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Hymer Exsis-T 474
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Key Features

Model Year 2018
Class Low Profile
Base Vehicle Fiat Ducato
Price From (£) 56,720
Engine Size 2.3TD
Maximum Weight (kg) 3,500
Berths 2
Main Layout Fixed Single Bed
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At a glance

The new Hymer Exsis-T 474 is a two/three-berth coachbuilt motorhome built on the ubiquitous Fiat Ducato with an Al-Ko chassis. It is well-equipped and made to high German standards. However, this all comes at a price...

Full review

Hymer’s a brand renowned for quality and attention to detail. Its motorhomes have a certain timeless class and come with an air of conservatism. Look at a 30-year-old Hymer B-Class and it’s still obviously a Hymer. So, why has this Exsis-t got black wheels with an orange perimeter stripe? Maybe Hymer’s aiming at a less traditional clientele.

But don’t worry if you’re not taken with this 474’s slightly boy racer overtones; the Performance Package is optional. It includes the silver cab turned duo-tone with white graphics, those wheels, different decals and the external Style Package (black grille and headlamp bezels, black/orange skidplate, colour-coded door handles and LED daytime running lights). It’s not cheap at £3,460, though you can go even further with the 18in wheel version (at £5,630).

Without the pack, the Exsis-t looks very Hymer: restrained and classical. But the pack shows just how far you can personalise your Exsis – and how that customisation can be quite costly. From a £56,720 start price, it’s not difficult to take this smallest low-profile in the range to well over £70k.

LOW-WEIGHT LOW-PROFILE

The Exsis was redesigned in 2017, following in the footsteps of the more expensive B-Class DynamicLine. Unlike the B-DL, though, the Exsis offers both A-class (Exsis-i) and low-profile (Exsis-t) derivatives and, if you can forgo the drop-down bed and full-width cab, then the ‘t’ version will save you £9k to £10k model for model.

It also enhances the payload to the tune of 80kg in the case of this 474, which is the baby of the low-profile line-up. But don’t think that you need to go small to have an Exsis with a 3,500kg gross weight.
So, here’s an upmarket motorhome that isn’t struggling for payload when built on a licence-friendly chassis.

Not only has the whole Exsis range been on a slimming plan, but you can actually see the results. Overall width is 2.22m, which is usefully more slender than the 2.35m of a typical coachbuilt. It’s easy to see the difference where the Fiat cab joins the motorhome body, but it’s just as easy to feel the difference from behind the wheel. On country roads, or in the city, the Exsis is more manageable.

This 474 is also quite compact in length – 6.59m is not a lot for a vehicle with permanent twin beds and a large garage at the back.
Should you want a bit more room, then the Exsis-t 588 (6.94m) and 678 (7.44m) may be more your style.

All versions come with a rear garage that’s capable of carrying 350kg and is upgradable to 450kg (but watch axle limits and overall payload). Internal height is a minimum of 1.12m and width is 1.19m, while there’s heating, lighting, shelves (with non-slip covering) and tie-down hooks therein. The gas locker doesn’t encroach on the space, either, while the leisure battery (and the charger, fuses, etc) are reached through a separate exterior hatch.

SPARE THE HORSES
This little Hymer felt under-resourced with the standard 130bhp Multijet power unit.

Of course, the Al-Ko is another ingredient in the weight-loss programme, as well as giving the Hymer a more surefooted feel.
In fact, the Exsis-t’s road manners emphasised its apparently solid build, with few rattles. And, while you don’t get a radio or reversing camera (even at £71k!), the standard spec does run to ESP and ASR, Traction Plus and Hill Holder.

It also comes with reading lights and coat hooks on the B-pillars and the trim and detailing where Fiat and Hymer bodies join is as well finished as we’ve ever seen. Then there’s the superb Tortora leather upholstery. Of course, that’s another expensive extra (£2,330), although it does look and feel right for this price level. And, if you want the chrome ringed dials and the aluminium-effect dash trim they form the (£130) Style Package interior. The carpets? Yes, they’re extra, too.

But, the most important option on the base vehicle is the near-£3k Comfort-Line Package, which adds air-con, cruise control and overcab sunroof (and the posher habitation door, but not central locking).

