Family coachbuilt

Bailey Adamo 75-4DL

WHEN there are more than two of you regularly travelling in a motorhome, it’s not hard to see the appeal of a layout with two separate seating areas. Families can spread out, which might be especially important as your kids get older and need their own space. However, most twin lounge layouts (especially those at the more affordable end of the market) struggle to offer the sort of kitswallowing storage capacity that a family will need for anything much longer than a weekend away. What you really want is a garage as well.

And now you can have a full-sized garage and two comfortable lounges in one motorhome that not only has a sensible price tag, but comes with all the standard equipment you’ll want included, too. It comes in Bailey’s new Adamo range, of which the 75-4DL is the pick of the pack.

It’s not the first motorhome to match a rear lounge with a garage, but it does so with aplomb. For a start, this is a proper garage, not just a useful extra external locker. There’s a full-height door on the nearside that opens onto full-width storage measuring 1.03m high and 0.55m wide.

On the offside there’s a second, smaller loading door, while the nearside opening also gives access to shelved space above the garage. Anchorage points, lights, 12V and 230V sockets and even drain holes show that the space has been designed to be really used.

Then, inside the motorhome, the inclusion of the garage makes a real difference to the feeling of the rear lounge. It’s still a U-shaped seating area with windows on three sides, but there’s also a wardrobe in the offside corner, a shelved locker (also accessible from outside) on the nearside, and a huge – and hugely useful – shelf between.

The wardrobe is great for shirts, etc, while the area under the back window is perfect for drinks, especially as there’s no table here. The corner cabinets mean you don’t quite get allround vistas, as in a more conventional end lounge, but the space here feels more cosy, more private. We really like it.

The side settees aren’t especially long (at 1.29m), but there’s still plenty of room to stretch out. Lighting is generous, too, with downlighters set into the bed base above and reading lights

featuring built-in USBs. It’s a great chill zone.

The rear of the DL (double lounge) layout might also be the parental escape space, while the larger front seating area is taken over by the kids. Here, the cab seats rotate easily and the twin side settees (longer on the offside) are the popular format right now because they create a more open and spacious interior. There’s room for five around the heightadjustable table, too.

The table is a permanent fixture and, whilst it’s a useful size when folded, it becomes massive – 1.06m by 0.82m – when unfolded. Great for when the Monopoly board comes out.

That table forms no part of the night-time arrangements. If the thought of turning seats into beds every night puts you off many of the Adamo’s rivals, then this Bailey has another ace to play – sleeping for four with nothing more strenuous involved than pressing a button, or three.

First job, up front, is to lower the table (electrically, of course). Then, you simply remove the armrest cushions and the drop-down bed whirrs down to seat level, with the settee backrests still in situ. The mattress stops just 730mm off the floor and, although the dimensions of 1.85m by 1.32m don’t look especially generous, there’s room for pillows to rest on top of the backrests that poke up at the head of the bed, so usable bed length is a good deal more generous. Reading lights and even little corner shelves for your specs or a nighttime drink show careful attention to detail and the concertina blinds are another plus.

Then, over the rear lounge, a second (similarly sized) drop-down bed lowers to the same low level for easy access. Like the front bed, it proved exceptionally comfortable on our road test and this one has a privacy curtain, too.

It’s also worth noting that the habitation door is still usable with the front bed lowered, although it’s a bit of a squeeze, and the kitchen and washroom are completely unobstructed.

Of course, a family-sized motorhome needs at least four belted travel seats as well as space for everyone to snooze and, while settees that turn into forward-facing travel seats via a sort

of motorhoming origami are not new, here the Bailey comes up trumps once again. For a start there’s enough legroom for lanky teenagers but, more importantly, Bailey has put the Adamo through a stringent crash-testing regime, just like it did when it launched the first Autograph models. Substantial steel seat frames are a result (wooden seat boxes, as seen in some rivals, can collapse in a crash) and other details have been addressed, too, such as beefing up the TV mounting so that the telly does not become a missile in a crash! If you’re buying a motorhome for family holidays, this attention to safety could be one of the biggest reasons of all to buy a Bailey.

This newcomer’s appeal continues with a kitchen capable of creating meals to fill a growing family. There’s a full cooker (three gas rings, mains hotplate, separate grill and oven), a decent amount of worktop and a 142-litre fridge with the convenience of automatic energy selection, while a microwave is a dealerfit option.

The Adamo also adopts Bailey’s usual oneprice, one-spec philosophy, so there are no Driver, Comfort or Lux packs to add. As standard, you get automatic lights and wipers, cruise control, cab air-conditioning, front fog lamps, driver and passenger airbags and electric/ heated mirrors, a radio with Bluetooth and a reversing camera. More surprisingly, the Adamo gets Ford’s 158bhp (160PS) power unit with a potent 405Nm of torque. That’s more than Fiat’s 160bhp unit and it comes mated to the Transit’s six-speed automatic gearbox as standard.

There’s an overcab sunroof, too, and the habitation door is linked to the remote central locking. Hot water and space heating come from the popular gas/electric Truma Combi 4, while it’s worth noting that the Adamo’s considerable equipment tally also includes a TV aerial, an 80W solar panel and 100-litre capacities for both fresh and waste water. The former is inboard for winterisation and, of course, the Adamo meets the Grade III standard for insulation. All in all, this new Bailey is quite a formidable package for families looking to start their motorhoming adventures.