On Test Hymer C-Class 542CL on MWB 2.2-litre Ford … historic road... · Err, no. When we picked up ... Citroen and Fiat in their vans) is remarkably smooth, revs freely when run-in

On Test Hymer C-Class 542CL on MWB 2.2-litre Ford Transit

138 I SEPTEMBER 2007 MOTORCARAVAN MOTORHOME MONTHLY

A COLOURFUL FUTURE?Ford’s latest Transit hosts one of the most popular family-friendly overcab layouts


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MOTORCARAVAN MOTORHOME MONTHLY SEPTEMBER 2007 I 139

Live-in Test report▲

Words & picturesby Andy Stothert


With the coming of the new Fiat chassis during the last year, Hymer, like all the other manufacturers, has grasped the

opportunity to completely overhaul its range of motorhomes and make some radical changes. While Fiat developed a completely new vehicle (and put up its prices) Ford has done some major remedial work on its ageing Transit, and it’s now also price competitive with the upstart from Italy. The result seems to be an increase in the number of new models underpinned by the Ford, and at reasonable prices too. Indeed, Hymer’s least expensive models are now all Ford-based and start at £31,495 for either a low profile or overcab coachbuilt motorhome.

The model tested here, the C-Class 542CL, starts at a bargain (for a Hymer) £32,295, but as per many other marvels of German engineering, the starting price sometimes bears little resemblance to the real world cost, and this one, as tested and not that over-festooned with luxurious extras, will set you back a total £36,669 on the road.

The 542CL carries a classic family layout, which Hymer has championed from its very beginnings, consisting of a big overcab bed, dinette with opposing sofa in the centre, whilst all the greasy and wet bits sit in the back along with the entrance door. If it ain’t bust, don’t fix it is the maxim here.

The Transit this lot sits on is the 3.5-tonne front-wheel drive platform cab with the new 2.2-litre 130 horsepower engine shifting it along. This model is shown in the brochure as having, as standard, the 110PS engine, but Hymer UK will not be importing the less powerful variant.

Compared to the outgoing overcab model the new Hymers are much shapelier, with a fully moulded overcab pod, and rounded, almost seamless joints throughout.

ELECTRIC BLUE?What you can’t help but notice, before everything else, is the rather dramatic and contrasting colour scheme of the exterior. This is well before you spot the rounded glossy overcab mouldings and the smooth, curved edges on all the body joints. Even the bright and nicely integrated silver skirts and bumpers go unnoticed as your helpless optics are sucked into the contrast between the dark

1 The Ford cab. The ‘wood’ trim looks OK in here, while

this cab is a model of ergonomic perfection

blue cab and bright white body. Whatever happened to that famously dull

German approach to colour matching? I suspect that opinions about the

cosmetics applied by Hymer to this truck will be as contrasting as the colour scheme, and all I can offer in its defence (I’m in the ‘hate it’ camp) is that it could’ve been worse – it could have been red and white, which thankfully isn’t an option. If this deep lustrous blue isn’t to your tastes then Hymer offers alternatives of red and silver (definitely for exhibitionists), or silver all-over (very nice), but it wants more of your ill-gottens for the privilege. I reckon Hymer has made it this ‘orrible looking just so we’ll all fork out the extra cash for the silver one. Then again, I could just be boring and grumpy.

RED HOT PERFORMANCE? Err, no. When we picked up the blue and white beast it had just four miles on the clock, felt really tight, and there was no way that I was going to take the whip to all of its 130 horses until quite a few more miles had been covered. So 200 miles later and it felt much livelier, but still not giving its all, considering the Hymer’s modest size and weight. Another few miles may very well make a difference to this particular engine, but I don’t think you’re ever going to accidentally burn rubber with this Transit. However, the new 2.2-litre engine (built by Ford, but also used by Peugeot, Citroen and Fiat in their vans) is remarkably smooth, revs freely when run-in (previous experience of a higher mileage van) and seems to find enough torque whenever it’s needed.

Except for a bit of cold-start rattling, this silky engine is no relation whatsoever to anything derv-burning which Ford has installed in the Transit previously. I probably would’ve been much more impressed with the Transit had I not been chugging about in the MMM’s long-term test 3.0-litre Fiat-powered Chausson for a month before, and jumping out of the Fiat straight into the Ford left me a little underwhelmed. The Ford cab is also a darker place to be, with a black (and mock-wood) dash, smaller windscreen, and cab side window blinds exaggerating the smaller internal dimensions. We had differing opinions about the

■ PRICE FROM: £32,295 OTR■ BERTHS: 4/5■ BASE VEHICLE: MWB 2.2-litre Ford Transit ■ LAYOUT: Overcab double bed, central dinette, lengthways sofa, rear kitchen and washroom■ ECONOMY: 26mpg overall

AT A GLANCE

Hymer at Haigh Hall

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cab seats, with my good-but-small companion finding the lower, slightly softer Ford items more comfortable than the lofty, rock hard Fiat seats, while my suspect spine didn’t like them.

