Coachman Vision 580/5

The 2015 Coachman Vision 580/5 has brilliant family layout with a neatly secluded bunk zone and a cleverly-designed, many-sided washroom.

Coachman’s 580 layout has to be regarded as up among the most innovative ways of accommodating five in a caravan.

What makes it special is the location of its bunks and the shape of the shower room.

The bunks are secluded, in the nearside rear corner, almost disguised from view by the wall to the right of the caravan’s entrance. This wall accommodates the freestanding table in a slim cabinet, and a mirror in a recess alongside the door. There’s a shelf below it, the ideal place to pop keys and phones as you step inside, and a light switch so that you can turn on the lights as you take your first step inside. It’s all well though-out, as is, also, the shower room, which is shaped rather like an irregular pentagon.

Visions first appeared for the 2014 model year, taking over from the long-established Amara range, at the lowest price range of Coachman’s four ranges which climb in price and spec level, through Pastiche and VIP to the flagship Laser. Amara had a strong following and was surely a hard act to follow but Vision has done it admirably, with a range of quality caravans designed to appeal to buyers looking well above budget price levels.

See the Coachman Vision on tour in our special feature and video – part one here

Now in their second year, Visions get a totally new fabric look and have acquired some tweaks and additional kit for 2015. The radio/CD unit now incorporates USB, iPod and smartphone connectivity. New, tiny, neat chrome spotlights have been introduced. Central heating vents are black instead of brown (a minor detail but ever so much smarter). Oak-effect floorcovering arrived. And showerhead is now the Ecocamel type, with an air inlet which increases flow rate.
 

Showering

We had to dredge up school geometry memories to attempt to describe the shape of the 580’s shower room. An irregular polygon? Almost. A triangle with a wedge-shape attached? That’s nearer. Any which way you describe the shape, it cleverly accommodates a circular shower tucked around the corner from the entrance, right in the centre of the caravan’s width, leaving enough floor space on the offside for toweling and dressing.

At 49cm wide and 29cm deep, the washbasin is one of the largest you’ll find in any caravan. There’s a cabinet beneath it and one on the offside wall, plus a narrow shelf 88cm long.

Towel provision is a loop on the door and a bar on the wall above the toilet. For our money, we’d want hanging accommodation for three more towels, though, bearing in mind weather doesn’t always allow you to dry them outside. There are two hooks on the wall between the bunks and the shower room, but towels hung here would look somewhat untidy, fully on view from the lounge.
 

Sleeping

The 580’s cosy bunk zone is a delight.

Each bunk has a little chrome spotlight matching those in the lounge, and a window, which ensures plenty of daylight reaches into the bunk area.

A bed can be created in the offside dining area, by using the table that clips to the wall here as the centre section of the base. There’s no curtain to track around this area, though. But that could be construed as a plus-point as the caravan looks neater in the central area without quantities of fabric draped over a seat back, as is often seen in side-dining-bunk areas.

There is, however, a missed opportunity on the subject of partitions in the 580. The bunk-washroom sector also houses the wardrobe. The wall at the end of the bunks is level with the forward wall of the wardrobe. The aperture leading into this area is door-dimensions, at 65cm. Yet there is no door to hide away this washing-sleeping-dressing area. It’s fair to say that putting a door here would add to the caravan’s weight, which is a good reason for omitting it. But a door here would transform this rear area into a dressing room, bearing in mind the wardrobe is here.

The settees are 1.74m long; just long enough to make single beds if you’re not tall. The double bed is created by extending the (metal frame) base of the offside settee across the caravan to meet the nearside. It glides out easily.
 

Storage

There are no drop-down doors to the storage areas under the settees. This does, though, raise (if you pardon the pun) a really important subject about 2015 Coachman caravans, all of which have this type of bed base.

For 2015, a new type of layered polyester upholstery construction has been introduced. It’s much lighter than the sprung upholstery it replaces. Which means seat bases are easier to raise than in previous models. You only have to give them a light lift and strong gas-filled struts take the weight quickly. Although there’s some inevitable heating and water piping equipment under the offside settee, there’s enough space to be useful, and of course there’s plenty of space under the nearside seat.

Gas-filled struts support the base of the bottom bunk, too, making this a really easy storage area to use.

Getting into the spaces under the dining area seating is also via the tops. The slatted bases slide back.

Seven head-height lockers line the walls. They’re shallower than many we see on caravans, at 22cm, but we see this as an advantage because it increases the feeling of general space.

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Dining

The two-person side table stows away on the aft wall of the wardrobe, where it’s very easy to lift in and out without reaching among clothing. The larger, freestanding table for the lounge is also easy to manipulate in and out of its own cabinet forward of the bunks.

And the centre-front snack table? That’s amply-sized for its purpose, at 66cm deep and 63cm wide.

The settees are long enough for three to sit on each side, which is important as there is plenty of room for all five occupants of the caravan to dine together.
 

Lounging

The most significant change for 2015 is the fabric scheme. It’s a curious mixture of floral design, rather retro pseudo-geometric pattern involving a suggestion of a Celtic cross, and concentric circles (this must be the first time we have resorted to geometry three times in a caravan review in an attempt to describe patterns and shapes!). Do we like it? In all honesty, we’re not sure. But if you share our reservations when you see a Vision, swap around the front armrests (the pseudo-geometry and the Celtic cross) and you can bring the plain reverse side to the front. Now you have only two patterns, on the cushions and the curtains. That will be much more to your taste if you prefer things plain.

Lighting design in Visions is amazing, with lights inset into panels above the top lockers and concealed behind curved panels in each front corner.  And the new, tiny, shiny spotlights are the neatest we’ve seen.
 

Kitchen

Opposite the kitchen the slim dresser-style furniture, on which are mounted TV points and the controls for the Truma Combi heating system, gives you a 20cm-wide cabinet. We’re considering this as part of the kitchen storage arrangements, because the cabinet between the oven and fridge has only one shelf (35x37cm). Most of the rest of the cabinet space is occupied by the wheel arch and the gas taps.

There are two top lockers (the third locker door hides the microwave). And if you get short of space, kitchen stuff can invade one or more of the three top lockers above the dining table. Taken as a whole, there is enough kitchen storage space; you just have to give careful consideration to what goes where to make the best use of it.

Total kitchen surface width is 98cm, of which there is a clear 54cm forward of the sink. The surface in this area protrudes over the sink, giving you a generous depth of 72cm. There’s just about enough surface on which to create meals for five without juggling and struggling.
 

Towing

Our test tow went smoothly and steadily, though the stiff breeze of the day prompted thoughts that if we were to buy a 580 we’d go for the optional AL-KO ATC electronic stability control system (£345) for occasions when things you can’t control happen.

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At over £19,000 (when you add in the normal retailer delivery fee) and an MTPLM of 1570kg the Vision 580 doesn’t attempt to compete in the price and weight race. It is, though, a winner in terms of excellent family layout, lighting styling, comfort (Ozio seating construction is every bit as comfortable as sprung upholstery in our opinion) and on the amount of storage space. This is a quality family offering with a great bunk location and a cleverly-designed shower room.