Full review

As far as style is concerned, the Malibu A-class is a looker, with sleek lines outside that are thanks to Carthago’s design DNA. There’s a practical side, though, as the dashboard is sloped to allow the best line of sight through the big windscreen and down closer to the road in front. Below all the style, the construction includes a storage double floor, high-quality insulation and cold bridge-free construction, using special profile connecting strips for roof, walls and floor.

The Touring Edition bit of this 460’s name brings a host of kit, applied to both base vehicle and conversion, no less than 27 items in fact, with quite a few – around 13 – claiming a home in the cab and on the chassis. Cab air-con (upgraded to climate control on the test ’van), cruise control and a passenger airbag are the more usual items, as are captain’s seats, but there’s more: bus-style electric mirrors give enhanced side vision, while a rear view camera has a dedicated monitor that gave a bright picture even in sunlight. A touchscreen stereo is included, so it’s commendable that it isn’t used as the camera monitor.

The lounge layout is formed by swivelling the cab seats to face a three-sided wall-hung table – with a twin-belted, forward-facing, L-shaped travel seat beyond. At 7.25m long, the 460 has just enough space for a single side seat, too, in a lounge that offers good seating for up to five. However, the nearside sofa section has a seat base better described as a perch. And you can keep your wallet shut as a 22in screen is included in the Touring Edition. Dining at the pedestal-mounted table is as straightforward as many other continentals. Big enough to serve four people, but not so big as to get in the way too much when not needed, the table slides and turns so it can be positioned to best advantage.

As night follows day, the kitchen follows behind the rear travel seat – it’s the logical place to put it and it’s the same in a whole host of similar ’vans. Many are L-shaped, but here there’s a more linear approach and with a slimmer base unit, the feeling of space and flow through to the rear is enhanced. Storage features easy access drawers and the sink area also provides a good area of work surface, thanks to a flush-fitting, drop-in worktop lid – much better than glass lids or simply nothing found in some other motorhomes.

Cooking scores less points, though, as the three-burner hob is of the triangular breed, so one pan will always be in a corner, tricky to get at when other burners are being used. Opposite, the fridge is a high-capacity beast and a tall, slim type – tall enough to make the oven (no grill) above it a bit too lofty for easy use. The fact that the fridge is mounted four inches or so off the floor only serves to make things worse.

This is a small washroom, but cleverly designed to include a semi-separate shower with a rigid screen. The rest of the room is wrapped neatly around the shower and it’s all there: fiddle-rail shelves, a large cupboard and a big mirror.

All the 460’s beds are excellent – the longest single is spot on for basketball players on tour, while the drop-down double is long and wide. Even the shortest bed – the offside single – comes in at 6ft 3in.

High-level beds in the rear of a motorhome mean a garage and this one’s pukka. Good headroom and a generous 250kg weight limit means a scooter and other kit can be easily loaded through big doors, one on either side – maximum axle weights allowing, of course. The enhanced headroom is partly thanks to the fact that the garage floor drops below the double floor base at the rear, while the grey water tank lives directly in front – inspection access points included, set into the garage floor

Forward of the garage we come to the double floor proper, which houses the fresh water tank and, although it’s shallower than many, this basement area still provides useful stowage space for quite a bit of kit that can be slid in through hatches on both sides of the ’van.

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