PERFECTLY FORMED
Let’s not get too hung up about what is and is not standard spec, though, because, as with many modern cars, choosing every last minutiae is part of the pleasure of  purchasing.

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The choices extend to the furniture – Chiavenna Nut, as here, or Trentino Pear – as well as almost a dozen upholsteries and, if you don’t have the Performance Package, you can select your Fiat body colour, too. Or even have silver bodywork behind the cab.

All Exsis-t 474s get this typically continental single bed layout, though it’s hard to see where they’ve saved 40cm of length compared with many alternative models.


TABLE FOR THREE?
It’s always the details that make the difference in motorhomes and here the extra cushion against the wall, under the window, means that you can turn sideways and put your feet up at the half-dinette. We’d still rate the cab seats as the most comfortable, though – and the only ones for watching television.
The sturdiness of the table and its equally robust swing-out extension leaf impresses, too, although the depth of the tabletop is a parsimonious 500mm.
Then there are the excellent touch-to-switch cab reading lights, the coat hooks by the entrance, the bin on the door, the magazine rack on the end of the galley, the grab handle to aid your entry, the electric step, which can be retracted by a remote dash’ switch…

Despite what some would have you believe about continental ’vans only coming with the most basic galleys, here there’s a Thetford Aspire cooker with mains hotplate, three gas rings and a separate grill and oven. Of course, it’s an option – as is the big fridge seen here – but, once again, you get to choose what’s important to you.

The standard model has extra-wide, extra-large kitchen drawers and more cupboard space over the cooler, but even here there are five soft-close drawers (one including another bin). And it all looks right; this is a galley that’s been redesigned around the extra spec, not compromised by a UK-market-only hotch-potch.
What the designers didn’t manage to do was create extra worktop, though there is a small (345mm by 270mm) flap that still allows you to get through the door.


BATH BEFORE BED
The installation of a bench cassette toilet in the washroom shows more practical thinking. There’s plenty of legroom and a decent amount of room to use the basin. The bench type is easier to keep clean, too.
Better still is the way the wall behind the basin unclips and hinges over the toilet to create a proper, plastic-lined shower cubicle. With two, diagonally opposing drain holes to vacate the soapy water. And a roof vent to let out the steam.

Also impressive are the (identical length) rear single beds, especially for their supreme comfort, although you’ll not be able to sit up in bed because of the overhead lockers.
The optional central cushions give you the alternative of a simply vast double – at 1.88m by 1.97m, it’s more like a triple bed! – with a simple slide-out section that covers the steps and a hinged ladder that replaces them.

If you need more berths, you’re probably best served by an A-class Exsis but you can add an occasional child’s bed, which uses the dinette table as a support and two additional cushions to complete its mattress. It’s quite short but much flatter than many beds of this nature.

Meanwhile, back in the bedroom, you’ll find plenty of clothes storage in the five top lockers and the wardrobe hidden under the end of the offside single bed. This has access from the front and above but hanging height is barely even enough for shirts.

AND THERE’S MORE
Don’t think that this is as high-spec’d as an Exsis can go. As well as the usual engine and gearbox options there are Fiat extras that you rarely see, such as a lane departure warning system and tyre pressure monitoring.
There are convenience features, too, such as a slide-out rack for your gas and electric floor heating, as well as solar panels, satellite TV, awnings, etc. The items most obviously absent from our test ’van were a radio and a reversing camera.

We hope you enjoyed this motorhome review. If so, you can read more like it – and loads more motorhome news, travel and technical features in MMM magazine, Britain's best-selling motorhome magazine. You can get a copy of MMM magazine here.

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Our verdict

If you want fixed single beds and a garage in a 3.5-tonne motorhome that is compact (well under 7m long and slim of width, too), stylish and – above all – impeccably well built, then the Exsis-t ticks all the boxes. It has a generous payload as well, and the spec can be tailored to suit your needs and your tastes. The only real downside to all this is the £72k price tag.

Advantages

Top-notch quality throughout
Large garage and good payload

Disadvantages

Can’t sit up in the single beds because of overhead lockers
High price with options

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