Full review

GERMAN manufacturer Frankia has a reputation for building serious quality motorhomes and the new £64,000 T7400 GD, which is based on the brand-new Mercedes-Benz Sprinter five-tonne chassis, continues this tradition in fine style.

The low-profile T7400 really does look the part from the outside, although the lack of access to the garage from the nearside seems a little odd, given the offside and rear access doors. That said, the garage itself is enormous and the generous 1,332kg payload allowance means you can make the very most of it in practice.

Inside, the new Sprinter's cab is dominated both by the gigantic bulbous central pod and the show model's automatic gearbox (now derived from the S-Class luxury saloon car, rather than the late, unlamented Sprintshift transmission). No doubt this latter will be a popular option.

I'd be surprised if this particular model's conversion layout doesn't prove equally popular, too, as it seems to offer the best of all worlds. Out back, the twin longitudinal single beds can also be made up into a really large double, and the room itself feels little smaller than that of the similarly-designed (but considerably bigger) I820 GD tag-axle A-Class I tested for this magazine a few months ago.

The central washroom is similarly clever, with the ostensibly unimpressive separated shower cubicle and washroom proper given a thoroughly remarkable twist by the fact that the nearside washroom's ingenious folding wall can be unlatched and swung across to make the area between the bedroom and the kitchen one huge full-width washroom.

Better still, you can separate it off completely, albeit with proper access to it from the lounge area or leave it set up as an en-suite washroom to the bedroom. Folding the door back, on the other hand, makes the central walkway feel uncommonly spacious.

As you'd expect, the kitchen extends to a remote-position AES 150-litre stack fridge/freezer and a proper oven and grill, although work surfaces are few and far between, despite the fact that the wooden sink covers can be slotted overhead to create more room.

The lounge, though, is right up there with the best, with high-level ambient lighting, an offside stand-alone armchair, overcab panoramic rooflight, plunging TV station, clever (if optional) folding seat to the L-shaped lounge (which effectively makes the forward-facing seats proper travel seats) and multi-positional table, making this a truly luxurious place in which to relax.

Frankia T7400 GD

• Base vehicle: Mercedes Sprinter 515 LWB
• Price from: £64,029 on the road
• Length: 7.68m (25ft 2in)
• Width: 2.30m (7ft 6.5in)
• Height: 3.15m (10ft 4in)
• Gross vehicle weight: 5,000kg
• Payload: 1,332kg
• Berths: 6
• Travel seats: 4, including driver