AUTO-TRAIL
The range of rear lounge van conversions from Auto-Trail for 2021 is really quite bewildering, even more so if you include the closely related models that the Grimsby factory produces for other Trigano Group brands (Benimar, Chausson and Roller Team). The big news this year, though, is the entry-level Expedition, which has a remarkable starting price of just £36,995. Don’t buy used until you’ve had a look at one of these.
You might expect the Expedition to be as luxurious as a night in the Gulag but actually about the only thing it’s desperately denied is a radio. You can even choose from the 66 or, for a grand more, the 67, which gains rear travel seats.
The new Cab-Plus option with a full-height walk-through into the Fiat cab is not available on the Expedition but it’s a £595 option on the next range up – the V-Line S. Now, as well as 5.99m models with or without rear travel seats, there’s a longer 6.36m layout. A four-berth with rear double bunks is offered, too. Prices start at £45,556.
The V-Line SE (from £50,148) gets the CabPlus as standard, with the £1,495 option of adding the Panoview overcab sunroof. As well as long and extra-long Ducatos, this range includes the 5.41m medium-wheelbase van – an ideal size for those trading up from a VW.
Priced from £53,906, the V-Line Sport range offers four models in 5.99m and 6.36m lengths but, uniquely amongst major mainstream makers, it replaces the original barn doors at the back with a GRP moulded panel that includes an opening boot section. With no rear entrance, the lounge becomes a U-shape.
Finally, the Adventure range (from £57,309) offers a pair of pop-top four-berth models, each with a half-dinette with rear seatbelts as well as an end lounge.
If it’s an Auto-Trail coachbuilt with an end lounge that you’re after, there’s plenty of choice here, too. The F-Line F72 is an entry-level Ford Transit-based low-profile with side sofas up front (or a half-dinette as an option) and rear U-shaped seating. An electric drop-down bed is available over the front lounge and prices for this 7.32m ’van start at £48,285.
The Fiat-based Imala range includes the 6.34m-long, rear lounge, two-berth 625, as well as the longer 720 and 736, which each have two lounges, four berths and the option to become a six-berth. However, this line-up, sandwiched between the much newer F-Line and Tracker, is looking a bit dated.
If you want a pure two-berth model with a spacious rear U-shaped lounge, the Tracker RL (£62,995) is an all-new model this season. Then at the top of the tree, in the classic Frontier range, is the Scout. At over 8m long and built on a 4,500kg chassis, this luxury four/ six-berth model can be ordered with an overcab bed. It is priced from £78,544.