Devon Diamond

Devon Diamond 2008

APART from a few big coachbuilts from Laika, Hobby, Dethleffs and Giottiline, motorhomes that take Iveco’s Daily as their basic underpinnings are few and far between.

Certainly, you won’t have seen many van conversions based on the big bruiser, but home-grown converter, Devon, had just such a vehicle in pride of place on its NEC show stand.

Dubbed the Diamond, the ice-white newcomer rather dwarfed the Volkswagen T5-based Devons on the stand, and it was certainly attracting a lot of attention from the public.

It’s even bigger than the Mercedes Sprinter-based Sapphire that Devon introduced last year, but this time there’s no fixed bed.

Inside, the Diamond does seem to go on forever, with the van conversion staple layout, up front, comprising a nearside forward-facing seat, complete with proper three-point seatbelt, and a large offside settee.

The passenger cab seat swivels, too, to make quite a smart and convivial lounge area in which to relax on site.

Interestingly, though, this is not the only lounge in the Diamond, for right out back, by the double rear doors, there’s another, U-shaped lounge that makes up into a mighty big bed.

Sounds a bit like overkill until you realise that canny couples can make the Diamond’s rear lounge up into a semi-permanent bed and relax and dine in the equally accommodating lounge up front.

Or, should the neighbours call round unexpectedly for G&Ts and canapés, a whole platoon of guests can be accommodated with consummate ease – as if you’re in a big family coachbuilt.

The front lounge makes up into a pair of single beds (or a second big double), too, so the Diamond is nothing if not versatile.

There’s more king-sized news in the nearside kitchen, where the full domestic-style spark-ignition Smev cooker looks rather lost amid all those work-surfaces and cupboards, although the fitted stainless steel drainer is a bit of a missed opportunity; a plastic lift-out drainer would have maximised the available worktop space even more.

And finally, the offside washroom. You’ll be disappointed if you were hoping to find a separate shower therein, but it’s big enough to take a fitted pedestal-cum-cupboard unit beneath the large washbasin, and the toilet is of the fixed bench variety, neither of which does much to dent the size of the shower tray.

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

The Iveco base gives enough room for two lounges at either end of the vehicle that convert into two large double beds. So it’s great for socialites, but the washroom disappoints and there’s only three travel seats.