Auto-Sleeper Stanton motorhome

Berths: 2 Travel seats: 2 Base vehicle: Mercedes Sprinter Gross weight: 3,200kg Payload: 351kg

If you want the most compact of Auto-Sleepers’ coachbuilts, there’s now a choice of three possible base vehicles. The Peugeot-based Nuevo (£56,700 with the essential Premium Pack) comes with a 2-litre 160bhp engine and manual gearbox.

Swap the French lion badge for Fiat’s five-bar logo and the same motorhome with a Comfort-Matic robotised gearbox costs £58,700 with the 2.3-litre 130bhp engine or £60,700 with 150bhp. Then there’s this, the Stanton, on a Mercedes chassis with rear-wheel drive, a ‘proper’ automatic gearbox and the most powerful motor of all, a 2.1-litre offering 163bhp. It’s £67,495 (including the must-have Premium Pack once again).

While the Merc is a Stanton, rather than a Nuevo, the layout is the same. That’s swivel cab seats, side settees behind the cab (shortish ones because this is a short ’van), a kitchen across the back wall and a bathroom in the rear offside corner. New features for 2018 are a Truma iNet control box for remote operation of your heating (a gas/electric Combi boiler), a Trackstar Leisure vehicle tracking system, Truma Aventa roof-mounted habitation air-conditioning (a £1,000 delete option), and GRP bodywork with scratch and impact-resistant platinum-coloured sides and an all-new rear panel with Hella LED tail-lights.

Essentially, though, this is still the motorhome formally known as the Marquis Devon special edition back in 2008. Typically, it has gradually evolved and improved in the time-honoured Auto-Sleepers fashion. The other news this season is a greater range of fabrics. The existing Catalan soft furnishing scheme (in three colours) is now complemented by Casa Mila (subtle leaf pattern, as shown) and Sagrada (stripy), each offered in five shades – mauve, blue, brown or new green or gold.

Of course, the elephant in the room with this particular motorhome is that Mercedes has announced an all-new Sprinter, due to go on sale as a commercial vehicle later this year. So, the 2019 Stanton will be a different animal – though still rear-wheel drive. The CDI engine is good but it’s the seven-speed automatic that’s not just the icing on the cake, but the real flavour of the gateau, too. Comparing its slick changes with Fiat’s Comfort-Matic is like comparing a learner driver with Sebastian Vettel. And, if your skills aren’t Vettel-like, then it’s good to see adaptive ESP, ASR, Brake Assist, Electronic Brake-force Distribution and Start Off Assist fiited as standard.

Despite its dinky size, the Stanton doesn’t want for much inside – as long as you can forgo a fixed bed. You can choose from making your lounge into a transverse double or twin singles (with your feet resting on the cab chairs). And, although the washroom lacks a true separate shower, its swing-wall design (where the basin and the wall it’s mounted on rotate to create a cubicle) is the next best thing. Then there’s a spec list that (with the Premium Pack) includes a 25-litre underslung gas tank, 80W solar panel, overcab Skyview sunroof, Thule awning, reversing camera, sat-nav, alloy wheels and even a crockery set and crystal glasses. On the outside you’ll also find barbecue and mains electric sockets. Clearly, the spec list is as long here as the body is short.

If you enjoyed this review, you can read loads more like it in What Motorhome magazine. You can get a digital version of this latest issue of What Motorhome magazine here.