Full review

IT'S still Swift’s entry-level model – with prices starting at just over £30,000 – but you could be fooled into thinking that you’re looking at something much more upmarket.

As soon as you clap eyes on the new Sundance you realise that Swift have not only given their bread and butter range a more stylish look, but one that blends well with the striking lines of Fiat’s new cab.

While some brands have gone into 2007 with an unhappy cocktail of new-generation base vehicle and suddenly very dated looking motorhome bodywork, the entire Swift range has been re-thought.

And just because the Sundance is the bottom of the range doesn’t mean that it has received any less care and attention. Whichever side you sit, the driving position is hugely improved over that of the old Ducato.

No longer do you feel as if you’re perched on a kitchen stool. No more do you peer out of the top of the windscreen, wondering why they bothered to fit sunvisors. Even the best bits of the old Ducato – the dash-mounted gearstick and the sharp handling – seem to have been subtley improved in this latest incarnation.



And this long-wheelbase model seems to ride better than its siblings, while the rear anti-roll bar keeps lean and sway on tight reins when the roads get twisty or the weather blustery.

With its generous size and payload, family-friendly garage layout and strong performance, the Sundance 630G seems ideal for crossing continents. But it’s also aimed squarely at rival continental motorhomes.

Up front there’s a half-dinette and a side settee, joined by two swivel cab seats. Behind the lounge, the offside houses the galley, then the wardrobe, while opposite are the bathroom and caravan door.

Across the rear is the over-garage transverse double bed. A more European-style layout would be hard to imagine.

The cab seats swivel as easily as any we’ve ever tried, the rear passenger seat is comfortable and has one of the best seatbelt installations we’ve seen (including height adjustment) and there are scatter cushions to complement your feet-up sprawling.

Even the resilience of the seat cushions seems ‘just so’.

You could squeeze six in here for a natter, but four is more comfortable and the maximum for dining.

The table is wall-mounted, but can be removed, and it has a simple slide-out extension panel that enables the side-facing sofa to be used at meal-times.

The tabletop is a bit narrow, though, so four place settings will require a bit of give and take on the part of the diners.

Lighting is excellent, with three spotlights over the lounge, as well as halogen lamps built into the ceiling moulding at the rear of the luton (which also includes two extra speakers for the stereo).

The tip-up overcab bed base (supported by gas struts) increases the feeling of space and eases the walk-through, but reading in the cab means using the original Fiat cab lights.

TV addicts may be disappointed to find no clever slide-out, swing-around or drop-down flatscreen.

The Swift has an all-singing domestic-style slot-in cooker with a mains hotplate, three gas rings, grill and oven.

The biggest aspect of the 630G’s stowage is the rear garage – designed to take up to 200kg, or 150kg when towing.

At night, the 630G offers two large double beds of almost identical proportions. Up front, just give the aluminium-framed bed base a determined tug and it drops into position.

The only problem now is reaching the ladder, which will have slid right to the front, way out of reach.

Retrieve the ladder and you can climb up to a bed that is amongst the best of its type – spacious, good headroom and a thick mattress.

The over-garage bed is better still. Two carpeted steps and a pole to grab hold of make access easy, while headroom and lighting (two spotlamps versus one fluorescent tube) are better here.

Initially, we were pretty impressed by the Sundance’s washroom. With a modern swing-wall washbasin it makes good use of the available space and the fittings for towels, toilet roll and toothbrush mug are decidedly up-to-the-minute.

Even the novel door, held shut by magnetic strips, seemed like a novel way of preventing rattles.

If you only plan to use the loo and the basin, this bathroom is competent enough, although the wheelarch does intrude into the floorspace and the light switch outside the washroom is a bit of a fumble to find at night.



And the only cupboard space is in a high-level locker that has nothing to stop all your bottles and bags tumbling out when you stop.

We were less enamoured of the shower, though, despite it having unusually good water pressure.

A little tweaking could have made this washroom as good as the rest of the vehicle, but sadly this is the least impressive aspect.

Conclusion:

Those seeking an overcab coachbuilt with a garage will, up until now, have headed almost exclusively for continental brands. Here, though, is a worthy adversary for those increasingly popular European imports.

It’s British, it’s well-built and it has features, such as the domestic-style cooker, that foreign ’vans usually lack. Better still, it’s built on a 4-tonne derivative of the great-driving new Ducato – as standard – so you get plenty of payload too.

And just to rub salt in the oppositions’ wounds it’s priced to sell by the transporter load.

Plus points:

New Fiat base vehicle, 4-tonne chassis, refinement of 130 Multijet engine, high spec cab, stylish overcab body, big garage with 200kg capacaity, gas and mains boiler and space heating, excellent rear bedroom, big tip-up overcab bed, cab blinds, optional microwave, domestic-style cooker, removable draining board, excellent lighting, competitively priced.

Minus points:

Garage area is only exterior storage, manual ignition fridge, wheelarch intrudes into washroom, ladder to overcab bed needs better storage, no base vehicle options, long climb up to caravan door and no grab handle, bathroom storage.

Fact-file:

Berths: 4
Travel seats: 4, including driver
Maximum gross vehicle weight: 4,005kg
Payload: 750kg
Length: 7.13m (23ft 5in)
Width: 2.24m (7ft 4in)
Height: 3.05m (10ft 0in)
Internal height: 1.97m (6ft 5.5in)
Bed dimensions: Overcab bed 1.90m x 1.35m (6ft 3in x 4ft 5in) with max headroom of 640mm (25in), rear over-garage double 1.93m x 1.33m (6ft 4in x 4ft 4in)

•    A full version of this review appeared in the March 2007 issue of Which Motorcaravan. To order a road test reprint contact Tina Beaumont on 01778 391187.

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