Full review

Words and photos: Peter Vaughan

The Le Voyageur Héritage LVXH 8.7 CF

Few manufacturers start life in the world of motorhomes with an A-class but that’s exactly the path that Le Voyageur took more than four decades ago on a Mercedes chassis. It remains a specialist in this upper echelon of leisure vehicles and celebrates that heritage with a new – appropriately titled – flagship that, once again, unites a Teutonic chassis with Gallic chic.

There are just four Héritage models, two with a single rear axle (7.91m overall) and the same choice of twin beds or an island bed on a tag-axle chassis. At 8.75m long, these two 5.5-tonne six-wheelers are now the largest Le Voyageurs on sale.

They start with a list price of £141,990 but, as is often the case, that figure is somewhat misleading. Surely, no one will ever order a luxury motorhome of this ilk without the Luxury Pack, which adds a whopping £34,800 to your bill? It’s such an intrinsic part of the LVXH that the spec referred to in this test will assume that you’ve ticked that box.

Just one of the essentials that it includes is the engine upgrade to 170bhp, mated to a nine-speed automatic gearbox.

The cab

Like most Mercedes-based motorhomes these days, it’s a front-wheel drive Sprinter with an Al-Ko chassis. On the road, it performs well, with excellent stability and better than usual (for an A-class) forward vision.

In the cab, the high-backed SKA captain’s chairs have integral seatbelts, height adjustment and even variable length for their squab cushions – heating, however, costs extra. The familiar 10.25in MBUX screen is, of course, included, along with its DAB radio, sat-nav and reversing camera.

What really impresses, though, is the additional screen to the right of the driver, which includes an amazing drone view of the vehicle, along with a fish-eye lens that switches to the appropriate side view as soon as you indicate left or right. I’m not one who’s easily impressed by tech but this really got my vote.

Also included in the cab spec, over and above the features you might expect – stop/start, ESP, hill start assistance, crosswind stabilisation, automatic lights and wipers, Tempmatic semi-automatic air-conditioning and drowsiness monitoring – is a dashboard switch to empty the 120-litre grey waste tank.

The exterior

On the offside are the gas locker, a door into the double floor storage (250mm high, stretching across the full width of the vehicle, with a corresponding door on the nearside), and a hatch that reveals a built-in mains lead on a reel.

Just aft of the entrance, another door opens for convenient access to the RCD and habitation fuses, behind which you can easily gain access to the rest of the electrics. Included here is an 1,800W inverter (which allows

off-grid use of the microwave, as well as portable appliances) and a 210Ah lithium leisure battery.

A second such battery can be added as an option but you should have no need for additional solar power, as the Luxury Pack includes four 100W high-performance monocrystalline panels. With the pack also including an 85cm twin-head automatic satellite dish, the roof area is quite crowded!

The external spec also includes an electric Thule awning, while the nearside is home to servicing access for the Alde heating, and a hatch for the built-in fresh water hose.

Body construction includes one-piece polyester front and rear panels, aluminium skirts and panels with aluminium inside, 35mm insulation and polyester on the outside. Everything is finished in a fashion commensurate with the price tag. In fact, the only aspects we could fault were the windscreen wipers, which follow a left-hand drive pattern on this RHD vehicle and the bus-style mirrors, which electrically adjust the main lenses but not the smaller convex sections below.

As you’d expect, there’s also a large rear garage – 1.08m wide and 1.04m high with two full-sized loading doors. It includes high and low-level tiedowns and a full-width LED strip light along the back wall, plus 12V and 230V power points and an external shower. There’s no maximum weight indicated for the garage area but the Al-Ko chassis extends under its full length and the Héritage boasts a huge payload of 1,400kg before options.

It’s a wide door that leads into the motorhome and, of course, it’s linked to the Merc’s remote central locking (along with the nearside cab door). There’s an electric external step and an internal step as you climb aboard.

The interior

Inside, the Le Voyageur is, perhaps, not as much of a contrast as snails in garlic versus bratwurst but it certainly has a different feel to the primarily German opposition at the price level. That may well be the reason to buy. As we indicate below, the lounge is a very appealing aspect, too, not least because it is so well lit, with a wind-up Heki 3 sunroof and huge array of downlighters (in the ceiling, the drop-down bed base and the plinths atop the eye-level cupboards).

You can tailor the artificial illumination to your mood, too, via the main control panel. The standard lighting scheme is called Versailles, to which you can add four more ‘atmospheres’ of your own choice, selecting the brightness and which lights are on or off.

There’s no real surprise regarding the table, although the leather-trimmed leg avoids a cold-to-touch metal finish. More importantly, it unfolds to banqueting dimensions (1.20m by 820mm) without then becoming a soup-spilling wobblefest.

