Moto-Trek X-Cite

Price from: £45,198 Berths: 3 Travel seats: 2 Type Approval: European Whole Vehicle (applied for)

Having decided to enter the mainstream motorhome market after many years making motor racing and equine-orientated conversions, Moto-Trek has set a terrific pace.

After the Leisure-Treka panel van range (with three layouts), the coachbuilt Euro-Treka I and II were launched last year. This year it’s the X-Cite – a compact 3,500kg coachbuilt sharing the slide-out of its larger siblings.

But at an extraordinarily competitive price of around £45,800 fully loaded, have corners been cut? The company had been anxious to finish a prototype for the start of the show season, so used a base vehicle from its horsebox production line rather than await the arrival of a dedicated unit from Peugeot.

Exterior

The X-Cite looks resplendent with a silver cab and bodywork in vibrant, eye-catching blue. Older readers may, perhaps, remember Dolly Blue laundry brightener; our journey through the southern Lake District took us past the old Blue works at Backbarrow (now the Lakeland Motor Museum) and the colour was an exact match! Moto-Trek will offer several alternative colour schemes if Dolly Blue doesn’t appeal.

The X-Cite is compact and well-proportioned, measuring only 6.38m long by 2.15m wide – around 15-20cm slimmer than the industry standard. On Britain’s congested, narrow roads every little helps. Despite the ’van’s shortness, it has a long-wheelbase chassis to accommodate a usefully-sized slide-out between the axles, so the rear overhang is modest.

Lounge

The lounge seems perfectly satisfactory in un-extended form, though the swivelled driver’s seat is unusable.

There’s a conventionally-sized aisle and the free-standing table (stored behind the nearside settee, from where it’s quite awkward to remove) can be used satisfactorily from either settee. However, a switch on the side of the kitchen unit activates the slide-out, and the offside settee, occupying the entire width of the slide-out, moves out by a couple of feet, resulting in lounging space becoming almost domestic in scale – vastly greater than in any other motorhome of this size. Now the table is dwarfed and can only be used from one settee or the other. Extra diners will have to eat off their knees. The table is also uncomfortably low for dining, so further thought is required for table provision and storage.

The rest of the lounge is great. The settees are comfortable, with minimal knee rolls, and the Polyplastic windows (although tinted) let in a fair amount of light, aided by a Heki sunroof overhead.

Kitchen

The kitchen unit is a large and rounded L-shape, its huge worktop area containing a combined three-burner hob and sink with separate darkened glass lids.

Following current trends, there’s no integral draining board, but plenty of space for your tray. An oven/grill is set below the hob, with a slim but tall pull-out unit containing metal racking alongside. Three capacious drawers, and three unshelved overhead cupboards will hold all of your comestibles and crockery, and there’s a large cupboard adjacent to the habitation door. Above this is the cutlery drawer – currently rather awkwardly positioned for the chef, this is to be re-located to the front of the unit.

Two mains sockets are well placed above the surface and production vehicles will have the option of an extractor fan. There are three touch-operated LED lights under the overhead lockers and a Heki is positioned above the aisle, so the kitchen is well lit. Opposite the main unit is the 90-litre Dometic AES fridge, with the Daewoo microwave above that at a perfect height of 1.10m (3ft 7½in). You can specify a larger, 189-litre fridge, but then the microwave moves up accordingly. Above the microwave is a cavernous store cupboard.

All-in-all, this is a thoughtfully designed, well-executed kitchen with loads of workspace, plenty of storage and mainly practical facilities.

Washroom

The washroom is also commodious, especially considering the size of the motorhome. The prototype’s tambour door, held by magnetic catches, had a habit of sliding to and fro during energetic driving, so will be retained by a strap in production vehicles, and the original clear window above the toilet (fortunately, there was a blind!) will be translucent.

To the nearside, the shower cubicle is large, square and with wipe-clean, smooth plastic walls behind a bi-fold, translucent door. You step down into the tray, allowing headroom of 2.03m (6ft 8in). There’s a small push-up skylight (with another over the toilet) and four LED lights; the only things missing were a soap dish and accessories basket. We queried this omission and were advised these will be standard fittings – likewise a robe hook in the main washroom.

Sleeping areas

The X-Cite has seating for two travellers, lacking any facility for carrying rear passengers. Theoretically, it is also a two-berth motorhome – but it could sleep three. The double bed is simply made by pulling out the offside settee base into the lounge (it runs easily, on wheels), then using the settee backrest and a slim infill to complete a double bed 1.90m by 1.31m. Though reasonably comfortable, it seemed slightly unsupportive – a superior foam will be used in production.

Alternatively, the offside settee can be used as a 75cm-wide single bed and, for this, the slide-out doesn’t need to be deployed. More surprisingly, the smaller, nearside settee makes an additional single bed, formed in conjunction with the reclined and swivelled passenger seat and using a blanket to smooth the shaping of the cab chair.

This is an extract from a longer piece in May 2014 MMM. To order your copy, click here.

• For great digital Which Motorhome subscription deals, click here.
   
• For great digital MMM subscription deals, click here.

More useful Motorhome pages:

Motorhomes for Sale  |  Motorhome Reviews  |  Sell Your Motorhome  |  Motorhome Advice  |  Motorhome Buyers' Guide

Motorhome News  |  Motorhome Articles  |  Motorhome Forums

Campsite Finder 

MMM (Motorcaravan Motorhome Monthly) Magazine  |  Which Motorhome Magazine  |  Motorhome Shows

Though showing some prototype niggles and due for detail changes in production, the X-Cite is a remarkable British motorhome.