Full review

Wellhouse Leisure made its mark with the Terrier, based on the Ford Transit Custom, which bagged the Campervan of the Year title in 2014. The new Terrier Lux-XL is aimed at an older audience that values having a fixed toilet over rear travel seats.

It has a different layout than the other Terriers, with a side-facing bench that converts into the bed.

Under the bonnet, the standard engine is a 2.2 TDCi, which has plenty of grunt. From the cab you get a good view all around and even though there’s no rear-view mirror, backing up is no bother thanks to the proximity warning system.

Above the cab, the higher roof has been used to provide a storage locker, but it’s easy to whack your head on it. There are four more overhead lockers.

Most of the storage is under the bench seat. The settee provides a decent amount of space to sit. There is a modest free-standing table, whose leg and base are kept under the bench. They rattle around unless accompanied by your bedding. The tabletop is secured in the toilet room.

The toilet room has a fixed Dometic cassette toilet, lighting and a cupboard, but no ventilation, mirror, shower or basin. The panelling here has an incomplete look to it.

The kitchen has a two-burner hob and gas grill. While you’re not really going to do much serious cooking here, it was disappointing to find no cutlery drawer. Instead, you’ll either need to use a head-height cupboard or the small one at floor level. There is a reasonably sized drawer for a few pots and pans – and an extractor fan and extra light. You’ll probably need that, because it’s quite dark at this end of the ’van. There are two mains sockets but not much work surface to put a kettle on.

Once made, the bed presses against the bathroom door and the kitchen. There’s room to access the heater controls, though, and the vent is sensibly placed.

Making the bed is simple in itself, but the cab seats need to be employed, too. These can either face the bed, where they are offset from the sleeping positions, or face each other, where one side gets full use, the other gets none.

Under the seat is the largest storage space in the ’van but its lid doesn’t have gas struts.

This is an abridged version of the full review appearing in the June 2011 issue of What Motorhome. Buy it now.