Carthago Chic S-plus I 58 XL

Berths: 4 Travel seats: 4 Base vehicle: Iveco Daily Gross weight: 6,500kg Payload: 1,285kg (standard), 1,483kg (as tested)

In a brand best known for A-classes, the S-plus sits just below the flagship Highliner and just above the E-line.

The I 58 XL is the longest of four Iveco-based models in the S-plus range but it’s not the 8.53m length that strikes you first. This imposing motorhome is well over 3m high. But it is an undeniably handsome beast.

Our test van was loaded with more than £48k of extras, adding 750kg to the weight, taking it to over five tonnes. But this S-plus still has a payload of 1,438kg – enough for serious long-term touring.

Exterior hatches parallelogram open to reveal massive basement storage in the double floor. The garage can carry up to 350kg, while an exterior shower, 1,800W inverter (part of the Kitchen/Coffee Pack) and all the habitation electrics are neatly contained here.

The downward slope of the dashboard affords you a much better view of the road ahead than in most rivals. The bus-style mirrors afford an excellent view astern and the reversing camera is neatly integrated into the fascia.

The rear-drive Iveco has a much tighter turning circle than an equivalent-sized Fiat. This big bus is easily capable of cruising at 70mph, though its weight will dictate reduced speed limits in many countries.

The star feature for the driver is the eight-speed automatic gearbox. A torque converter ’box selects the next ratio smoothly and we were in sixth by 30mph and eighth by 50mph - a significant factor in our impressive mpg figure of 20. This is the best auto gearbox offered in any motorhome today.

The habitation door closes like a bank vault. A double step takes you 850mm up above the road and there’s another small step in the doorway and a further rise between kitchen and bathroom.

A fiddly system of levers pivots the steering wheel upwards, allowing the driver’s seat to rotate fully. This proved awkward to relocate in ‘driving mode’, but this lounge is still probably the most comfortable of any motorhome we have tested in 30 years.

There’s a ‘Carthago look’ to the interior, with chromed cupboard embossed door handles, a set of three ‘ship’s instruments’ over the door and the glass cabinet adding to the bling. The quality is second to none. Lighting is equally impressive, although you’ll need more than a week to learn what each switch does.

There’s room to seat six around the table but the tabletop does not expand and it doesn’t seem to ‘travel’ as widely as some.

After dinner you might choose to watch the 22in flatscreen TV that pops up from behind the offside couch. Or you may prefer to slide out the base of that settee and take a snooze. In this position it could also be used as a child’s bed.

The top-hung windows can be pushed out to any angle, while the blinds and flyscreens have an ease of use rarely seen elsewhere. Plus you get 2.10m headroom.

The Carthago trademarks continue in the galley, where the shape of the Corian worktop affords a little extra preparation space. The lower drawers all lock centrally. There’s plenty of room for cutlery and larger utensils, racks for eight bottles, plus two bins, with variable dividers in some drawers.

Next to the three-burner hob, the sink’s lid reverses to act as a chopping board – or can be clipped to the bulkhead to make an additional shelf. The hidden coffee machine, like so many features seen here, is an option: £1,140 with an inverter, so you can still enjoy good coffee when you’re wild camping!

Opposite, there’s a generous AES fridge/freezer and adjacent slide-out store. But it’s here that we also find this Chic’s greatest weakness – its Tec-Tower oven/grill is a full 6ft above the floor.

The washroom consists of a toilet on one side and shower opposite, and the toilet door closes off the whole rear en suite bedroom. A full-height wardrobe by the shower, along with his and hers wardrobes on either side of the island bed, is a plus, but it’s only a curtain that provides privacy between bed and shower. The shower itself has both an overhead ‘rain shower’ and a hand-held shower head.

With underfloor heating, additional cab area booster, heat exchanger and wall-mounted radiators, the Alde system is comprehensive. Dial in your temperature and power source and let the heating do the rest, virtually silently. You get under-bed heating too, along with the best motorhome bed we’ve ever slept in. This island bed also has reading lights, individual tip-up backrests and useful recesses.

And it’s a generous size, although not quite as big as the cab’s drop-down bed. At 1.15m high, that’s an easy hop up from the settee (there’s no ladder) and headroom is massive.

This is an abridged version of the full review appearing in the August 2016 issue of MMM. Buy it now.

The S-plus’s superb build quality justifies its price. It offers independence and has a huge payload that will suit long-term touring. Only the too high oven marks it down.