Full review

The same length as its predecessor, the 180, at 7.33m, the 196 has an increased payload of 568kg on a 3,500kg chassis. Still carrying six belted travellers, it can sleep them all, too, by replacing the overcab bed with a drop-down.

The front lounge has a nearside settee, with the full dinette opposite containing the four belted rear travel seats. Centrally, there’s a linear kitchen with the washroom opposite, then the wardrobe, followed by the rear lounge with two parallel settees and windows all round. Windows throughout are darkened and furnished with budget-range blinds, though the cab does sport an excellent blackout curtain.

There’s certainly seating for six – and more! The front settee will take two, with four more in the dinette around a wall-mounted table. Meanwhile, the rear lounge will accommodate another four (at least) and has a free-standing table plus a flip-up surface on the rear wall. There’s a television point and wall-mounting in the rear lounge’s front corner.

Kitchen facilities include generous worktop space, three-burner gas hob and good-sized sink. Beneath are the separate oven and grill and 80-litre three-way fridge with removable freezer compartment. Four overhead lockers, four lower drawers and a pan store provide excellent storage.

In the washroom the Thetford 263 swivel toilet sits well to one. A free-standing washbasin with external mixer tap sits on the corner shelf, with separate shower controls and riser bar alongside. There’s a shelved wall cupboard, mirror, loo-roll holder, small towel rail and soap dish, but a family would need multiple towel hooks – and a shelf above the basin would be useful.

The electrically operated drop-down bed (with manual back-up), lowers smartly, and has an aluminium ladder, safety nets and comfortable Ozio mattress. Moreover, there’s 61cm headroom and this is the bed we’d bag for ourselves.

Below the drop-down bed, the dinette table fits between the seats and, with an infill cushion, makes a child-sized bed. However, draw the settee base forward, add a couple more infill cushions and you have a transverse double bed with 74cm headroom below the drop-down. Then there’s the enormous transverse rear lounge bed. Simply pull the seat bases together and infill with the seat-back cushions.

Storage is good, with an overcab locker, plentiful overhead, copious under-seat space, and a decent wardrobe with drawers beneath. The 196 is insulated to Grade 3 standard and has Whale space and water heating. The external 100Ah leisure battery locker also contains the electric hook-up and the gas locker takes two 7kg gas cylinders. Also, all Autoquests carry a full-sized spare wheel as standard.

If you enjoyed this review, you can read the full version and more in the November 2016 issue of What Motorhome magazine. You can get a digital version of this latest issue of What Motorhome magazine here.