Benimar Mileo 282

Berths: 4 Travel seats: 4 Base vehicle: Fiat Ducato Gross weight: 3,500kg Payload: 280kg

OK, so rear L-shaped lounges are nothing new, but this Mileo really does have a lounge and not just a large collection of seats. The difference? These seats don’t make into a bed. Instead, the bed comes down from the ceiling above.

The rear lounge isn’t a dining room, either. That’s up front, where a much more conventional seating area does the usual trick of combining travel for four with a fixed table and swivel cab seats. Yes, you can erect a table in the stern but it’s unnecessary, thanks to the sideboard alongside. It’s just somewhere for a couple to unwind, perhaps watching TV, possibly watching the world through the nearside picture window.

Up front, six could squeeze around the table, which unfolds for full-scale dining. And, the table shows improved operation since we had a Mileo on long-term test a year ago. What hasn’t changed is the step from cab to living area (the only other floor height variation is when entering the washroom). That still means the table is a bit too high for the rear seats, whilst better aligned with the cab chairs.

This seems a pretty conventional motorhome that’s very open and spacious – as well as surprisingly well equipped. There is another surprise in store, both beds are of the drop-down variety.

The rear bed (with a 230kg limit) will be your first choice because it comes down lower (so has more headroom) and it does so electrically. The front bed (restricted to 150kg) is virtually identical in size and, as with the rear bed, it narrows at the foot (French bed style). As the front bed narrows to the offside and the rear bed slims down to the nearside, though, parking on the level will be especially important to Mileo 282 owners.

This galley has a respectable amount of worktop, an oven/grill, a mains hotplate, a microwave and a massive fridge/freezer. We’ll forgive the height of the microwave because everything else is spot on – from the large soft-close drawers to an unshelved top locker for cereal packets, etc, and the slide-out store for tins.

To the bathroom – you’ll need long legs to be comfortably enthroned here, but on the plus side the separate shower (with stylish dark tinted bifold door) is unusually generous in size.

If you were already impressed by the 2016 Mileo’s standard kit, including the likes of automatic lights and wipers, sat-nav, reversing camera, 150bhp engine, flush-fit framed windows, solar panel, barbecue point and 6kW heating, then you’ll be even more impressed by the 2017 spec, which encompasses alloy wheels, a leather steering wheel, ESP, Traction+ and Hill Descent Control.

If you enjoyed this review, you can read the full version and more in the November 2016 issue of What Motorhome magazine. You can get a digital version of this latest issue of What Motorhome magazine here.

The 282 is a lot less conventional in layout than others in the Mileo range but it has a flexible design with a fabulous rear lounge and two drop-down beds – as well as masses of standard spec.