The Transit has its good points though, with an excellent ergonomic design of switches, controls, dials and general layout. When you get into an unfamiliar vehicle it can sometimes take quite a while to figure out where everything is and what works what, but in the Transit your first instincts are always right, and this surely makes it safer to drive?

The gearchange (you get ‘only’ five gears in here) is without doubt the best of all the current

2 Looking forwards from the entrance door, the big lift-up

worktop separates the kitchen from the lounge

3 You get a lot of everything with this layout in a

(relatively) small space - the sofa transforms the

dinette into a decent lounge area

4 The sofa was a touch too high for Marion, and for the old bad back man it

was definitely too tall, but it isn’t bad

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base vehicles, and is what may be described as pleasurably tactile (almost sensual), such is the precision of it, the way it falls to hand so naturally, and the oh-so-smooth finish.

The ride is relatively soft and some folk prefer this to the bone-jarring progress of the last model Fiat and its siblings, but part of the deal struck for that pliant ride is a tendency to roll about more on corners, and a rather unpleasant front-to-back pitching motion on uneven roads. I didn’t notice anything remarkable, good or bad, about the brakes and this means they must be just right. The clutch needs a few miles more to bed in I think (well hope) as it had a rough spot

halfway up the pedal travel. Travelling at 60mph on the motorway,

with the simple and effective cruise control engaged (part of the Chassis Comfort Pack), with just over 2000rpm showing on the rev counter, this is a pleasant vehicle in which to gobble up the trans-continental miles. However, at 70mph the effects of the bulbous body start to affect the dynamics with obviously much more effort (and thus fuel) required from the engine, and slightly less stable progress. Overall this new Transit, even loaded with something this tall, is easy enough to drive and makes for very civilised travel.

I LIKED■ Good ergonomics and controls of the

Ford cab■ Comfortable ride■ Build quality of the Transit■ Layout generally■ Comfortable upper bed■ Good lounging provision■ Big firm dining table■ Storage potential ■ Bathroom layout

I WOULD HAVE LIKED ■ Another upholstery option in test

vehicle■ Silver body and cab colour (optional)

I DISLIKED ■ Lack of grill, oven and drainer■ Those bathroom mirrors



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Live-in Test report

CLOCKWORK ORANGE If you think that someone went bonkers (or colour blind) at Hymer before coming up with the exterior colour management plan, then just wait until you take a quick butcher’s inside.

It’ll be a weird, young, or former hippy, type of person who doesn’t run off screaming - never to enter a motorcaravan ever again. I found this bright orange interior slightly alarming, whereas the boss came up with ‘warm, very warm’. Even while sleeping in it, in the pitch dark, I could feel the presence of the orange trying to send me back to the late Sixties. Do we really want orange kitchens and purple bedrooms again? Not me, and I’d pick one of Hymer’s more restful options than this eruption orange. They call it Vesuv, presumably after the volcano in Naples Bay.

This is the ‘lounge’ section by the way, just in case you’ve got the impression that these are the notes for my next appointment with the decorator or doctor. The lounge is actually very acceptable, despite the colour, with a full-size dinette on the offside, and a long sofa facing it across the corridor. The seat height, as usual, is a touch too lofty, but not nearly as tall as some. The large dining table is also completely, utterly (and unusually) removable too, so this lounge feels as big as it is. The only fly in the orange ointment is that the cab seats don’t swivel, but with this layout there isn’t a lot to gain.

We couldn’t decide how many berths the 542 is meant to have: there are three-point seatbelts for five bodies, plus a lap belt for a sixth, whilst sleeping opportunities seem adequate for five (two upstairs, two in the dinette and one on the sofa), dining space for five - but Hymer say there are only four berths? Make your own minds up – it’s flexible - and the payload is just over 600kg.

Lighting in the lounge is more than adequate, with four spotlights in the corners and four more halogen lights in the ceiling around the rooflight. The rooflight, by the way, is part of one of the option packs and I asked the helpful folk at Hymer what would happen about the upper lighting if the rooflight wasn’t specified. ‘No, no’ they said ‘you haven’t quite got this right – it’s an option, but there won’t be any available without it’. Obviously my grasp of the language is inadequate, or the word ‘option’ has a different meaning when translated into German. The truth is that Hymer UK has to pre-order all its allocation of vehicles at the beginning of the year, so it has to make an informed judgement on what will suit the market here, and buy them as ordered months before. This makes production much more cost-effective and efficient, but leaves the customer without the option of not having the options if none have been ordered without.

