Full review

THE Moovéo I717 is one of a three-model range that also includes garage and fixed bed layouts.

If you’ve got youngsters, though, it’s this new-for-’09 bunk bed version that you’ll be after, and you’ll probably take comfort from the fact that it is instantly recognisable as a Pilote Group product.

Change the graphics and swap the grey skirts and bumpers for white ones and you could be staring at a rather more expensive Pilote model.

That’s the secret of Moovéo’s success, though: take all the construction know-how of parent Pilote, strip away a few of the frills and drop the price to a level that means that most of the competition is secondhand – often very secondhand!

And don’t be fooled into thinking that the value of the euro against the pound will have stopped Moovéo in their tracks.

The list price for their A-class range starts at under £40,000 on-the-road. This longer (7.23m) model with the 2.3-litre 130bhp engine as standard starts at £41,290, and the spec has been increased for the UK to include a grill and oven, three-burner hob (instead of a two-burner), better upholstery and removable carpets in the living area. It comes with a right-hand drive cab, of course, too.

For what is – these days – a relatively modest motorhoming outlay, you do seem to get a lot of ’van. A walk around the outside reveals a large hatch to access the nearside under-settee storage area and an even bigger door further rearwards if you want to turn the bottom bunk bed into a mini-garage for your bikes.

Inside, the look is more ‘practical’ than ‘plush’ or ‘posh’ but you cannot argue with the amount of space on offer. The pullman dinette is mated to a long settee adjacent and the modern net curtains and trendy lighting help to allay any disappointment over the squareness of the seat cushions. Those seats might not look too inviting, but they are actually very comfortable.

You can spot where the savings have been made in the cab, too – manually adjustable mirrors and stick-on insulated screens rather than blinds – but the Fasp captain’s chairs are supremely comfortable.

Only the long waggly stalks for the seatbelts (on which you’ll almost certainly whack your shins) and the exposed bolts securing them to the floor (excrutiating if you tread on them in bare feet) disappoint.

Meanwhile, the mirror set into the underside of the cab bed is not for reversing but for keeping an eye on junior and junioress in the back – how about that for common sense where boisterous families are concerned!

On site, the lounge offers plenty of room to spread out and, overall, the I717 may be best seen as a four-berth with occasional extra capacity for the kids’ friends.

At night, mum and dad will certainly bag the drop-down cab bed, which is not only simplicity itself to deploy, but comfy and endowed with good headroom. It even has a shelf for your bedtime nick-nacks.

In the rear nearside corner are two adult-sized bunk beds, each fitted with a reading light and opening window. If there are only four on board that’s all you need to know – and you’ll never need to make a bed. A fifth berth is available by simply removing the backrest from the long settee and it seemed as if you should be able to make a slightly bigger bed from the dinette, though you’d need extra cushions, which were missing from our test vehicle, unfortunately.

However big your family, that tall fridge/freezer (part of the Comfort Pack) should cater for all your sustenance storage needs and the L-shaped galley opposite has a decent amount of worktop space and plenty of storage.

Those burgundy red highlights (fridge door, along the lower edges of the eye-level lockers, cutlery drawer) add a splash of colour – and a refreshingly different ambience – to what could otherwise look like rather flat and boxy furniture. It’s a pity there isn’t more lighting in the galley area, though.

Finally, of course, there’s the washroom, which stretches across the rear wall, and this continues the Moovéo theme, being at once simple but practical. The washbasin-cum-storage unit looks a bit plasticky and flimsy but you can’t fault the size of the basin or the amount of cupboard space.

There’s plenty of room to use the swivel loo and, more surprisingly, there’s a proper separate shower with plenty of space to hose yourself down behind the substantial tri-fold door (no cost-cutting curtain here!).

We could go on about the big wardrobe, the generous under-seat storage and more, but by now you’ll have got the picture of a motorhome that really is genuinely practical and comfortable for a family of four.

A full version of this review first appeared in the January 2009 issue of Which Motorcaravan magazine. To subscribe to the magazine, click here.