Autocruise Select 144

Berths: 2 Travel seats: 2 Base vehicle: Fiat Ducato Gross weight: 3,300kg Payload: 615kg

With no delivery or ‘on-the-road’ charges to add, this is Select in its most affordable form. Separate extra cost options can add such things as automatic gearbox and chassis and engine upgrades, upholstery choice and rear travel seats. There are also four options packs on offer. Features like silver paint, cab air-con, mains heating – even additional living area windows – are on the menu.

Prices start some £10,000 cheaper than 2016 Autocruise models. The baseline motor is the 115bhp unit which should be plenty for a two-berth, six-metre van conversion.

Central locking is included, as are electric windows, driver’s airbag and a radio with MP3 capability. There’s no passenger airbag, and the external mirrors have to be tweaked by hand. You’ll need to order the Driver’s Pack (at £1,995) – which includes cab air-con, cruise control and other bits and bobs – to get them.

Cab seats are unadorned with the usual living area-matching fabric, but they look fine and the seats come with twin armrests and OEM swivels as standard, too. Spin the seats and there’s an inward-facing sofa for two. Meals are taken from a free-standing table which can be used here, or in the rear lounge, or outside. The only belted seats are in the cab. This helps keep the price down and improves payload, too.

There’s no external step to get aboard and it’s a bit of a hop up through the side sliding door. Inside the kitchen there’s no oven, grill or microwave, but the lack of these benefits storage, including a good cupboard and decent drawer. Below the wardrobe, the 47-litre fridge is a 12V compressor-type.

The bathroom has plenty of space, a practical basin and swivel-bowl loo. Showering is via a pull-out tap hose, served by a nylon curtain and wetroom floor. It’s the same as many of its ilk and perfectly fine.

The rear lounge has two comfy sofas and underfloor and under-seat stowage. There are hatches and lids so that you can get at your stuff easily. However, there are just two windows back here – one offside and one rear door. Bed make-up is simple as boards and slats bridge the aisle to make a comfy transverse double. Now the lack of a window on the nearside makes a whole load of sense as there’s plenty of space to sit up comfortably in bed.

The controls are also more upmarket than many as the Swift Command system allows remote operation using a smartphone app. But whilst you gain on tech, you lose out on fresh and waste water tanks. You can have them, if you buy the Living Pack. Maybe you can persuade your dealer to add them as part of the deal – in which case you might have a bit of a bargain.

If you enjoyed this review, you can read the full version and more in the November 2016 issue of What Motorhome magazine. You can get a digital version of this latest issue of What Motorhome magazine here.

This concept is sound as lots of campervans provide features that customers don’t need, just check the spec carefully and make sure you can live without the frills.