Full review

THINKING of van conversion manufacturers, Wildax isn’t a name that readily springs to mind. But by building upwards of 50 motorhomes per year, and appearing regularly on the show scene, the Yorkshire-based converters are hoping to be as well known as their counterparts.

Wildax have just moved to new premises, and their order books are full for another six months, so this is definitely a marque to watch.

The company only build on the Citroën Relay (the less well-known sister of the Peugeot Boxer and Fiat Ducato), and it’s the new four-berth Solaris that we’re interested in here.

Bunk bed layout
It has a unique layout offering bunk beds at the rear and four travelling seats. And you wouldn’t hesitate to cook for a family in the well-equipped kitchen.

The two cab seats swivel to face the pair of forward-facing back seats, but due to the step in the floor just behind their mountings, you will find that your legs dangle. This also results in the free-standing table being too low for comfortable dining.

There’s the option of using the island-leg table that mounts just inside the sliding door when feasting from the cab seats. Alternatively, for four to dine you really need to make the forward-facing travel seats into the alternative twin settees, although this is too much of a faff if you’re just stopping for a quick lunch.

The settees are great in the evening, though, if you want to put your feet up, especially as there’s a TV mounting point above the door. Beneath is a gap where the free-standing table lives, although it’s quite hard to extract from it’s home.

Kitchen
Behind the lounge on the nearside is the kitchen, with a pair of bunk beds opposite. The kitchen is exceptionally well equipped for this type of vehicle, with a domestic-style Spinflo Caprice cooker (with four gas rings, oven, grill and pan storage), as well as a 90-litre Thetford fridge.

The sink is quite small but is the same type as in some Auto-Sleepers – with the metal rack that fits on the Chinchilla glass lid – and it has an integral chopping and draining board that sits on top of the bowl.

The high-level cupboards have roller shutter doors (which have the potential to jam, but at least they won’t come open accidentally). There are two large cupboards beneath the sink, as well as two generous slide-out cupboards beneath the half-length wardrobe.

The bunk beds are generously sized and each has a reading light. The top one flips up, so that with a long backrest cushion, you can turn the bottom bunk into a settee.

This cushion is also used to make up the front double bed, in combination with the backrest for the front settee. The bottom bunk doesn’t fold but beneath it is a large amount of storage space that can be accessed via an internal locker hatch, by lifting up the mattress, or through the rear doors.

Wildax can alternatively make the bottom bunk flip-up to make a rear garage, so you can get bicycles or even a small motorbike inside.

This is one of the benefits of buying from a smaller company – they are able to tailor your motorhome to suit. There are no standard upholstery colours, you can choose any of Citroën’s exterior paint options, and if you want extra sockets or equipment that’s possible too.

The downside is that motorhomes from less well-known marques tend to achieve a lower resale value.

Washroom
You would imagine that the washroom would be seriously compromised by being pushed into the rear nearside corner, but it isn’t too bad, though many would consider the flap-down washbasin to be old-fashioned. Below this are the Thetford swivel cassette toilet, mug-rack and soap dispenser.

There’s a separate showerhead on a height-adjustable rail and the shower tray has been designed to avoid cracking. Even the folding door is waterproof, which avoids having a plastic shower curtain – just don’t forget to move the toilet roll before you shower!

The Solaris seems very solidly made, even if it doesn’t have a particularly luxurious feel about it.

The blue ambient lighting is great and there are LED spotlights throughout the ’van. The Remis roof vent ensures that it remains airy inside during the day, and the Truma Combi heating system will provide you with a constant supply of piping hot water and heating aplenty.

Certain details fall short of the £40,000 price tag, though, such as the cab seat bases, but touches like the removable carpet, refillable gas tank, satellite navigation and tracking systems, reversing camera, passenger airbag and cruise control – all standard – go some way towards compensating.

A longer version of this review was published in the June 2010 issue of Which Motorhome magazine.