Is all that perfectly clear?

SILVER LADY The kitchen will seem a missed opportunity to some (basically those who want to cook) or perfectly acceptable to others. They will be the ones who eat out, or survive on muesli and fruit. In typical Teutonic fashion there is neither grill nor oven in this kitchen, but it appears on the options list for another £438. If specified, the positioning of the after-fit (and afterthought) grill/oven unit is a bit suspect (floor level) but better that than up near the ceiling where so many seem to end up. The other thing about the grill/oven is that this particular Smev unit isn’t the best thing since sliced bread (if you want to toast it).

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All of this is a real shame because this layout has the potential to provide a superb motorhome kitchen. The hob fitted is a stainless steel three-burner circular Smev unit, and while it is alright-ish, three full-sized pans don’t fit comfortably. The smart-looking, matching stainless steel circular sink isn’t fitted with a drainer and there isn’t really that much room on the surrounding work surface to use a loose tray either, so overall the kitchen doesn’t quite hit the mark.

There can be no complaints about the cutlery drawer, or the Thetford fridge, and

food storage space in the kitchen is mostly well planned and executed. The big slab of fold-up worktop behind (or in front depending on where you’re looking from) the kitchen will prove invaluable, and we initially liked the idea of the big cupboard under it being totally accessible through the top rather than doors. However, in use it proved impractical as a food storage area because once food preparation had commenced on the worktop, access to the cupboard below wasn’t possible: it could do with a door on the side too. The kitchen is a series of ‘if onlys’ and ‘buts,’ and serious cooks,




or even silly ones like us, may be best looking elsewhere for their motorised accommodation.

GETTING YOUR GREENSDining arrangements are excellent in and around the dinette for two, four, or at a push, five. The table is at the right height in relation to the seating, and it is rock steady: the usual ten out of ten to a Teutonic table.

BLINDED BY THE WHITE The washroom is in the rear nearside corner and it’s a pleasant, airy spacious place for the ablutional processes. Hymer always manages to make its bathrooms feel bright and light

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without the aid of a window and this is usually achieved by the fitting of a big, clear plastic rooflight. This one has only the more usual five-way roof-vent to provide daylight, but it still does the job admirably. It’s probably the acres of white plastic in here that make it so bright, but the provision of a wood-effect cupboard, splash-back and floor covering do enough to break up the vast expanse of whiteness.

The separate shower has effective folding doors and, even though the ‘standard’ model comes with a curtain, it’s another case of Hymer not being able to supply such a thing to the UK market (the doors are part of the CL Comfort Pack).

The smallish washbasin is well placed for active ablutioners, and the toilet has ample floor space around it to be comfortable, no matter what your style, technique, or gender. It is, though, a touch too high according to the experts in these matters.

Again, as ever, what I really (really) hate about Hymer bathrooms are those enormous mirrors surrounding the throne. Not only do they make taking photos of the small room almost impossible (the scruffy old git holding the camera ends up in the photo) but anything else you end up holding while doing whatever it is that chaps do standing in front of the toilet can’t be optically avoided. My boss, however,

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Live-in Test report

says she can’t see what all the fuss is about, and I’m not sure how to take this.

DEEP PURPLE DREAMS When you look at the photos in these tests - of healthy food being consumed by sensible, slim, normal-looking folk, or a pert little woman poking out of a sleeping bag from all the beds in the motorhome (etc, etc) -what you must never believe is that this is the real world, or that these things actually happened. This is magazine

5 The kitchen is this Hymer’s weakest area. Nice to look at, but don’t look too closely

6 The downstairs bed is, for a dinette, very good, but it still can’t match the one upstairs for space, comfort, and instant availability

7 Food time. There is plenty of room for a family of four to dine here, the table is rock steady and at the right height

8 The light, spacious and airy washroom. Nothing fancy, but it all worked well

9 The upstairs bed is the place to kip, given the alternatives

world - where we clear the fruit and muesli off the table (I really must get some plastic bananas) when the photo is done - then

consume the fish and chips we’ve just bought from the chip van visiting the site. And so it is with beds. Do you really think that we were going to sleep, or attempt to sleep, on a bumpy wobbly difficult-to-make dinette bed when something so spacious and comfortable was calling to us from upstairs? And it has a proper mattress, which is white and not orange.

