Tribute T-726

Berths: 6 Travel seats: 4 Base vehicle: Fiat Ducato Gross weight: 3500kg Payload: 410kg

The Tribute T-726 costs just over £45k, including the all-important pack without which your new Tribute would be all-but-unsaleable. After all, who would go without air-con, a passenger airbag or cruise control? Auto-Trail is offering the Driver’s Pack at £1,499, but says is worth £2,736.

In the lounge, an extra-large offside window, a big vent in the luton and a glazed door do their best to illuminate the interior. The quartet of reading lights and ambient lighting over the top lockers ensure that it shouldn’t feel gloomy at night.

The table is not huge, though it could just serve four. It works best when the lounge is rearranged as a dinette on the offside, which is more convenient when you are travelling and just stop for a lunchtime snack. Both cab seats swivel, and the flat floor ensures they are at the right height when rotated.

The kitchen has Auto-Trail’s large sink with side-hinged lid, as well as a Triplex cooker with three burners and combined oven/grill. There’s a microwave, and a rather impressive slab of worktop, but the fridge is a bit of a disappointment.

The caravan-style gas fire opposite boasts blown-air and gas/mains operation but it, seems a bit of an anomaly in a modern motorhome. Using a Combi boiler might have freed up space for a tall/slim fridge here.

The wardrobe is a reasonable size, as are the bunks, which could just about serve a couple of adults. Each has its own opening window, privacy curtain and reading light on a snake-like bendy lead. You can also fold the lower bed away (with the mattress still in situ) for more storage – reached through a 0.75m by 1.10m.

The washroom is bigger than you think. Open the door, and you see a room with a floor-to-ceiling mirror-fronted cupboard, a small basin and the latest C220 cassette loo. Hidden around the corner is a proper separate shower, complete with bifold door, corner rack, and a rail for hanging wet clothes.

That just leaves where mum and dad will sleep. If you can be bothered to make up a downstairs bed, then a large transverse double is possible. Alternatively, there’s the luton. Up top, there is that XL-sized skylight for ventilation but no reading lights and headroom decreases at the sides of the overcab.

That sums up this new Tribute. It’s a British take on a type of motorhome more associated with imported marques. Look at both options before you decide.

If you enjoyed this review, you can read the full version and more in the October 2016 issue of What Motorhome magazine. You can get a digital version of this latest issue of What Motorhome here.

A spacious lounge, a good kitchen and a surprisingly upmarket feel for the money.