower room, too, as there’s only a small mushroom vent above your head. With 6ft 1in of height, there’s plenty of headroom.

The sink unit works well and flips down to reveal its own mixer tap inset into a handy storage shelf for your toiletries – you can simply leave these in place and flip up the sink when you’re on the road.

Above the sink there’s an additional glass-fronted double-doored storage locker to stash more toiletries, while beneath are a trio of shelves (a lip or meshed front would make this area more usable and it’s easy enough to add these). Apart from the daft shower tap positioning, overall it’s a pretty decent washroom given the compact nature of the vehicle.

Silver insulated screens seal off the cab area at night-time (and can be conveniently stored in the large locker above the cab), while good-quality Polyplastic concertina-style side blinds seal off the sliding door and lounge side windows, as well as the windows in the lower rear bed.

The rear beds are accessed by walking between the fridge and wardrobe, and this is a little narrow – I’d have gladly sacrificed some wardrobe space to gain some shoulder room! A removable ladder allows the upper bed to be accessed and this features two individual mattresses and bases that can be either used as a large double or as two singles. You can even remove one (or both) of them if you need more space. It's ideal for kids but adults could feel a bit claustrophobic up here, as the bed sits quite close to the roof.

A couple of roof lockers have been squeezed into the space above the bed and there are two adjustable LED reading lights fitted to the padded headboard end. Aluminium rails clip in place on either side of the mattress to stop kids rolling out. An access ladder is needed to get into the upper bed and this needs removing to get into the bed below.

The lower bed is slightly larger than the upper bed at 6ft 1in long and offers more headroom. With a padded headboard and two LED reading lights, you can comfortably sit up in bed and read here, too. Like the upper bed, the mattress is thickly padded, flat and comfortable, so you’ll get a good night’s sleep here.

While it's great that the Toleno is fitted with a wardrobe above the fridge, it’s too deep and it’s tricky to open the double doors when you’re stood in front of it. If you have a fuller figure you’ll need to stand to one side to get into it. It might have been better to narrow it to gain shoulder room or simply delete it entirely and have more worktop space and a clearer view to the rear beds, instead. But there’s no denying it’s spacious.

As well as the overcab locker and two large lounge roof lockers, plus the kitchen pod cupboards, it’s the rear end that offers the most storage room.

Even with the upper beds in place, you can rearrange the lower bed mattress sections, which are designed to stack above the nearside bed base. The centre bed base lifts vertically and can be secured by a wall clip to give a large, central storage space. This would be ideal for bikes, barbecues and all manner of outdoor furniture.

If you’re using the van in two-berth mode you could also leave the upper bed at home to gain a vast amount of rear storage space here, instead. With the upper bed removed, you can use the bed space as an additional rear settee, too.

There’s also an extra locker under the nearside bed base with a large flip-down access door that can swallow a decent amount of kit. The offside bed base is occupied with the Combi 4E blown-air heater (which has single vents in the lounge, washroom and two in the rear bed base), the leisure battery, the battery charger and fusebox/consumer unit.

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