Full review

DAY after day at the Dusseldorf Caravan Show, I arrived on the Hobby stand to take some photos of and notes on the company’s new Van Exclusive L motorhome, only to be thwarted by a long, jostling line of eager visitors waiting by the door, and a seemingly impossible number of still more people crammed inside.

Much as this was a nuisance for me, it just goes to show how much the effort that has gone into the new Exclusive version of the Hobby Van that was launched last year – and this new ‘L’ derivative in particular – has already paid off.

The ‘L’ suffix refers to the motorhome’s rear bedroom that, uniquely in the line-up, sports twin single beds, mounted longitudinally, and not the transverse double sported by the others.

And it’s unquestionably this bedroom that has got everyone so excited, because it feels like it belongs in a motorhome several sizes bigger than its actual 6.75m length (which admittedly makes it over 2ft longer than the other Van models), and one that commands rather more money to boot, not least as the twin singles can be made up into one big double if required.

It’s pretty special from the outside, too, where the plainer vertical flanks of the standard van give way on the Exclusive to the more trademark rounded conversion walls, together with a beautifully integrated flush-fit wind-out awning.

The new ‘sword-slash’ entrance door window looks the part, too, even if it doesn’t exactly flood the interior with light.

Back inside, the non-extendable kitchen somehow manages to serve up a decent amount of worktop space, while the washroom opposite pulls off a similar TARDIS-like feat by offering a separate shower, complete with an opening panoramic rooflight that mirrors the shape of the round shower tray.

The lounge is much the same as the other Van models (half-dinette, offside seat and swivel cab seats) – but that’s a good thing.

A full version of this review first appeared in the November 2007 issue of Which Motorcaravan. To subscribe to the magazine, click here.