Hymer B-DL 588

Berths: 4 Travel seats: 4 Base vehicle: Fiat Ducato Gross weight: 3,500kg Payload: 510kg

Like the Exsis below it in Hymer hierarchy, the B-DL is just 2.22m wide, compared with an industry norm of 2.35m. Sitting in this Hymer’s cab, you’ll immediately feel at home, thanks to deep side windows, bus-type, top-hung dual-lens mirrors and that deep windscreen with UK-handed wipers.

The B-DL was launched earlier this year and the range has already grown to eight floorplans. Lengths range from 5.99m to 7.49m, with this 588 taking the mid-size of 6.99m.

It’s impressive as you step inside, though it’s worth noting that you do have to check what’s standard and what isn’t. Here, the Comfort door and Cremissimo part-leather soft furnishings are the first extras you’ll see, but there’s plenty more, as you can see in the Fact File.

Of course, adding these toys also reduces your payload. If you travel four-up, or want to make the most of that huge rear garage (1.18m wide at floor level, with headroom of up to 1.29m), you might have to uprate the gross weight to 3,850kg. At 3.5 tonnes you’ll not be able to get anywhere near the maximum stated weight for the garage itself of 350kg.

From the way the kitchen drawers glide shut to the continuation of the line of the cupboards into the base of the drop-down cab bed, this is every inch a Hymer. We looked hard for evidence of cost-cutting but, here, light weight certainly doesn’t mean flimsy. But then even a modestly spec’d 588 is likely to be almost £80k.

For that amount of cash you get a cosy but comfortable lounge that works all the better for the proper L-shape to the settee and the fact that the table can be slid right out into the centre of the ’van. The kitchen comes with that (optional) Brit-friendly cooker, plenty of drawers and an absolutely massive fridge. You get two wardrobes, too – a tall, slim one alongside the fridge and a shallower, larger one under the foot of the offside bed.

The rear single beds are unequally sized and offer above-average comfort thanks to high-quality mattresses and plastic springs underneath. The upholstery section between the beds is handy for those who like to spread out in their sleep, while the easy-to-deploy cab bed is a genuine adult double.

The washroom offers a good-sized semi-separate shower, a posh Corian-style basin, the very latest bench cassette toilet and a three-bar drying rack. As with other aspects of this motorhome, it’s hard to fault, but if you must have entirely separate toilet and shower facilities there’s always the B-DL 574 (which is still only 6.99m long).

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.

Hymer’s B-DL motorhome certainly isn’t cheap and you do need to watch the cost and weight of the options, but this Hymer goes straight to the top of its class.