Full review

Auto-Sleepers’ long-lived Nuevo is still one of the most compact British coachbuilts on the market, measuring well under 6m overall. It may be small, but it’s not lacking in spec and the 2020-season sees equipment levels enhanced again.

There’s a new 4G mobile broadband system with a roof antenna and Huawei MiFi router box. Also added are a new microwave, revised graphics (not shown) and the VIN Chip security marking system. Most importantly, of course, it meets the latest Euro 6d emissions standard, while boasting a power increase to 165bhp.

Inside, arrangements continue with a classic layout but this is not the traditional side settee two-berth floorplan that you might associate with the name Nuevo. That’s the EK, while this ES replaces the offside sofa with a half-dinette (incorporating seatbelts for two passengers), as well as adding an overcab bed in a taller, more bulbous luton.

The base vehicle is Peugeot’s Boxer, with a new 2.2-litre engine mated to a six-speed manual gearbox. You can opt for an automatic if you have your Nuevo on Fiat’s near-identical Ducato. A 140bhp Fiat is £2,000 extra, while the 160bhp version is another £1k on top of that, but this is the desirable new nine-speed gearbox.

The ES has cab seats that swivel to face a cosy lounge with a nearside sofa as well as the half-dinette. And this front lounge makes into a transverse double bed (2.10m by 1.38m) or alternative lengthways singles (1.90m by 0.70m and 1.80m by 0.90m, all manufacturers’ figures) using the cab seat bases as the foot of each bed.

Further aft, there’s a cabinet on the nearside that doubles as working space for the kitchen and sideboard for the lounge. This also makes a handy nightstand when the double bed is made. Above is a microwave, below a modest fridge with the added luxury of automatic energy selection. There are crystal wine glasses fitted here, too.

Ranged across the rear, the rest of the kitchen is very nicely equipped, with a full, domestic-style cooker and stainless-steel sink, plus plenty of drawers below and two glazed lockers above.

Next door, in the rear offside corner, the bathroom makes good use of space thanks to the fact that the basin is mounted on a swing-wall that helps to create a spacious semi-separate shower. The toilet is one of Thetford’s swivel-bowl stalwarts and, above, there’s a reasonably roomy wooden medicine/toiletries cabinet.

Forward of the bathroom, the Nuevo tour is completed with a wardrobe with drawer below. Truma’s Combi boiler lives beneath – the drawer nicely warmed, ideal for nicely toasty socks.

The ES version also has an overcab double bed with reasonable headroom, making this possibly the smallest four-berth coachbuilt on the market.

Nuevo’s standard-fit kit list is pretty impressive, but to get all the toys you will need to find another £2,500 for the Premium Pack. That adds alloy wheels, cab air-conditioning, cruise control, a Thule wind-out awning, colour reversing camera, Peugeot DAB radio with sat-nav and an 80W solar panel. Further options are the Media Pack, which adds a Mecatronic 65cm automatic satellite system for £995 and a Winter Pack providing cab blinds, water tank heaters, an upgraded Truma Combi and wheelarch insulation blankets for £295.

All in, that brings a fully loaded Nuevo ES up to £63,990 (in manual form). That’s a similar price to a well-spec’d Fiat/Peugeot van conversion but this little coachbuilt offers more room – and there’s nothing else quite like it.