Bürstner Ixeo I 746 Limited motorhome

Base vehicle: Fiat Ducato Price from: £109,995 Berths: 4 Travel seats: 4 Length: 7.65m Width: 2.32m Height: 2.96m Gross weight: 4,250kg Payload: 685kg

Here’s something rather special, as well as a true limited edition. Just 60 of these vehicles will be built, of which half a dozen are planned for the UK. You’ll spot the Limited straight away, thanks to its bold duo-tone colour scheme, but it’s inside that Bürstner has incorporated fresh thinking from its groundbreaking Harmony 1 and 2 concept vehicles. Each example has a numbered plaque.

The specification has been enhanced, of course, so the Fiat base vehicle comes with the Comfort-Matic transmission, ESP, Hill Holder, Traction Plus, cruise control, driver and passenger airbags, bus-style twin-lens mirrors, chrome-ringed instruments, alloy wheels, sat-nav, reversing camera and automatic air-conditioning.

The living area has Bürstner’s Thermo Floor (130mm deep with storage compartments), an XL Premium habitation door, wood-free construction with GRP roof and floor, a 5m awning with LED lighting and Alde heating.

However, the really exciting aspect is the layout. The 746 Limited has a rear lounge, just not in the style we’re used to seeing one. The settee here is L-shaped, running across the back wall and down the nearside where you’ll also find a floor-to-ceiling window with Venetian blind. There’s a picture window on the offside, a low-level coffee table in the centre, a free-standing pouffe and a 32in TV in the corner (on the bathroom wall). Padded leather trim replaces windows all round and there’s a sliding partition to close off the area from the rest of the motorhome.

That gives a clue as to the fact that this space is also a bedroom. You don’t convert the seats, though, but turn a key and press a button. Then, a lengthways double whirrs down from the ceiling and finishes sitting just 760mm off the floor. It’s a French bed, in effect, rather than an island, although there’s limited access to the 1.86m by 1.48m mattress from the foot, as well as along the offside.

The rest of the floorplan is more conventional, with an L-shaped kitchen opposite the washroom in the centre of the motorhome and an L-settee (with two seatbelts) up front.

The front lounge is spacious, with the captain’s chairs swivelling to join the settee and a single side-facing seat. There’s the usual continental fixed table, while Limited logos on the front seats and full leather trim remind you that you’re in a special vehicle. Interior lighting is especially impressive, with pin lights set into the hide-covered base of the cab’s drop-down bed and flexible wand reading lights over both captain’s chairs. The second double bed lowers manually and measures 1.95m by 1.39m.

The L-shaped galley has a draining board set into its Fenix repairable worktop and there’s a Thetford Triplex cooker with three gas rings and a combined oven/grill. The cooler is a Dometic 145-litre slim tower model with automatic energy selection, while galley storage includes two drawers.

The washroom includes all the facilities in one space on the offside, but incorporates a separate shower with bifold doors and two drains. There’s a stylish tap, swivel cassette loo and sufficient storage but more unusual is the huge floor-to-ceiling mirror on the washroom’s external wall.

There’s plenty of wow factor with this special Bürstner but if you can’t stretch to the Limited’s £109,995 price tag, or you’re not quick enough in tracking one down, the standard Ixeo I A-class range includes nine layouts, two of which have a rear lounge.

This motorhome review was first published in the May 2019 edition of What Motorhome magazine - click here to view digital issues and here to browse our database of motorhome reviews.

Enhanced specification, an exciting layout, seats that convert to a bed at the press of a button, and only a handful of vehicles available in the UK - this is a true limited edition boasting bags of wow factor.