The dinette bed is, for the breed, perfectly all right, but like all the others is a bit of a palaver to make, has a few bumps in it, and

once made up it leaves the ladder to the upstairs bed out of action. The upstairs bed, on the other hand, is immediately available, spacious and extremely comfortable.

So if you see Marion apparently kipping in the dinette bed - well she didn’t, she’s fibbing – we slept upstairs. If you do decide that this is the motorhome of your dreams (they’ll all be of Chocolate Oranges driving Bond Bugs) and there are only two of you, and you’re nimble enough to get up the ladder (and down again in the middle of the night) then the very first thing you should do is consign the one-piece six-foot long plywood-backed dinette in-fill cushion to its new home in the garage. What a thing that is to move around, but at least it is a truly optional option.

BITS AND BATS Space and water heating are taken care of by the efficient Truma Combi and in the test vehicle it came equipped with the optional (and it really is optional) electric elements for both functions. We didn’t really get to test the heating thoroughly - due to global warming or a few nice warm sunny days (whichever explanation you prefer).

■ OVERALL LENGTH: 6.22m (20ft 5in)*

■ OVERALL WIDTH: 2.35 (7ft 8.5in)*

LAYOUT PLAN

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TYPE ■ Overcab coachbuilt PRICE ■ From: £32,295 OTR ■ As tested: £36,669 OTR BASICS ■ Vehicle: Ford Transit 350M medium

wheelbase platform cab■ Berths: 4/5 ■ Three-point belted seats: 5 (including

driver)■ Warranty: 2 years base vehicle and

conversion, 6 years water ingress CONSTRUCTION Sandwich construction alloy-clad coachbuilt with GRP/ABS mouldings to roof, overcab pod and lower skirts. Caravan entrance door at rear UK offside DIMENSIONS (*manufacturer’s figures) ■ Length: 6.22m (20ft 5in)* ■ Width: 2.35 (7ft 8.5in)* ■ Height: 2.97m (9ft 9in)* ■ Wheelbase: 3.30m (10ft 10in) ■ Rear overhang: 2.00m (6ft 7in) ■ Maximum authorised weight: 3500kg* ■ Payload: 620kg* (after 75kg for driver, full

fuel, fresh water, gas) INSIDE STORY Overcab double bed with cutaway cab roof, offside Pullman dinette, nearside longitudinal sofa, rear nearside corner washroom, rear offside kitchen ■ Insulation: Floor 46mm, walls 35mm, roof

35mm ■ Interior height: 1.97m (6ft 5.5in) THE VEHICLE ■ Engine: 2.2-litre turbo-diesel producing 96

kW (129bhp) ■ Transmission: Five-speed manual gearbox,

front-wheel drive ■ Fuel consumption: 26mpg overall ■ Brakes: Servo-assisted discs all round ■ Suspension: Front: independent with anti-

roll bar. Rear: beam axle with leaf springs and anti-roll bar

■ Features: ABS, traction control, power steering, cruise control, cab air-conditioning, electric mirrors and windows, adjustable-height driver and passenger seats, driver and

passenger airbags, radio/CD/MP3 player LOUNGING & DINING Dinette for four, sofa opposite for three/four, removable wall-hung dining table with fully-folding leg KITCHEN Rear offside location with cupboards beneath and above main appliances with further storage and work surface immediately forward of main kitchen area ■ Sink: Stainless steel circular unit with

monobloc mixer tap. No drainer ■ Cooker: Smev circular stainless steel three-

burner hob with electronic ignition ■ Fridge: Thetford N100 three-way. Capacity

97 litres WASHROOM Thetford electric-flush swivel-bowl cassette toilet, plastic washbasin with mixer tap, cupboard below washbasin, five-way roof vent, separate shower with folding doors, mixer tap with shower head on adjustable rail BEDS Overcab double ■ Length: 2.03m (6ft 8in) ■ Width: 1.40m (4ft 7in) max ■ Headroom: 660mm (2ft 2in) max Dinette Double ■ Length: 1.95m (6ft 5in) ■ Width: 1.22m (4ft 0in) Sofa single ■ Length: 1.82m (5ft 11.5in) ■ Width: 660mm (2ft 2in) STORAGE ■ Overhead lockers: Four on offside above dinette, three on nearside above sofa plus TV locker. Jacket-length wardrobe, underseat lockers in rear dinette seat and sofa, externally accessed, full-width locker under floor at rear with doors to both sides LIFE SUPPORT ■ Fresh water: Inboard. Capacity 120 litres (26.4

gallons) ■ Waste water: Underslung. Capacity 100

litres (22 gallons) ■ Water heater: Truma Combi C6002EH,

gas-mains operation■ Space heater: Truma Combi C6002EH with

blown-air, gas-mains operation■ Leisure battery: 80 amp hr ■ Gas capacity: 2 x 11kg cylinders ■ Lighting: Overcab bed: two halogen

spots; lounge/dinette: four stalk-mounted halogen spots and four roof-mounted halogen downlighters; kitchen: four-halogen unit above sink and cooker; halogen downlighter adjacent to exterior door; outside: filament-type awning light; washroom: two halogen downlighters; wardrobe: filament-type unit activated by door switch

