Full review

THE Trafic used here is a 115bhp Sport model. With the roof down it’s hard to distinguish it from a regular Renault van or people-carrier. And at two metres high, and well under five metres long, it will still go anywhere its standard siblings can. Maybe black is a bit too sombre a colour for a campervan, though?

Unless you’re an undertaker planning to use the Escape for your day job, a cheerier hue would, perhaps, be in order (the Renault website shows six shades for the Sport, including white, silver and grey).

Whatever the colour, a steep rake from bumper line to windscreen top is just about the only option away from right angles that the Trafic offers. This general squareness is a theme that has followed the Trafic through all its incarnations. Utilitarian it may be, but squareness equals interior space, something you can’t get enough of in a campervan.

Something else you expect from a modern camper is a good drive. And the Trafic is promising from the moment you climb into the cab.

That huge windscreen gives a terrific view of the road, the cab seats are comfortable (in typically Gallic style) and the controls are well laid out on a modern-looking dash. The engine output sounds on the small side, but all the torque from this 2-litre load lugger is on tap from 1,600rpm, so acceleration is surprisingly quick through the gears.

The six-speed gearbox is a delightful thing to use, changes up and down being smooth and only requiring a short throw of the lever, although the engine’s torque negates constant stirring. A sixth gear means that the Trafic will cruise happily at minimum rpm for maximum mpg.

The Trafic rides well, steers precisely and sits level through corners. In Sport spec it also comes with an equipment level to make VW buyers green with envy.

CAMPERVAN EQUIPMENT LEVELS

Sat-nav, air-con, cab seat armrests, automatic wipers and headlights, cruise control, trip computer, front foglamps, alloy wheels and metallic paint are all standard. It is a good drive, no question, despite its age, but can CMC’s new conversion match up to it?

The Escape’s Reimo roof is held down with a pair of clips in the cab. Unclipped, the roof soars upwards, taking the interior height to 2.14 metres. If the change of height inside is impressive, the view from outside is nothing short of dramatic.

Kitchen down the side, bench seat across the back – you may think you’ve seen all this before a billion times over, but the Escape’s interior hides some neat tricks.

Take the Reimo Variotech 333 seat for a start. It has three belted seats and has been crash and stress-tested extensively, with various European standards to prove it. The Variotech can be fixed in a single position, but in the Escape it is fitted on rails so it can slide right forward for storage or to the back of the ’van for comfort on the campsite.

The seat can even be removed completely. You’ll pay the best part of £5,000 to have the same seat and rails installed as an after-market addition, so having this expensive package fitted as standard is a real plus point for the Escape.

CAMPERVAN KITCHEN

In the kitchen, the Escape joins the VW California and a couple of the CMC range of T5s in having a top-loading fridge. ‘Fridge’ is perhaps stretching the point a bit in the Escape, because at 18 litres it looks more like a coolbox.

The forward end of the kitchen comes very close to the back of the driver’s seat, so this seat doesn’t swivel as standard.

With four people aboard, this could be problematic at meal times – the sliding bench may carry three travellers, but the arms and elbows of three eaters will present their own difficulties. For £240 you can opt to have a swivel fitted to the driver’s seat, but movement will be very restricted and I can’t see many Escape buyers bothering to tick this box.

STORAGE

There’s enough space, if you pack carefully, but there’s no ignoring the amount of storage taken up by the loo. If you don’t need an onboard toilet you could leave it at home, but if you do want one you’ll prefer this location to one that means carrying the loo around to position it for night-time emergencies.

A number of lifting-roof conversions put a slender row of cupboards above the kitchen worktop, with varying degrees of storage success.

The U-shaped storage shelf that runs above the kitchen in the Escape is an acknowledgement that space is tight here but it makes the best of what’s available. You probably shouldn’t choose to travel with this shelf loaded up (anything left there might just become a lethal missile!), but it is a very handy feature on site.

Moving towards the back of the camper, there are two deep shelves behind a tambour door and a small cupboard below.

A pair of Campingaz 907 bottles sit in the gas locker in the rear and a 16-litre water container nestles beneath. With only a two-burner hob to contend with, the twin 2.75kg cylinders will probably provide enough gas for an entire season of cooking.

Many campervan owners carry a spare bottle of gas, but it sometimes has to go in with the regular storage (in a potentially dangerous unvented locker), so the Escape’s provision is a useful, and safety-conscious, touch. The water container is designed to be removed and taken to the campsite tap for easy refilling.

CMC’s conversion experience and long association with Reimo comes across in the way the Escape is put together.

The Reimo furniture and accessories are fitted to an exceptionally high standard. There are no rough edges and no cut corners. Even the things that can’t be seen so easily, like the wiring runs, fusebox connections and holes cut through panels for the plumbing have all been completed with the utmost care.

This is an edited extract taken from the January 2014 issue of Which Motorhome magazine. You can download a digital version of the issue here.

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