LEISUREDRIVE
This Bolton-based company has been building campervans for over 50 years, making it the longest running independent converter in Britain. Its conversions have European Whole Vehicle Type Approval and come with a twoyear warranty, while its vehicles have long been associated with great-value pricing.
Its most popular model is the Vivante (from £44,500). Honed over the last 25 years, this Volkswagen Transporter T6.1 campervan eschews the usual side kitchen format for a rear galley where you’ll also find a built- in cassette toilet and privacy screen. Rather than a compressor fridge, a three- way 60- litre absorption type is fitted, and the Vivante is as likely to be seen with a high- top ( Leisuredrive’s own) as with the company’s side- hinged elevating roof. Up front, the lounge area features lay- flat cab seats that combine with either two forward-facing seats or one travel seat and a side settee to convert into two single beds or one large double.
The newest addition to the Leisuredrive lineup, the high-top Zest, offers a similar rear kitchen and loo layout on the VW T6.1 Startline at the even lower price of £39,990. Then, there’s the Crusader, with its more conventional side galley floorplan and a choice of pop-top or high roof, from £41,995.
And Leisuredrive doesn’t just convert VWs. If you’d prefer the slightly more spacious interior of a Ford Transit Custom, check out the company’s side kitchen Calypso (from £39,990) and the ‘walk-through layout’ Occasion (£42,250) with rear kitchen and cassette toilet. The Fords are also offered in rising roof form or with the factory steel high roof. Finally, the Renoir conversion on the Renault Trafic has also been reintroduced.