Full review

Words and photos by Will Hawkins
 

Driving through the Suffolk countryside on a cold, wet wintry Tuesday morning to try out Adria’s Twin Supreme 640 SGX, this had to be good. Thankfully, this van conversion is a delight. Aside from the warm reception from the Adria team, they’d warmed it up with the diesel heater, so I felt the benefit of its winter features instantly.

It was cosy, comfortable and showed its year-round capabilities.

With the ground saturated in the local campsites, I drove to a nearby village hoping to find somewhere picturesque and firm enough to park. On those winding lanes, the 640 SGX handled nicely, albeit firmly, like most Fiat chassis. The Euro 6d, 2.3-litre, 140bhp engine with its six-speed gearbox has plenty of torque, and it makes handling the campervan easy.  

The rear view from the wing mirrors is good, while the reversing camera integrated into the radio in the dashboard covers the blind spot and gives you a good view of what’s behind.

The radio unit includes FM and DAB radio, Bluetooth and TomTom navigation.

One audible test of the build quality of a campervan is how much it rattles as you’re going along, and the Twin Supreme 640 SGX hardly squeaked along those bumpy country lanes. That peacefulness made for a promising start.

Above the driver and passenger seats are touch-on touch-off reading lights. The cab, with its comfortable captain's-style seats with armrests, is a standard set-up, bar one aspect – the skylight above.

The cabin loft space this creates transforms the area and the ’van. It’s not only the extra light, it’s the headroom you gain. The extra space means you can move more freely in the cab compared with similar van conversions where this space is boxed in to create storage. Plus, Adria’s designers have thought carefully about the cab’s overhead sidw lockers that are here, which have sleek integrated hinged doors, and provide practical storage space.

Another aspect of Adria’s interior design is its use of light. With its glossy, white cupboard doors and skylights (there’s one above the table, too), the living space is bright in the daytime and cosy at night. There’s no glare because the slate grey of the surfaces absorbs the downlight. The tinted window on the passenger side keeps out prying eyes, too. The skylight is fitted with an integrated flyscreen, as is the sliding door, so in the warmer months you can relax and keep cool with the door and rooflight open without fighting off bugs.

Above the door, there’s a simple control button for the Webasto electric/diesel blown-air heater and next to it is the switch for the Whale water heater, which uses gas or electricity. It’d be ideal if heating controls in houses were this simple to use!

With the driver and passenger chairs facing the living space, there’s plenty of room at the table for two, while a swing-out table extension adds more surface for dining for four people. When it’s warm outside, you can remove the table from inside and connect it to the bar on the back of the kitchen block, giving you a wonderful place to eat your breakfast.

The dining table has a recess at one end for holding glasses, bottles or other items you want to keep in one place. It’s another simple but thoughtful design. Besides the natural lighting here, LED lighting strips sit below the overhead lockers and illuminate the living space. In summer, if you need shade, pull the awning out and live outside in comfort, too.

Above the travel seats, there’s a slide-out TV bracket (which feels sturdy), with the 12V/230V sockets, satellite and digital aerial sockets tucked neatly against the sidewall. There are two USB charging points here, too. Overall, the living space is tidy and minimalist, and the dark ‘Baxter’ upholstery is elegant and practical.

The same thoughtful design applies to the kitchen. From top to bottom it’s simple but ergonomic. A big overhead cupboard with a recess means you can store food without it tipping out after a journey. The LED light strip illuminates the extendable kitchen surface nicely.

The white kitchen surface contains a two-burner gas hob on the left, and a sink on the right. Both sit below dark tinted glass covers, with a clear splashback to the right of the sink, and a spice rack above it. Below the 26cm kitchen surface extension are two slim shelves with elasticised bands across them to store items. For pots and pans, there are two big drawers below the gas hob, and a third drawer below the oven. There’s also a 90-litre compressor fridge/freezer.

The washroom is no exception to the thought that’s gone into the design of the 640 SGX, either. When you need the toilet or to wash your hands, there’s a standard swivel-top chemical toilet and a stylish, oval-shaped basin with a big mirror above it. The washroom is well lit and has a vent above the toilet, plus a frosted external window.

When you need a shower, pull the wall holding the basin and mirror towards the toilet and you’ll see the integrated shower. When you’re done, swing it back and hang your towel to dry from the rail in the ceiling. Above the toilet is a locker for all your washing items, too. You shut yourself off from the rest of the campervan with a sliding, tambour door.

The bedroom in the 640 SGX is one of its most interesting features. Why? At the touch of a button (one above the sliding door and one at the back of the campervan), the bed can be raised and lowered, which gives you flexibility in the storage area at the back of the camper.

At its lowest level, the bed is transverse and measures 1.96m long, 1.77m wide at its widest point, and 1.53m at its narrowest. That’s a big bed and, below it, you still have a large space for storing camping clobber, with anchor points in each corner.

If you want to transport or store larger items like bikes overnight, the bed can be raised. However, your bed will be smaller and you will need to sleep along the campervan rather than across it. The elevated bed is now 1.77m at its longest point, 1.53m at its shortest and 1.32m wide. Fortunately, a ladder is provided for climbing up.

At the back of the bedroom are two adjustable reading lights on runners, and LED strips below the overhead lockers with a switch at the kitchen end of the bed. For natural light, there’s a skylight, windows on either side and windows in the back doors. All open and have integrated flyscreens.

Space is good in the overhead bedroom lockers, with glossy white doors to match those in the rest of the campervan. Below the fridge you get a sizeable wardrobe for hanging coats while under the bed, there are a number of cupboards and drawers for storing smaller items. The gas locker is at the back of the campervan, on the passenger side.

The outside of this campervan is a case of light and dark in its design. With its white base, black decals, and dark tinted windows, the 640 SGX is as minimalistic and sleek in its design externally as it is internally.

There’s an electric step at the sliding door, which is controlled from a button behind the driver’s door, as is the light for the awning. On the roof, there are two solar panels producing 120W, and roof bars for loading yet more gear. With a 100-litre fresh water tank and 85-litre waste water tank, it’s ideal for camping off-grid for a few days.

The Adria Twin Supreme 640 SGX is the company’s best-selling van conversion, and it’s easy to see why. It looks great and the interior design is clever, modern and comfortable. It works well and the elevating bed moves the campervan from being good to great, if you need to carry bikes or bulky outdoor gear.

At just under £60K, the Twin 640 SGX seems like excellent value for such a well-built campervan.