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Auto-Sleeper Broadway FB motorhome
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Key Features

Model Year 2018
Class Low Profile
Base Vehicle Peugeot Boxer
Price From (£) 58,200
Engine Size 2.0TD
Maximum Weight (kg) 3,500
Berths 4
Main Layout French Bed
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At a glance

Berths: 4 Travel seats: 2/4 Base vehicle: Peugeot Boxer Gross weight: 3,500kg Payload: 388kg

Full review

When fixed bed layouts started to appear in significant numbers on the UK market – around 20 years ago – it was the French bed that was the norm. So what exactly is a French bed? Well, it’s a double bed placed lengthways against a side wall of the motorhome, usually with a washroom alongside.

The downside of this format is that bed and bathroom need to share the width of the ’van – give away too much to the former and the latter suffers, or vice versa. Then there’s the issue of getting to the loo in the night – fine if you’re sleeping on the ‘outside’ but not so easy if you’re against the wall and need to clamber over a slumbering neighbour.

It’s for all these reasons that the French bed has been usurped in the motorhome hit parade by top-selling island bed and single bed formats. But hang on, for French beds still feature strongly in the ranges of UK manufacturers, and can still be found in some continental catalogues.

Overall lengths are usually more compact than for island bed equivalents, while interior space often feels greater as the bed is not so separate from the rest of the living area. There’s still the superior sleeping comfort of a proper mattress, still no faffing about making seats into beds, but less of a feeling of having an actual bedroom.

The spacious, open plan feel is intensified when a French bed is combined with a side settee lounge up front – as is usually the case from British builders. With no fixed table and a wide aisle through to the cab, the side-facing lounge seats make for a roomy interior in this Auto-Sleeper.

Of course, as standard, there are no rear travel seats, though you can turn the front lounge into a second double bed if visitors arrive under their own steam and wish to stay over. Or, as an option, you can order a Broadway FB with the less common half-dinette seating that adds two more rear belted seats. Then you might also choose to eschew the lowline overcab (with built-in sunroof) for a traditional luton with ‘upstairs’ double bed.

It’s in standard form that you’re most likely to come across the FB, though, with side sofas and a lowline body. It’s sure to have the Premium Pack, too. At £2,500 extra, that adds alloy wheels, cab air-conditioning, cruise control, an Omnistor awning, a colour reversing camera, sat-nav, leather steering wheel and 80W solar panel. With a 25-litre underslung gas tank, external skirt locker, outside barbecue point and Trackstar Leisure security tracking system, it all adds up to a pretty comprehensive spec. The 2018 model also received a redesigned rear panel to bring the styling up to date.

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The base vehicle is a Peugeot Boxer with the 160bhp engine giving plenty of performance for this mid-sized motorhome. The badge on the grille switches to Fiat if you prefer to let the ’van sort out the gearchanges for you. Cooks will love the linear kitchen with full domestic-style cooker (including a mains hotplate and separate oven and grill). There’s a decent amount of worktop, too, as well as a pull-out worktop to increase preparation space.

Unlike some of its rivals, the Broadway FB also boasts a proper separate shower in its rear corner washroom, while the fixed bed only narrows slightly at a foot – this is an aspect that you need to watch out for when comparing French bed layouts.

If you enjoyed this review, you can read loads more like it in What Motorhome magazine. You can get a digital version of this latest issue of What Motorhome magazine here.

 

    

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