Full review

This Volkswagen campervan caught our eye at the Motorhome & Campervan Show Season Finale at the Lincolnshire Showground. You couldn’t miss the duo-tone paintwork glinting in the sun – silver top half, Ferenza Red metallic below – or the black, multi-spoke 20in Velare wheels, chrome side bars and colour-coded bodykit. But it’s not the external bling – as seen on many a VW camper these days – but the internal layout that’s of real note here.

Probably 90% of the Volkswagen T5/T6 market is made up of side kitchen layouts. After all, it’s a design proven over decades and, for most buyers, it simply works – and works simply. But there will always be those looking for something a bit different and, for them, this design from Imperial Car Centre of Scunthorpe, might just hit the mark.

It’s the long-wheelbase Transporter’s extra 400mm of bodywork that makes a more innovative floorplan possible, although many converters simply use that additional length to give you more floorspace and more cupboards. It seems a shame then, that having come up with something more interesting, Imperial didn’t conjure up an exciting name for it – ‘L-shape’ is descriptive but, perhaps, a bit too Ronseal.

Inside this particular tin (van), then, you do indeed get an L-shaped settee running along the offside wall and across the back, with a round table that should cater for a couple of diners – watch out for limited headroom, though.

There’s no entrance through the tailgate here and, oddly, there was no rear window in this example, either. There is, however, access to some under-seat storage, as well as the corner gas locker. And, of course, the settee simply pulls out and folds flat to make a slim double bed (1.80m by 1.06m according to Imperial).

Of course, what a side-facing seat can’t ever safely do is offer any travelling positions, but a double passenger seat (on a swivel base) means that three can travel up front in this camper. Don’t forget, though, that the two-passenger cab seat forgoes the usual reclining backrest.

It makes for a convenient place to sit, out of the cook’s way, on site, though – and there’s plenty of legroom, as well as fresh air with the sliding door open and the Austops roof’s panoramic canvas opened up at the front. Adjacent, behind the non-swivelling driver’s seat, is one half of the galley, where you’ll find the usual compressor fridge, a couple of drawers and a stainless-steel sink set into the sparkly worktop above.

The rest of the galley faces the L-settee and incorporates an oval two-burner hob at the forward end, with matching curving tambour-doored cupboard below, and a built-in microwave. There’s more worktop here, as well as a pull-up tower of 230V sockets and a wall-mounted TV.

The show model – priced at £41,995 – was based on a 67-plate long-wheelbase T6 Transporter in middle-of-the-range Trendline trim with the 101bhp (102PS) TDI engine and five-speed manual gearbox. This was a brand-new conversion of a used base vehicle (hence, it is not subject to Type Approval) with just under 30k miles on the clock. Unlike some VWs starting life with a more industrial role, it also comes with cab air-conditioning.