Full review

Words & photos: Peter Vaughan

The Spartan Campers Adventurer

It’s hard to stand out in the VW campervan market, especially for a new name without the reassurance of National Caravan Council (NCC) approval or Type Approval. 

Spartan Campers has only been trading for just over two years but the example of its Adventurer conversion that it supplied for review certainly caught the eye. 

It’s not just the pale minty green and white duotone scheme but the repeating of the green on the door handles, mirrors, VW logo and wheel centres, while the side bars are in white. Those two-coloured 20in disc-style wheels are very striking, too, and should be easy to rid of the dreaded brake dust. 

However, if this look isn’t to your taste, then a huge range of alloys is offered, along with a wide selection of furniture colours, etc. 

The spec

It’s a 67-plate Transporter here, with 67,000 miles recorded, hence the sub-£40k price tag. There are rear barn doors on this one, rather than the more desirable tailgate, but it does come with cab air-con. 

It’s always worth checking the spec of the base van carefully with these T6.1s because it can make a huge difference in cost and desirability. 

One thing that this company aims to do differently is to carry out as much work as possible in-house, even having its own bodyshop for any repairs necessary to used vans (usually sourced for customers to their requirements) before they are converted. It has its own CNC machine for the furniture, too.

Spartan also focuses on creating campervans for working families and it’s building a community of owners. The company founders use the campervans with their own kids, so the Adventurer is designed to be family friendly. 

The seats

It comes with a roof bed (in the Westdubs elevating roof) and a double passenger seat as standard, the latter fitted with an MS Craft swivel base. As ever, remember that there’s no walk-through with the three-seater cab and no rake adjustment on the cab bench seat, but it does give the camper five belted pews. 

Here, it’s also on a base with wheels, so it can slide out to face through the open sliding door, which could be very appealing on a summer’s day.

The M1 crash-tested back seat is from FabworX and incorporates headrests, although it’s rather short in the squab. It simply slides forward and folds flat to make the downstairs double bed. It’s quite modest in size, though, at 1.78m by 1.11m. Vanshades blinds provide blackout at night. 

In the roof, Spartan says there’s sufficient room between the bed and the roof to keep sleeping bags in situ with the lid closed, which is a bonus.

The kitchen

The kitchen looks smart with its flush-fitting doors and, unusually, includes a Sharp microwave – another aspect that’s aimed at those with kids, says Spartan. Alongside that is a typical-size compressor fridge from Sanjo. 

Beneath the microwave is a cupboard for a Porta Potti – which you’ll have to lift  up over a step and a lip, rather than sliding straight in. 

Then, to the right, the locker is mostly filled by the 20-litre fresh water carrier. That doesn’t leave much room for actual storage, so it’s good to see a trio of top lockers above the galley. 

There’s a useful area of worktop to the right of the sink/hob combination unit, too, with two 230V and two USB power points adjacent. 

The rear

Around the back, the boot area is also very short on storage space because of the design of the seat. Making some amends for this is the wardrobe, which, behind a tambour door, offers a shelf and a generous hanging space (82cm drop). 

The spec also includes a lithium leisure battery (for greater off-grid potential) and an Autoterm heater. In fact, this is already the third generation of Spartan VW, so there seems to be a real desire to learn and improve the product.

Where to buy

Spartan Campers is based near Coventry and sells its campers (including conversions built for stock)  from its factory premises.

At time of writing, it had a variety of T6.1s in stock, with prices from £34,995 to £57,995.