Shire Conversions Phoenix M Studio

PRICE FROM £45,490 Berths/Travel seats 2/

LARGE van conversions are gaining in popularity. They are easier to handle than a coachbuilt, so there’s a strong market from the downsizers. Meanwhile, those who want more space – or more facilities – than the Volkswagen T5 and its ilk often step up to the next available size.

Invariably, the next available size is offered by Fiat. Not content with being the base for 75% of coachbuilts across Europe, the ubiquitous Ducato also comes in panel van shape with a range of three wheelbases (four lengths) for converters to work with. Shire Conversions is a Ducato van specialist with an eight-model range based on medium, long and extra-long-wheelbase vehicles. The medium-wheelbase (5.40m) Phoenix M Studio is Shire’s latest.

Inside the M Studio

The M Studio has a front lounge, end washroom layout and an electric bed that slides out at the touch of a button. As points of difference between conversions go, this addition has proved a crowd pleaser at the Shows. How it works in the real world we’ll see later on. But first let’s look at the thing that attracts upsizers and downsizers alike – interior space.

Van converters can squander the immediate impression of space supplied by a wide-opening sliding door by sticking great tracts of furniture across the opening. Not so Shire with the M Studio. There’s more than a metre of fresh air between the left-hand door jamb and the first outcrop of furniture. The result is a clear view into a living space that looks and feels spacious before you even step aboard.

Interior height is an airy 1.90m from the rear of the cab back. Not only does this make the ’van feel more roomy, it also creates useful overcab storage space (ideal for bulky bedding). There’s a mid-mounted rooflight above the lounge and rectangular windows face each other across this space to provide plenty of daylight. At night, LED spotlights in the ceiling and cabinet bases deliver all the light you need.

With the driver and passenger seats turned to face the conversion, and the comfortable offside bench seat in play, there’s plenty of room for four adults to sit, chat and spread out. For eating inside, the M Studio works better for two, with a small table that slots into a socket between the turned cab seats. The table is of the Fiamma single-leg variety, best for balanced diets to avoid the occasional wobble. The table can be used with the supplied tripod set up, this makes it sturdier, but the table is then at the wrong height and reach for use with any of the interior seating, making it better suited for outdoor food preparation and dining.

Storage is good in the lounge, with a pair of lockers above and a cupboard beneath the bench seat. On site, two small corner shelves either side of the bench come in handy for books and drinks.

In the motorhome kitchen

Upsizers long for a better-equipped kitchen, while downsizers fear the compromises a smaller motorhome will bring to their travelling culinary exploits. With the M Studio, neither will be disappointed.

The kitchen takes up the nearside wall of the conversion between the sliding door and the washroom. A Thetford Triplex oven, grill and three-burner hob sits at one end – just the sort of cooking equipment you would find in a full-house coachbuilt. A microwave and 82-litre fridge/freezer are dead opposite, across the aisle, and if 82 litres of cooling space isn’t enough, there’s a dedicated wine cooler slotted next to the oven.
If ever there was an obvious sop to luxury-loving downsizers, the wine cooler is it.

While enjoying a glass of chilled wine, M Studio buyers can watch Freeview on the TV above the kitchen. Like the cooler, the TV is standard issue, and another one in the eye for those who say you have to compromise to downsize.

Cramming all this equipment into the kitchen doesn’t limit storage or workspace. There are two lockers for food above the kitchen and a large cupboard below the sink with two deep drawers and a nautically themed, wooden cutlery tray. The sink has a built-in drainer in the lid to save space, and a fold-up leaf to the right more than doubles worktop area in an instant.

Three of  M Studio’s seven 230V sockets are conveniently positioned above the kitchen in a sturdy block. Two LED spotlights above the oven and sink provide plenty of light for preparing and cooking.
Opposite the kitchen, sandwiched between the lounge bench seat and the washroom wall there’s a slim wardrobe, a tambour-door twin shelf unit and a lower cupboard, next to the fridge/freezer with a shelf and a pull-out bin.

Cleaning up

The washroom door opens to reveal a surprisingly large, full-height space clad in white panelling and light wood. On the left there’s a large, and beautifully-finished, basin with a tall mirror above. The loo, with a shelved cupboard above, is opposite, with the shower base doubling as the washroom floor. The shower curtain encircles this area with the shower controls on a separate lever above the washbasin. Simple, stylish and extremely practical, the M Studio’s washroom puts a few coachbuilts to shame.

The electric bed

The inclusion of a motorised bed that unfolds by pressing a button on a key fob is no mere gimmick. It started out as a practical, space-saving solution. Some front-lounge van conversions use a seat by the sliding door to make up part of the bed. Doing away with the seat opens up the interior, as the M Studio demonstrates so well. Shire devised a bed that would fold out entirely from the bench seat but realised that deploying it standing side on to the bed would be difficult, at best. So they installed an electric motor to push the bed sections out, and then pull them back in again.

Press the key fob and the bed slides out in seconds. Four infill cushions make up the foot of the bed, while the armrests and a further small infill cushion pad out the top. From bench to a bed you can lie on takes less than half a minute. The bed is 1.83m long by 1.29m wide, narrowing to just 1.07m where the kitchen cuts in for the final 0.67m of length.
A centrally-mounted bed, electric or otherwise, does present some obstacles. It blocks the sliding door – you can still get out, but you have to jump from the height of the bed. Sleep on the right side of the bed? You’ll need to clamber over your partner to get to the loo.

Putting the bed back to a bench seat is very simple, a leather strap holds the hinged section of the bed aloft while the motor whirrs and pulls the sliding sections back in. While doing this I wondered what would happen if the fob got lost, broken or ran out of batteries. Shire tells me that there is a manual override system, so bedtime and daytime order can be restored in the event of a breakdown. As innovative as the electric bed system appears, the mechanics of it – a threaded bar attached to a motor via some nuts on a tack-welded plate – are crude. On this test vehicle the motor’s wiring was also sparsely clipped up, with snagging in the metal runners a clear possibility.

Smart storage

With all the equipment it carries, it’s surprising to find any spare space left in this conversion for storage, but behind the rear doors there are eight pockets attached to the back of the washroom wall. Other manufacturers make use of similar voids in their van conversions, but this is the most practical use of the space I’ve seen.
The boiler and the cassette loo both have their access doors on this wall, and there’s a rear door to the washroom here, too.
One thing lacking from this ‘services’ end of the conversion is gas cylinder storage – that’s because the M Studio uses an underslung, 25-litre LPG tank with a filler cap on the nearside.

Faster than the average...

On the road, the standard 130bhp Ducato engine feels completely liberated by the relative light weight of this conversion. The Fiat is certainly more van-like, less refined, than a Volkswagen T5, a consideration for upsizers at least. Downsizers, though, will feel right at home in the familiar surroundings of the Ducato. Familiar, at least, until they put their foot down.

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Intelligently designed to maximise space for two people, the M Studio is packed with equipment and very well priced