Full review

This well-priced motorhome comes with a DAB radio and steering wheel-mounted controls, Bluetooth and USB port, tyre pressure monitoring sensors, trip computer, plus electric windows and mirrors – features that until fairly recently would have been unheard of at this level of the market. And multi-adjustable cab seats, which prove so comfortable over long distances. When driving, you notice the superiority of the new engine and chassis; this 2-litre motor is a gem. It may only produce 130bhp, but it’s quieter, and impressively responsive. Interior noise was notable by its absence, so all-in-all this motorhome was a pleasure to drive.

The 196 layout has two lounges. The front one features an offside dinette, comprising four three-point belted travel seats around the wall-mounted table, and a two-seater settee opposite. There’s plenty of space for six here. There’s no skylight because the drop-down bed forms the slightly low ceiling, where headroom is just 1.80m. Up a small step, the rear lounge accommodates at least four on two comfortable parallel settees, with a lift-up surface between them on the back wall. At night it’s rather gloomy back here, with just four halogen lights. These provide illumination for watching TV in the evening. During the day it’s much brighter, with large, opening side and rear windows and a skylight.

In the family kitchen, there’s lots of essential work surface (including an extra lift-up flap). It’s well illuminated by a window, downlighters under the overhead cupboards and in the ceiling, and a skylight over the aisle. Hob and sink are both in black enamel, under glass lids. The sink has an external mixer tap and a removable drainer and the hob comes with three burners, one high speed. There’s also a separate grill and domestic-sized oven, with a microwave available as an optional extra. Storage is excellent, with four overhead lockers (one racked out for crockery), a bottom cupboard with four drawers above and a pan store.

In the all-in-one washroom, the floor incorporates the shower tray, with the wheelarch moulding forming a useful seat for toddlers. The shower has a riser bar and separate controls. The toilet is set to one side, at a comfortable height, beneath the shelved wall cupboard. Opposite, on a separate shelf, is the free-standing washbasin with external mixer tap. All the necessities – loo roll holder, mirror, towel rail and soap dish – are provided.

The transverse drop-down bed, sited above the front lounge lowers electrically (with manual back-up), the clip-on alloy ladder stands outboard of all below. There’s good headroom (61cm) above the drop-down bed but, below, space is severely restricted by the cupboards attached to the bed’s underside. The upper bed has its own two ceiling lights. The lower lounge bed isn’t difficult to construct. For a child’s longitudinal bed, place the tabletop between the dinette seats and use the infill cushion. But to make a transverse bed for adults (wider at the offside), you need to pull the settee base to meet the dinette and use two more infill cushions.

The rear lounge has a pleated screen for night-time privacy, and here the double bed is easily made. Elddis uses Ozio foam, which is both soft and supporting and should make for comfortable repose. To complete the scene, the cab has excellent blackout curtains, with cassette roller blinds to all other windows.

Providing storage for a family of six’s holiday clobber is a daunting prospect. There’s plenty of high-level storage, with a cupboard above the cab, which might take a couple of sleeping bags, plus the usual side cubbies and four overhead lockers in the front lounge – then the rear lounge has six more top cupboards. The wardrobe, aft of the washroom, has a good hanging drop of 1.16m (3ft 10in) and a set of drawers beneath and then there’s plenty of under-seat storage in both lounges, reached from in front or above.

The front nearside settee is also accessible from outside, so is useful for levellers, cables, boots, etc, but not bigger items like outdoor chairs, and the external gas locker intrudes into the space under the rear nearside settee. If you’re using the front lounge’s lower bed you’ll also need to find a home for the infill cushions. The 4kW Whale heater/boiler is mounted underneath the motorhome, saving interior space – the only obvious impediments are a few pipes, filter and pump under the offside rear settee. Operating either on gas or mains electricity, the heater feeds just three blown-air outlets and has a boiler capacity of eight litres, but has a quiet night-time setting. There’s a spare wheel and externally underslung 100-litre fresh water tank and 70-litre waste tank. For a modest £305, the Winter Pack will provide tank insulation, plus external fridge vent covers, augmenting the Grade III insulation.

If you enjoyed this review, you can read the full version and more in the March 2017 issue of MMM magazine.

You can get a digital version of this latest issue of MMM magazine here.