Full review

An A-class motorhome allows designers to throw off the shackles and limitations of the base vehicle.

Up until now, these interior space gains over a similar-length coachbuilt have been filled with a tonne of equipment and, more often than not, a large sprinkling of bling.

With the Evan (with emphasis on the ‘E’, please) Dethleffs have taken a campervan-style space-saving approach to furnishing an A-class interior. This is not a concept (though that’s how it started life, two years ago!) – do not adjust your magazine – the Evan is among us, and this is its first UK test.

Style

Square, upright, broad of windscreen and with the impression of a mid-mounted steering wheel – it could only be an A-class. That’s what a cursory glance at the Evan tells you, but get a bit closer and the wide (850mm) habitation doors (plural, one on the offside, one on the back) talk loud of practicality and accessibility beyond regular A-class confines.

Mind you, the 610mm hop up to the offside habitation door definitely needs its Thule slide-out step. The rear door’s threshold is a whopping 710mm from the ground, and with no step to help, that’s a real stretch, particularly if you plan to load the vehicle from the rear.

Sports wheels, low-profile tyres and a slash of chrome striping from front to rear are smart touches, as are the five-spot, curved daytime running lights. I also like the deliberate darkening of the habitation windows that run in a border to merge into the black-framed front glass.

Cab

You climb in through the nearside door (other Evan variants offer a door for the driver, too) and then shimmy across the cab to get behind the wheel. The steering wheel is firmly planted on the right of the cab, but the impression from the outside of something more mid-mounted is down to the additional width of the A-class body and the depth of the dashboard. On the nearside, the extra width is inhabited by a deeply-pocketed door, on the offside there’s a useful hinged cubby for phones, wallets, guide books and other accoutrement for a long journey.

Lounge

Both side and rear habitation doors open almost back to the bodywork on gas struts for unhindered access to the interior of the Evan. Step up (easier at the side door with that slide-out step) and the overwhelming impression is of wide open space; I mean space you can actually walk up and down in without colliding with the décor.

The furniture units are slim and multi-doored covers hint at abundant storage. The floor is covered in crisp laminate and the ceiling is full of skylights.

It is all astoundingly, refreshingly modern and shows, at a glance, what happens when A-class space meets campervan space-saving.

The splendid captain’s chairs spin to face the living area without fuss and fiddling, creating a workable four-seat dining area. In the 560D model (we’re testing the 560B here) there’s a pullman-type four-seat dinette, but this option eats into the storage behind to the tune of one wardrobe. Seeing as you can create much the same effect with the swivelling cab seats, I can’t see the appeal of the ‘B’ model unless you need the extra bed that it makes.

The half-dinette here has its own large window, and combined with the panoramic front screen glass, skylights and the glazed habitation door opposite, this is just about the lightest spot in the Evan.

Kitchen

The biggest space saving in the Evan is in the kitchen. At just 390mm from the front of the worktop to the large window it sits against, it’s as thin as a campervan’s and similarly sparse on equipment.

For cooking you get a high-quality CAN two-burner hob/sink combo and that’s your lot. There are plenty of buyers who would be put off by such culinary paucity, but I suspect these same buyers would find the Evan’s Ikea-esque approach to washrooms and storage not to their liking either.

The Evan is, arguably, designed for a new kind of motorhomer. One who is prepared to take the hit on certain ‘essentials’ in exchange for extra space. My concern is that, like a number of the high-end lifestyle-leaning T5 conversions, the Evan is aimed squarely at a younger market that can’t, in the main, afford it.

Back in the kitchen, there’s a good stretch of worktop left after the hob and sink to prepare meals on. The fridge across the walkway creates that ideal triangle that ‘experts’ always remind us is best for kitchen ergonomics.
Storage is very good, considering the depth of the main kitchen unit. There’s a floor-to-worktop cupboard with a pair of shelves, a deep drawer under the hob and a cutlery drawer under the sink. Above, there’s a pair of lockers with loads of room for cans, cups and glasses, and above the sink there’s a useful two-shelf cubby.

During the day, the kitchen is an incredibly light space, thanks to the large window that forms its backdrop, the skylight above and the reflection of light from the storage façade behind. At night, three LED spots in the base of the overhead lockers illuminate the kitchen really well.

Sleeping

Drop-down beds have revolutionised the way modern motorhomes look and work, so it’s no surprise to find one nestling above the A-class cab in the Evan.

To drop this bed down, the driver and passenger seats need to be folded forwards first. They can stay in their swivelled positions, and the folding takes just a twist of a chunky handle on the seat base. The bed then unclips from its seatbelt-style buckle and can be pulled down with little effort.

A short ladder attaches to the rail on the front of the bed and leads up to a mattress that’s 1.82m long by a substantial 1.47m wide. It’s a comfortable bed, ready in a minute or so and fitting in completely with the space-saving ethos of the Evan.

If you want to sleep more than two in the Evan you’ll need to opt for either the alternative 560D layout or an idea straight out of the campervan book at bedtime – an elevating roof with its own upstairs bed.

This option does look rather incongruous, mounted amidships on an A-class motorhome, but it adds another two berths, and a whopping £3,129 to the price (though that’s less than a popular German roof for a VW T5).

This article is an extract from a longer piece in May 2014 Which Motorhome. Read it in full by ordering your digital copy here.

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