Horizons Leisure Vehicles The Ikon

For their 20th anniversary year, the Tamworth-based company have introduced The Ikon, their first van conversion with a centre lounge. The four-seater dinette sits between the washroom – which runs across the back of the ’van – and the kitchen, fitted down the offside.

This prototype model is based on a 120bhp Euro IV-engined, long-wheelbase Peugeot Boxer. Production models will be on Euro V Boxers with the full range of new Peugeot engines from the 110bhp 2.2-litre up to the 180bhp 3-litre.

Van conversions are generally more squeak and rattle-free than their coachbuilt cousins and the Ikon is certainly quiet on well-surfaced roads. B and C-roads don’t trouble the conversion either. It takes a potholed track to a far-flung nature reserve to remind me that there’s a full complement of kitchen, washroom and lounge in the space behind the driver’s seat.

The Ikon’s interior is an attractive blend of light wood cabinets, with leather and cloth upholstery. The layout feels immediately spacious. Sure, it’s helped by the light furnishings and the abundance of windows and rooflights, but the kitchen area is genuinely of coachbuilt-style proportions, while the centre lounge section feels all the larger for not having a fixed table.

Well equipped kitchen

Back in the kitchen there’s a three-way hob, grill and oven, a 110-litre fridge and abundant storage with three overhead lockers and three sliding-door cupboards. There’s also a cutlery drawer and two further cupboards – one below the sink, the other under the oven. The cupboard below the sink has a pair of wire-mesh baskets that pull out for easy access to their furthest corners.

Lounge with lockers

Horizons have been bold in their positioning of the lounge, too. This mid-mounted four-seater is comfortable, well-lit from large windows either side and has a total of eight lockers for storage – four overhead and four in the seat bases. The Ikon’s layout works because there is no fixed table. This allows free access through the lounge into the end washroom. The table sits on a single leg that plugs into a floor-mounted socket. And like almost every full-length, single-legged, socket-mounted table with no other means of support it wobbles alarmingly with the merest touch. I’d rather see a sturdy, standalone four-legger in its place – it would certainly make for less fraught mealtimes.

Bedroom

At bedtime, a very short table leg in conjunction with the large table top, combine to make a wobble-free support for the slide-out bed bases. The bed takes less than a minute to make up into a comfortable 1.82 metres long by a slender 1.20 metres wide.

Washroom

The washroom is easily accessible for the person sleeping nearest the door. It’s no major inconvenience for the other occupant because the bed can be stepped on without fear of breaking it and good interior height (1.89 metres measured from the floor) means only a limited amount of stooping is involved.

The Ikon’s lounging opportunities are not completely lost at bedtime because a smaller table can be put up between the swivelling cab seats. Unfortunately, this is another of the single-leg-in-a-socket jobs and drinks have to be watched constantly.

The Ikon is full of fresh ideas inside and out. The new layout is the most successful of these, but buyers will expect something more substantial than an occasional table in the lounge at this price.
 

This motorhome review of The Ikon from Horizons Leisure Vehicles was published in the July 2012 issue of Which Motorhome. You can download the full magazine by clicking HERE

Lots of interesting ideas in this newcomer that features a new take on the long-wheelbase panel van interior. It’s light and spacious, but needs a wobble-free dining table. Innovative and fresh, well worth a look.