Full review

It’s not difficult to see the appeal of a German A-class. Apart from an image of hewn-from-rock build quality and the sheer one-upmanship of it all, there’s the drop-down cab bed and that panoramic view out, which is especially appealing when you travel through memorable scenery, be it alongside Scottish lochs or scaling Mont Ventoux. Thing is, though, that £80,000, £90,000 or even £100,000 seems quite a normal window sticker nowadays. Ouch.

Dethleffs’ answer is the Trend, its most affordable range and one that includes all three coachbuilt body types – low-profile, overcab and A-class. With many German motorhomes it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking you can afford one, only to add up a list of dozens of desirable options and realise that you can’t.

Nottingham dealer, Lowdhams, has done its bit to avoid this situation with its own pack of options – all fitted at the Dethleffs factory in Bavaria. For £3,450 you get an awning, satellite dish and flatscreen TV, plus a double-DIN radio mated to a reversing camera. In addition, our test vehicle had the Design Package which changes the wood colour, adds a gloss white finish for the table and kitchen worktop, plus backlighting in the entrance, additional (chromed) sockets, an L-shaped lounge, a black shower console and a bit of kitchen bling. For £510 it certainly gives the Trend a classier ambience.

Turning from aesthetics to practicality and the Trend fares better, with a wide (70cm) habitation door with remote central locking, deep window and flyscreen. Thanks to a dropped floor level behind the rear wheels, the garage is also much more capacious than you expect of an island bed layout. Despite a fixed bed height, there’s 960mm headroom in there and the two large loading doors open onto an area that’s almost a metre wide. Mains power and lighting are in there, too.

While Globebus is Dethleffs’ slimline range (2.20m wide), the Trend is the same 2.33m across as an upmarket Esprit. In the front lounge, with the Aguti captain’s chairs swivelled, it feels bigger still. It’s comfortable, too, with high-quality soft furnishings, ideal seat heights and plenty of room for four to dine or unwind. The table is big and feels solid enough to dance on, but it’s not so big that it appears obstructive. The only possible criticism is that there is no directionally adjustable lighting for reading, although the quantity of lamps is not up for debate.

The drop-down bed in the cab is superb – big, comfy, oh-so-easy to deploy and with plenty of headroom for both occupants. It leaves the majority of the lounge undisturbed and comes with reading lights at the nearside (only) and a roof vent, while its privacy curtains clip to the ceiling when you stow the bed to keep things looking tidy – now that’s attention to detail.

Those sleeping in the rear island bed are just as well served, with another fabulous high-quality mattress and plenty of room around the bed – plus a boutique hotel look to the design. There’s the oft-found restricted headroom for sitting up in bed, though, because the lockers above loom large. And it’s worth noting that our photos were taken with the bed without its length-extending infill cushion in place, reducing its mattress from 1.89m to 1.79m long.

Much about the en suite facilities impressed, the shower itself is a good size and its design – with a false floor that holds the doors in their open positions – means it intrudes less into the bedroom when not in use. And, when you lift out the floor, you step down into a shower tray that offers two metres of headroom! A wooden duckboard, twin drain holes and a hanging rail for wet clothes are further pluses.

Décor is very subjective, but I can’t help feeling that the Virginia Oak furniture of the Design Package also looks a good deal more contemporary and more prestigious than the standard Topaz Apple. The black glossy splashback to the galley looks good, too, but whether a white textured wall alongside the cooker is such a good idea only time will tell! With raised floors for both the lounge and bedroom, it’s the kitchen that gets pole position for headroom – a lofty 2.12m.

The galley itself isn’t huge but its layout does at least allow some worktop in front of the sink. Below here there’s a very deep cupboard (so deep I could only just reach its extremity), while the cutlery drawer (above the standard equipment Duplex combined oven/grill) is large and has drain holes to aid cleaning. Opposite, under the tall/slim fridge with bottle drawer and automatic energy selection, is another drawer – this time large enough to cater perfectly for pots and pans.

The integration of the original Fiat fascia in a bigger dashboard is well thought out here (with neat speaker pods) but the bus-type mirrors lack secondary wide-angle lenses, which is a pity. There was a welcome lack of conversion noise, too – some road testers suggest that A-classes rattle too much; well, not this Dethleffs. I also welcomed Lowdhams’ decision to upgrade this example to the 150bhp engine – definitely the ideal unit for a ’van of this size. But I was far from impressed by the optional Comfort-Matic gearbox, which seemed dim-witted and frequently reluctant to find the right gear for the given situation.

If you enjoyed this review, you can read the full version and more in the May 2018 issue of MMM magazine. You can get a digital version of this latest issue of MMM magazine here.