Hymer Exsis-t 588

Prices from: £56,590 Price as tested: £62,405 Travel seats: 4 Berths: 2 (optional 3) Type Approval: European Whole Vehicle

Smaller, slimmer, lighter – that’s the trend for future motorhomes.

Fuel prices rise inexorably; roads, though no narrower, become busier; and customers want more sophisticated equipment, greater payloads, and yet to remain within the 3,500kg weight limit for everyman’s licence.

It’s a challenge for even the best motorhome designers, but German giant, Hymer, has accepted it with gusto. First fruits of this new approach were, perhaps, the Compact, bristling with innovation and crammed into a sub-six-metre package – but the philosophy now extends throughout the extensive Hymer portfolio.

The Hymer Exsis has a name with pedigree, first being used for a tall, narrow design in the noughties (we called it “the most exciting new motorhome ever” in our exclusive report in October 2003), which combined many of the best qualities of a panel van conversion and an A-class – an idea way ahead of its time. Since then the name has adorned smaller A-class Hymers, culminating in 2012’s lightweight Fiat Exsis-i family. However, for 2014 it now also extends to three Exsis-t low-profiles, measuring 5.95m to 7.15m in length.

Chassis

The Exsis-t 588 is the middle of the range at 6.95m long and, being only 2.22m wide, it’s noticeably slimmer than conventional competitors – yet it provides travel seating for four and twin single beds in the rear. Empty, it weighs a svelte 2,820kg, which allows a near-700kg payload, including a rear garage capable of carrying 250kg (100kg more than the industry standard) and construction features a tough, wood-free, PU-AL/Styrofoam sandwich with GRP floor. Deservedly, the Exsis-t 588 has made an impressive entrance, being judged Fixed Single Bed Motorhome of the Year 2014.

The Exsis looks modern, neat and trim; its brand-embossed grille clearly denoting its parentage, as do characteristic side decals. Despite a substantial (2.08m) overhang beyond the back axle and slightly raised stance at the rear, the body looks nicely proportioned on its low Al-Ko chassis.

The Baur habitation door is on the offside, directly behind the driver’s door, so if the two are opened simultaneously, they clash. The entrance is rather narrow too, at 48cm, so it’s a squeeze when carrying armfuls of bedding or other paraphernalia, but it does have a window and blind, plus umbrella net and separate flyscreen – regrettably, this door isn’t part of the central locking system. There’s an electric step at a modest 28cm above ground level and the threshhold over which you step into the ’van is a further 28cm above, however, the step doesn’t retract automatically when the engine fires, so there are push buttons by the door and by the driver’s right hand.

Once inside, the layout is fairly conventional. The cab seats swivel to face a fixed table, around which is an L-shaped settee incorporating the twin rear travel seats. The kitchen unit is on the offside, immediately behind the habitation door; then comes a fridge tower, topped by the oven/grill; then a ceiling-to-floor wardrobe. Opposite the fridge and wardrobe is the washroom, and the bedroom fills the rear, with twin, high-mounted, longitudinal single beds reached by two wooden steps.

Lounge

Back in the lounge, it’s light and bright, courtesy of the large central sunroof with four LED clusters in its housing, plus the overcab skylight. Night-time reading for those in the swivelled cab seats comes from push-action light clusters on the B-pillars. When switched off, these emit a residual light through a tiny blue LED, giving discreet illumination at night-time. There’s another adjustable reading light below the overhead lockers in the lounge and an elegant, translucent perspex LED strip on the overcab shelf.

Upholstery (called Castello) is a cream, textured textile which looks very opulent. However, it had already become grubby, this being especially noticeable where the settee seat cushion protrudes into the aisle opposite the kitchen unit; perhaps the Exsis would be more spacious and pedestrian passage improved if the protrusion was reduced. As for fabrics, you can also choose from four other fabric colours or two leathers.

Kitchen

The kitchen is a linear unit with a creamy, speckled worktop. It majors on storage, with three huge, sub-divided drawers (the top one carrying domestic amounts of cutlery, and the bottom one containing a waste bin in one sub-section) and two good, shelved, overhead cupboards behind a single door. The hob, with three auto-ignition gas burners and stainless-steel sink form one unit, but each side has its own white glass lid and there’s an external mixer tap.

There’s little worktop, so the lift-up flap at the doorway end of the unit is potentially invaluable. Regrettably, it’s small. Therefore, use the lounge table for meal preparation and, being stable and conveniently close at hand, this arrangement should work perfectly.

There are two handily-placed mains sockets: one on the unit front, the other by the habitation door. When it comes to washing-up, there’s nowhere, other than the lowered hob lid, to stand a draining board/tray.

This article is an extract from a longer piece in March 2014 Which Motorhome. To order your digital copy, click here.

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A well-designed, robustly-built, practical motorhome with plenty of storage. Its slimline body, massive payload and superb on-road manners make it a class leader.