■ Sockets: 230V: three (one in kitchen, one in TV locker, one in washroom); 12V: one (in TV locker)

■ Control panel: Mounted above caravan door with fully-graduated gauge for battery and water levels

■ Blinds/curtains: Cassette blinds and flyscreens to all caravan windows and vents, flyscreen to caravan door, cassette-type blinds to cab windows

■ Badged as NCC EN1646 compliant: No OPTIONAL EXTRAS Fitted to test vehicle: ■ Base: Chassis Pack - cab air-conditioning, tinted windows, electric mirrors and windows, driver and passenger airbags, cruise control, wood dash trim (£1500)■ Conversion: CL Comfort Pack - additional

overcab window, Hymer panoramic rooflight, awning light, folding shower door, cab blinds, flyscreen for caravan door, electric entrance step, additional rear speakers (£1300), lift-up overcab bed (£464), carpets in cab and living space (£67 and £156), additional dinette bed cushion for double berth (£119), 230V elements for space and water heating (£386), cab seat upholstery (£230), TV turntable (£152)

Other options:An extensive list of further options is offered. This includes oven/grill (£438), driver’s seat swivel (£115), bike racks (from £204), awnings, satellite dishes, TVs, additional sockets. Please contact Hymer UK for full details

E&OE

LIVE-IN TEST DATA HYMER C-CLASS 542CL

10 The top-access locker in the kitchen is good for tall items, but get all you need out before you start to use

its worktop lid

11 The well-designed gas locker makes getting at

cylinders easy

12 Overhead lockers. Hymer, it seems, hasn’t noticed the

advent of flat screen TVs. Can you actually still get a

telly to fit this cupboard?

13 The door on the left of the step accesses a full-width

underfloor locker. It is all very nicely made and sealed

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Live-in Test report

WE STAYED ATMeathop Fell Caravan Club Site, Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria. (tel: 01539 532912; web site: www.caravanclub.co.uk.) Thanks also to Haigh Hall Country Park, near Wigan, for the photo location

VEHICLE SUPPLIED BYHymer UK, Blackpool Road, Clifton, Preston, Lancashire (tel: 08456 034828; web site: www.hymeruk.com)

As ever, Hymer has provided ample storage provision for the skis (did they not consider global warming?) and windbreaks by providing a full-width underfloor locker, and a well-designed gas locker, which will hold two 11kg cylinders. Eagle-eyed readers may spot that the test vehicle had a 13kg cylinder shoehorned-in, but this was not a happy union.

The upper bed ladder is Velcro-ed rather neatly under the bed, which is held in the ‘up’ position by gas struts (again the lift up-bed is another - may or may not be optional – option). What you must not do is travel with the bed in the raised position as the ladder, though secure, makes one hell of a racket until the bed is dropped down onto it.

Strangely (for a Hymer) we found quite a few instances of rough edges on rather crudely sawn timber in the hidden corners of this ‘van (underseat lockers and the tops of

the upper lockers), which contrasted markedly with a very tidy underside.

SINGING THE BLUESColour coordination apart, which is after all a purely subjective matter, and I was actually getting use to it, this ‘cheap’ Hymer is mainly well built and comes with a practical layout.

We were a bit disappointed with the kitchen as the failings of German galleys seemed to have been a thing of the past, but this one goes straight back to the no grill, oven, or drainer variety, all in one swoop.

The latest Ford isn’t bad, but Fiat has ripped up the goalposts and taken them home with it in the back of its new truck, leaving this Transit feeling a bit sloppy in comparison.

And then there are those mirrors in the bathroom.

The biggest quandary, though, is whether

the reputation of Hymer justifies the cost when compared to many more culinary-talented domestic products at a similar (or lesser) cost, or the cheap (and remarkably similar) imports from Italy?

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Documents

On Test Hymer C-Class 542CL on MWB 2.2-litre Ford … historic road... · Err, no. When we picked up ... Citroen and Fiat in their vans) is remarkably smooth, revs freely when run-in