CI S-Line 670 Family

CI S-Line 670 Family 2012

CI are late arrivals at the drop-down bed party but the new S-Line 670 Family has bold modern décor and keen pricing on its side. Will that be enough?

It seems that Bürstner struck gold when they came up with the idea of combining an A-class-style drop-down transverse bed with the cheaper-to-build bodywork of a low-profile motorhome.

Originally called Quadro, now Ixeo, the Bürstner template has been copied by just about every European motorhome manufacturer (though strangely, by not one British firm). In fact, such has been the pace of copycat development that Bürstner have re-designed the Ixeo for 2012 to keep it at the forefront of sales in this class.

The Italian pairing of CI and Roller Team (think same ’vans, different stripes, different upholstery) seem to have been caught napping, though, and only now are we seeing their first examples of the breed – S-Line from CI and all but identical T-Line for Roller Team. And as we all know, if you arrive late you need to do something special to stand out. With a starting price of under £45,000, the S and T duo are off to a good start, but then these are brands that are as associated with keen costings as Lidl and Kia.

Their bold décor doesn’t look cheap, though, and builds on the steps taken with the stylish but now discontinued Riviera line-up last year. What really matters, however, is that bed. And as CI have no pedigree in A-class motorhomes (where these beds originated) you might wonder if this would be their downfall. But no. The bed didn’t rattle on route and its simple sliding handle and manual raising and lowering are hard to fault.

The third way?
Better still, unlike most, but not all, rivals whose beds are simply up or down, the S-Line has a third position.
When stored, the lowerable bed leaves room for a thin duvet and pillow on top. Not all do. And when pulled right down it offers generous headroom (29in), a thick and comfy mattress, and it doesn’t interfere with the doorway or the kitchen. So far so good. Only a single and rather too searingly bright light up there counts against it.

But then you discover that the bed can be lowered part-way, while still leaving enough headroom to sleep – similar in fact to many overcab beds in luton-style coachbuilts. Great, now you can put the little ones to bed and still sit underneath in the lounge seats. Well, that’s the theory. And at 5ft 10in tall I could sit below the bed in one of the four seats normally available. The other three are put out of action by the cupboards that lower with the bed, which rather defeats the object.

So, you’re probably back to all the family going to bed at the same time, or mum and dad taking the drop-down bed (which is no real hardship). It’s a pity that neither the fixed lengthways French bed at the back, nor the drop-down bed, has a privacy curtain. Whoever gets the rear bed, though, will sleep comfortably on a firm mattress that is again a very good size – 6ft 5in long and with a less chopped off corner than many.

And the S-Line has another bed, the lounge converting into one of the best berths we’ve seen made from a half-dinette lounge. The secret is using two extra cushions specifically supplied to create a ridge-free mattress, but the negative is that those cushions have to live somewhere. When we collected the CI they entirely filled the wardrobe; we relocated them to the vast under-bed locker, but even there they took up a lot of space. And the lack of any gas struts or support to hold the bed base up, combined with the fact that half the base is fixed down, doesn’t make interior access to this area as easy as it should be. Oh, and the ladder for the dropdown bed has to go in there too.

Perhaps, some buyers won’t get so far below the S-Line’s skin before they sign on the dotted line, because the interior is about as far from the sea of blandness dished up by some manufacturers as it’s possible to get. The rich dark cabinetwork contrasts so effectively with the glossy cream doors and pale beige fabric that you hardly notice that there’s no carpet to cover the light woodeffect vinyl floor. This is a bold-looking interior, from the overcab opening skylight to the net curtains of the airy rear bedroom. An automotive-style ribbed headlining under the bed and swivelling LED striplights only serve to enhance the up-to-the-minute feel.

Pity then that the practical detailing is again not quite so thorough. There are no lights at all in the cab, no light switches by the entrance door and the only overcab storage is in safety-compromising open shelves. Unusually, the TV point is above the driver, but you’ll have to pay your dealer to add the bracket, as well as the flatscreen and aerial.

