DETAILED REVIEW

BRITAIN seems to be suddenly waking up a new to the potential of van conversions, especially in the wake of the glut of new base vehicles that appeared a year or more ago.

Torbay is, of course, no stranger to high-top campers, but this, the new New Yorker is an interesting take on the idea of a motorhome that’s meant to double up as a daily driver car.

And it’s the first time Torbay has built a camper this big – or on a Fiat – as a production model.

It’s part of an expansion of the Torbay range that also includes a New Yorker (with a slightly different layout) based on the VW Crafter and a new elevating roof Fusion based on the little Fiat Scudo.

New Yorker takes, not the usual LWB Ducato, but the shorter (and slightly rarer) MWB panel van as its starting point: as such, it’s almost as manoeuvrable and straightforward to park as a SWB, but usefully bigger inside.

And although the New Yorker is compact on the outside, you’d be hard pressed to tell you were inside anything other than a LWB motorhome, as Torbay have managed to cram in an awful lot of equipment, with the rear in particular feeling just a little over-stuffed.

That said, the kitchen, with its acres of worktop space and high equipment levels, is actually perfectly acceptable; it’s more the broom cupboard-sized corner washroom that disappoints, with its small floorspace and - on the company’s prototype, at least - no lighting.

Thankfully, the lounge makes up for shortcomings elsewhere, offering a beautifully engineered and thickly upholstered collection of seats – including a forward-facing seat that’s a little too deep in the squab to allow even adult feet to reach the floor – that fold and tumble on sturdy metal frames to produce a 6ft by 3ft 8in double bed without having recourse to the cab seats (each of which swivels, incidentally).

Cabinetry throughout looks slightly plain, but is actually of a very high standard, and while I would have preferred to see the locker catches located at the bottom centre of each door, not off to one side (it makes opening the doors unnecessarily awkward), the catches themselves are sturdy and clearly built to last.

This report originally appeared in the December 2007 issue of Which Motorcaravan. To subscribe to the magazine, click here.