Maybe it’s a sign of French priorities but the TV, mounted on a bracket that’s not too high up, is a relatively modest 24in screen. It can be hinged away from the wall and has twin USBs and useful shelves below but there’s no James Bond-style disappearing telly here. You won’t be short of places to plug in your gadgets, though, because there are also pairs of USBs at either end of the nearside sofa.

The lounge

As you rotate the cab chairs, you’ll raise them to match the level of the rear settees as there’s an 85mm step up from the cab to the living area. The nearside sofa is the longer of the two but either can be a place to stretch out your legs if you turn the front seats through a full 180 degrees.

If you sit more formally, there’s generous space for five in this on-trend lounge and the settees are every bit as comfortable as you’d hope. You can choose from Prestige Vision (shown) or Prestige Satin (grey) leather, along with Dune (seen here) or darker Riviera furniture.  Carpets are extra but the fact that they come in one single piece from the cab to the bedroom makes access to the double floor’s trapdoors rather awkward. At least the shoe locker immediately inside the door is not covered.

The kitchen

I can’t imagine Le Voyageur sells many LVXHs in its home market with the Bosch microwave option but here it is, priced at £430, for those who like their dinner to go ‘ding’. In common with many other motorhomes, though, it also pays to be tall – the microwave is 1.58m off the floor, positioned above the fridge/freezer.

Much better is the location of the oven, another optional extra that’s sited in the main galley unit, beneath the sink. Even with this Thetford Duplex combined oven/grill installed, Le Voyageur perhaps believes that you’ll be tempted by the local auberge, because the hob has just two rings.

If that’s a tad disappointing, the kitchen storage is anything but. It starts with a two-door fridge/freezer with a 153-litre capacity and the new doors that open from either side. Alongside that are twin slide-out pantry units, one above the other, for myriad non-perishable and packet foods.

There’s another, smaller, slide-out storage unit on the nearside, as well as a large shelf for spices, condiments, etc. An extractor hood is fitted, too, and there’s no shortage of worktop, especially with the sink’s lid in place, although you get just one three-pin socket here.

Below the counter, the two main drawers are locked with a key. If the cutlery drawer is big, the pull-out below (with two bins and a rack for eight bottles) is huge. Alongside that, another slide-out storage area caters for four more bouteilles de vin. National stereotypes, anyone?

The washroom

Aft of the galley, the ablutions zone is the beneficiary of the Héritage 8.7 models’ extra length compared with the 7.9. Here, the toilet door opens round to separate the back of the motorhome, while twin sliding doors close off the washroom from the bedroom. This generous washing and changing area accounts for 1.27m of the motorhome’s overall length.

The shower cubicle is of domestic proportions but you step up into it, so headroom reduces to 1.84m as a minimum. There’s a rooflight here, a clothes drying rack and a shelf for shampoo, etc, as well as a central drain in the tray.

Alongside the shower, the basin is of the bowl-on-a-plinth style and it comes with a high-quality black metal tap from Argo (as in the kitchen). Behind is a backlit mirror with cupboard space benefiting from lipped shelves – so practical.

In the toilet area, there are more mirrors and more sensibly planned storage but you’ll need very long legs to be comfy when sitting on the ceramic-bowl Thetford loo.

This is more than just a washroom, though, and becomes a dressing area thanks to the twin wardrobes, one above the other. These are in addition to the usual wardrobes on either side of the island bed and have hanging heights of 860mm and 910mm. Or you can remove the central divide for ballgowns. Or add two shelves and use the space for folded garments.

The beds

You might be mystified to see an up/down switch here, but press it and the rear bed slides back to become a luxurious chaise longue. With speakers, reading lights, XL-sized bedside tables and twin USBs for each occupant, it’s a great place to relax.

When the bed is flattened, its Bultex mattress is a generous size, although you might need to go on a diet before squeezing between the mattress and the sliding bedroom partitions.

There’s no such issue with the A-class drop-down bed up front, which is as big as you’ll find. It lowers electrically (as does the windscreen blind) and then manually extends, so that you can sleep lengthways. You’ll need to store the extra cushions that make this such a huge bed in the garage, but there looks to be room for a duvet and pillows when the bed is stowed. It also has a light at either side and a roof vent (a necessary option) but you might not need the ladder – just hop up via the settees. What you might require is bigger bedding – this bed is greater than 6ft in both length and width!

So, the Héritage is a four-berth and you’ll need travel seats to match the sleeping capacity. These are fold-away Aguti chairs, hidden under each of the sofas. A little short of padding, they suit kids better than adults in that regard, but there’s plenty of legroom. Do note, however, that removing the large and heavy settee cushions is not the work of a moment.

Motorhome supplied by
Pullingers Leisure Vehicles
Tel: 01787 472747
pullingers.co.uk

Insurance: £856
Tel: 0800 975 1307
shieldtotalinsurance.co.uk
For quote details: motorhome.ma/QuoteInfo