Lounging around
The lounge does feel spacious though, with plenty of natural light. The table extends (with a slide-out leaf) far enough for a diner to sit in the driver’s seat but not really on the side settee – not much of an issue as you still have four place settings, the same number as there are belted travel seats. If you like to put your feet up after dinner, though, you’ll be disappointed to see that the bulkhead acts as a barrier between the fully reversed driving chair and the offside sofa. That’s doubly annoying as the cab seats are even higher than the fractionally too high rear seats, resulting in dangling legs for all but the very tallest motorhomers.

Kitchen
Height is not an issue in the kitchen, where 6ft 6in headroom means that you could even don a chef’s hat. If your creative talents are such that you wear a toque then a lack of worktop will be your biggest worry, as the CI is not short of equipment. A three-burner hob is mated to a combined oven and grill below, and a huge AES-operation fridge/freezer opposite. A cut-out in the worktop does not reveal the expected bin, though – just an odd little extra cupboard. Up above, meanwhile, the top cupboard is tall enough for cereal packets. That’s because it, like all the S-Line’s upper lockers, lacks a shelf inside. Combine that with the fact there are just three high-level cupboards along the offside and you start to question the CI’s storage potential.

The open shelves over the head of the bed are little more than a waste of space as anything left here could become a lethal missile under emergency braking. It’s a good thing, therefore, that the side-facing settee provides a usefully large locker underneath and the under-bed area is big enough to cope with all your outdoor furniture and the like.

Washroom wonders
The wardrobe, too, is a decent size and washroom storage is as good as you’d hope for. You can find your way there in the night without stubbed toes thanks to low-level blue LEDs designed not to wake your partner, while inside you’ll find a giant mirror, swivel cassette loo, white washbasin and a really superb separate shower. Inside the all-white plastic cubicle the shelves will house every body and hair washing product known to man – or Superdrug – while water pressure is good enough to prevent you even thinking about traipsing over to the site facilities.

It’s backed up by large capacity fresh and waste water tanks too. When you emerge from the shower the Truma Combi heating should have the ’van comfortably warm for you, though you’ll have to pay an extra £600 if you want electric power as well as gas for your heat and hot water. Add in a flyscreen for the door (£215), the Lux Pack (solar panel, reversing camera, bike rack and removable carpets – yours for £1195) and the Clima Plus Pack (cab air-conditioning and electric, heated mirrors – an extra £1140), and your S-Line 670 Family now has a list price of £47,540 which is starting to sound rather less ‘budget’. But compare that with £54,500 for a plusher, more lavishly equipped Rapido 776FF, or £57,880 for Adria’s similar layout but rather impressive Matrix 650 SF (including £2890 SE Lux Pack) and it seems the Italians still know a thing or two about being competitive on cost, even if we prefer both those rivals as an all-round package.

Euro 5 engines
However you choose to spec your CI, it’ll be based on a Euro V Ducato with the 2.3-litre engine, either in 130bhp form or the new 150bhp output for an extra £1500. Either engine can be specified as an auto, but you’ll wait ’til February for the 150 auto, May for the 130 automatic. If you can cope with three pedals on the floor then
you can enjoy S-Line motoring right away – complete with wide rear track chassis, radio/CD (no rear speakers), passenger airbag, cruise control, height-adjustable driver and passenger seats with twin armrests apiece, and remote central locking (but not including the habitation door).

The S-Line also comes with a 60-litre fuel tank with a view to increasing payload – which is an impressive 610kg when plated at 3650kg (though a 3500kg chassis is also possible). Many will be pleased to find that CI have not, however, deleted the spare wheel from the standard kit list to further enhance this figure. And you should still be able to cover over 250 miles before warning light worries send you into the nearest filling station.

Reflecting over the S-Line the big question is whether it has arrived at the party in time to take the pretty girl home, or whether she had long since left in her new boyfriend’s car. The answer is that the CI’s promise – good looks and some fresh thinking – made her stay for S-Line’s arrival, but I’m not quite so sure whether she would take the Italian home having discovered his few shortcomings.

To read the full motorhome review in PDF format exactly as it appeared in the December 2011 issue of Which Motorhome,click here.
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A lot of motorhome for the money that looks stylish inside and out. But some of the practical detiailing lets it down.