Sunlight T69L motorhome

Berths: 2 Travel seats: 4 Base vehicle: Fiat Ducato Gross weight: 3,500kg Payload: 503kg

In the seven-and-a-half-metre class, this entry-level low-profile presented as standard from stem to stern: Euro lounge up front, L-shaped kitchen, divided en suite ablutions and island bed in the rear above a large storage area. It was, and is, in fact, pretty much the same length and layout as a multitude of others. And, as a budget model, it contains no fancy tech or new design ideas. All great but, from a road tester’s point of view, rather boring – I’ve looked at, judged and tested plenty of similar motorhomes in the past. However, it’s never a good thing to judge a book by its cover, as I was about to find out…

Sunlight is one of the Erwin Hymer Group’s entry-level brands (along with Carado, Elddis and Etrusco) – the Sunlight and Carado ’vans are built in a dedicated plant in Germany. The marketing vibe is aimed at the younger, sporty set – probably as the models are priced to be more affordable. However, styling and layouts are all standard stuff: all based on fixed beds of one sort or another – from 5.98m and up. The T69L is the longest at 7.43m.

Unsurprisingly based on Fiat’s ever-popular Ducato, the T69L is built on the camper chassis, with the 130-horsepower engine. Standard specification for UK models includes cab air-con, driver and passenger airbags, cruise control and traction control. So, even the base model has stuff that’s often on the options lists of plenty of far more highfalutin (and expensive) models than this one.

If you yearn for more power, £1,600 will get you the 150bhp engine. However, the range-topping 177bhp unit is not on the options list. Comfort-Matic transmission (£1,750) is, though, so it’s no deal breaker if you want an auto. Would I pay for the engine upgrade? Perhaps not, as this is a two-berth motorhome that’s quite light in weight, so the standard motor should be fine for all road types and legal speed limits. There are options to upgrade to four or five berths, though, so that might change things…

The lounge is big enough to include a side seat on the offside and, beyond the pedestal-mounted table, another that turns the forward-facing travel seat into a compact L-shape. The table offers plenty in terms of surface and its top adjusts to and fro and swivels round and around. Above, the overcab sunroof and Mini Heki rooflight provide plenty in the way of natural light and ventilation, while under-locker downlighters provide for reading. There’s also a twin USB charge socket within easy reach. This is, in fact, a picture of a typical compact Euro lounge, with good seating and dining space for up to five and four people, respectively. So, anything wrong? 

A wry smile invades my face when I see motorhome things that I think are daft. Here, it’s a hob with heavy cast-iron pan supports. Having plenty of payload on a 3,500kg chassis is a big issue, so why fit a weighty component when there’s no need? Apart from that, the hob’s a good one thanks to the fact that its offset, three-burner design makes it easy to get at all pans in use. Below, more practical pleasures lurk in the form of my favourite motorhome oven. Thetford’s Duplex takes up little space, but still offers a decent-sized cavity and a grill. Across the aisle, the fridge is a unit that belies the motorhome’s budget status – a proper, two-door fridge/freezer that comes with turn-on-and-forget automatic energy selection.

The washroom facilities contain few faults, from both the design and equipment point of view. The toilet room door swings across the aisle to enclose and form an en suite to the bedroom and, while it’s not strictly needed in a two-berth ’van, there’s a simple privacy curtain to separate the bedroom. Remember that there is a drop-down bed option up front. The swivel-bowl loo is not mounted too high, there’s a big mirror, a tall cupboard, plus another beneath the basin big enough for cleaning products and loo rolls.

The T69L’s double is, like the rest of this ’van, unpretentious and modestly styled, but it has one big advantage – size. There’s a separate section of mattress at its head that, once removed, allows the rest to slide back and give a bit more room to move around the foot. Once installed, the bed is 6ft 4in long. Width is good, too, with a measurement that’s just an inch under five feet. Comfort is provided by a hypoallergenic mattress on sprung wooden slats. In short, this bedroom is excellent. 

If you enjoyed this review, you can read the full version and more in the September 2018 issue of MMM magazine. You can get a digital version of this latest issue of MMM magazine here.

As an island bed low-profile, this motorhome presents as standard. However, where it scores is with very good levels of equipment and, more importantly, sensibly designed features that work well. It’s refreshing to discover a two-berth tourer with good payload that is bling-free and practical where it matters – the generous double bed a case in point.