Full review

IF high build-quality is one of your motorhome ideals, then the Itineo hits the spot.

It’s a tidy handler, too, much as you’d expect from something that takes Fiat’s long-wheelbase chassis as its base.

The expected roll from what appears to be quite a high gravity-centred vehicle never materialises, and the extended wheelbase seems to temper what can often be quite a choppy-riding base vehicle on smaller coachbuilts. It’s no Ford Transit in this respect, but it is a marked improvement.

Incidentally, it’s worth pointing out that all UK Itineos sport Fiat’s excellent 2.3-litre Multijet engine and six-speed gearbox.

Given the motorhome’s size, you could be forgiven for thinking that this engine just wouldn’t be man enough for the job, but since I came away from my test drive thinking – mistakenly – that our test example had been upgraded to 157bhp 3-litre power, I suspect that this is a baseless concern.

If you’re in the market for an A-class, then space is presumably high on your list of demands, and as one of the larger Itineos (only the two 720 models are longer), the LB 690 certainly delivers on this front.

Climb aboard, and it feels considerably wider than its actual 2.35m girth, with a healthy near-7m length including a large lounge up front, a good-sized kitchen amidships and a huge en-suite end bedroom, complete with a separate shower area in the washroom.

Lounge first, and while our test model’s rather startling Languedoc red colour scheme may not be to all tastes, it certainly imbues the area with a pleasingly warm feel. Simpler palates are catered for with subtler Camargue (beige) and Aquitaine (blue) optional fabric schemes, however.

The layout is classically European, with a nearside L-shaped settee (which converts quickly and easily into a pair of forward-facing travel seats) allied to a large two-seater settee opposite and a pair of Isri swivel cab seats. I found these latter just a little wanting in the seat-base department, although it is true that I have freakishly long legs.

The Itineo is an extremely pleasant place in which to relax, too, with seats that tread the fine line between support and comfort admirably.

I found available 12V lighting just a little lacking – there’s plenty of it, but they’re a bit dim – although the trio of mains spotlights over the lounge area should help considerably in this respect.

There’s just a small opening rooflight where you’d perhaps expect there to be a large, panoramic affair, but large side windows, allied to the enormous aquarium-style wraparound screens in the cab, help ensure that the most is made of the rare occasions when sun has got his hat on.

Moving towards the rear of the Itineo reveals another strength: namely its galley. Continental kitchen are sometimes spacious but sparsely appointed affairs, but the LB 690 offers a spark-ignition three-burner hob allied to a high-level 800W microwave oven and a Smev Combi oven/grill positioned above the Thetford fridge/freezer opposite.

A lack of a drainer means worktop space is on the generous side of ample, and opening the two lower doors reveals a pair of large voids complete with fixed shelves. You could probably practice your snorkelling skills in that enormous round sink, too.

‘Enormous’ is the word that tends to spring to mind when you open the wardrobe door, too. All too often, motorhome wardrobes look impressively commodious from the outside, only for you to discover the combination heater/boiler lurking at the bottom, restricting the available hanging space. Not so in the LB 690: there’s space aplenty in there for a dinner jacket and evening gown (should you need it), with an additional storage shelf at the bottom.

Moving into the bedroom, there’s the usual longitudinal fixed double bed irritant of a chopped-off mattress to facilitate easier access to the adjacent washroom, but the bed itself measures a healthy enough 6ft 4in by 4ft 5in.

A small knick-knack shelf for spectacles and jewellery would have made this area perfect, but there’s a small net book rack, a proper padded headboard and – hallelujah! – no rear window to make sitting up therein uncomfortable. There’s an embarrassment of roof lockers, too, and each occupant gets a pair of warm striplights by which to read.

Of course, this being an A-class, the rear bed isn’t the only one in here. Unbuckling a simple seatbelt-style clasp releases the good-sized (at 6ft 2in by 4ft 4in) cab bed, complete with single reading light, and typical wrap-around privacy curtain. The mattress is usefully low-set, too, meaning you don’t need advanced mountaineering skills to reach it, although you do have to fold the cab seats forward as flat as they’ll go beforehand.

The washroom is slung alongside the  rear bed on the offside wall, and – unlike some such rooms – is laid out sensibly, with the shower at the far rear and the toilet in the middle. This isn’t – to mix metaphors for a second – the biggest littlest room I’ve ever seen in a motorhome, but there’s a reasonable amount of space around the washbasin and swivel loo and while anyone over 6ft 1in or so will have to stoop just a little to clear the ceiling in the shower, the shower itself – and the shower tray – is of a practical, useable size.

So far so (mostly) good, then, but there’s another string to the Itineo’s bow that is, if anything, its most impressive yet. I’ve already alluded to the vehicle’s exterior quality, but that’s nothing compared to the sheer solidity of the fittings inside. Everything from the cabinetry and hinges to the locker stays and handles (the peculiar design of these latter does make them feel just a little odd in use, however), through to the look and feel of the soft-furnishings and the general fit and finish, feels like it belongs to a £60,000 motorhome – a Bürstner, say, or a Rapido.

Well, that’s actually not all that far from the truth, because it was actually Rapido that established the Itineo brand in a separate factory two years ago with the express purpose of building nothing but low-cost A-class motorhomes. All of a sudden, the reason for this so-called ‘budget’ range’s extraordinary innate quality becomes crystal-clear, because we’ve yet to test a Rapido (or, indeed, a Fleurette or Esterel) motorhome that hasn’t felt a noticeable cut above the rest from stem to stern.

If you’re looking for an A-class  but thought you could only afford to buy used, a brand-new Itineo could well be the answer to your prayers.

Verdict
Minor niggles (slightly dim lighting, no bedroom open shelf) aside, you’ll struggle to pick holes in this high quality A-class from this new brand to the UK. Savage current Sterling/Euro exchange rates mean it’s no longer the sub-£40,000 give-away it was originally intended to be, but this is still a hell of a lot of motorhome for the money by anyone’s standards.

A full version of this review first appeared in the June 2008 issue of Which Motorcaravan. To subscribe to the magazine, click here.