Full review

No longer the cheapest way into an Auto-Trail-badged motorhome, as the budget Tribute range now falls under the parent company branding. This means for 2018 that the latest Auto-Trail Imala motorhomes head slightly upmarket – and get this all-new model

You’ll spot the new season’s Imalas straight away if you see them from the stern, where a new rear panel and more elaborate light clusters avoid the entry-level look. There’s enhanced body construction, too, and improved LED lighting inside, plus a new upholstery scheme – called Isabel.

For the first time the Imala range is also offered with a Media Pack, something that has long been de rigeur with flashier Auto-Trails. For a relatively modest £1,149 outlay you can add an 18.5in widescreen TV with DVD and both digital and satellite tuners, a touchscreen radio with European sat-nav and Bluetooth, plus a colour reversing camera, steering wheel-mounted radio controls and a Status TV aerial. Or, for £1,999, you can upgrade to the Media Plus Pack which also includes a 65cm automatic self-seeking satellite dish.

The full range of Imala coachbuilts now encompasses eight floorplans ranging from 6.34m long up to 7.26m. And in that longest size comes the new 732 which has much in common with the existing Imala 730 but swaps the latter’s more conventional lengthways central bed for a transverse island double.

There’s certainly plenty of access around the bed, which slides back in the daytime to create a sort of chaise longue. The mattress measures 1.86m by 1.34m when lowered but has cut-off corners on both sides. There’s also a bedside cabinet adjacent to the back wall.

With a low-level bed, which is not height-adjustable, you don’t get a true garage but an external hatch on the offside allows chairs, etc, to be stowed under the island bed in a void with 520mm headroom.

Shown here is the Lo-line model with overcab cupboards in place of the extra double bed of the Hi-line, but it’s still over 3m tall and stands high on its standard Fiat Ducato chassis.

If you opt for the Hi-line then you’ll also want to pay extra to swap the standard pair of side settees for a half-dinette (HD in Auto-Trail-speak) to add rear passenger-carrying ability with seatbelts. In either seating arrangement, the front lounge can also make into a bed.

A small overcab sunroof and a flat floor from cab to bedroom are pluses.

In the middle of the motorhome a straight run of galley includes the petite 96-litre fridge, as well as plenty of worktop and a full domestic-style cooker complete with mains hotplate. Mounted high is a Daewoo microwave, while the pull-up power socket tower is a neat touch.

Opposite the kitchen, the bathroom includes a separate shower but the concertina room divider places only the wardrobe into the bedroom, with the ablutions forward of the screen.

If you enjoyed this review, you can read loads more like it in the latest issue of What Motorhome magazine.

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