Lifestyle Transit

Something all too familiar for owners of Ford Transits, Mercedes-Benz Sprinters and the many varieties of VW Kombi vans (possibly even more so to their campsite neighbours) is the familiar ‘whirr-clunk’ of the side sliding door as it is opened or shut – day and night.

Keith Pendreigh of Qld-based Lifestyle RVs, has done something about that particular problem. Quite simply, he has taken a conventional Ford Transit long wheelbase, high roof van and removed the side sliding door altogether. In its place Keith has inserted a fibreglass panel that is moulded to fill the gap and to accept a conventional Seitz door.

This might sound like vehicle butchery but in fact, it is a job that’s done very well. This bodywork change has two distinct advantages: the whirr-clunker is gone forever and removing the sliding door makes more effective use of the available interior space.

As a base vehicle, the Ford Transit van is an ideal motorhome conversion prospect. It’s a European-designed and built van, and has a 2.4 litre turbodiesel motor that performs very well.

The diesel actually comes in two variants: a more potent 101kW motor mated to a six-speed gearbox and a less powerful 92kW motor that comes with a five-speed ‘Smart Shift’ auto gearbox. The latter is what our review motorhome from Lifestyle came with and it’s sure to interest those drivers who prefer an automatic transmission.

I have to say, I found the dash-mounted push-button controls a little fiddly, but if you favour an auto, then the transmission changer certainly works well enough.

On the road the Transit, although a light commercial vehicle, is easy to drive and handles most road conditions without much difficulty. It is quite manoeuvrable and fits into most parking spaces. Large mirrors and good general all-round vision, often features of bigger vans, are certainly an asset.

Other external features include all-round tinted hopper windows (made possible on the nearside because of the removal of the sliding door – no door to take the window off), a Winegard antenna, a Fiamma awning and a gas compartment with a 4kg cylinder.

Comfortably compact

Inside the Lifestyle Transit, apart from the entry door, there are quite a few design features not often seen in the popular Ford. At the front, driver and passenger seats swivel around. The kitchen is split, with benches on both sides, the offside bathroom cubicle sits amidships and the double bed fits across the motorhome in the rear.

About the only disadvantage of not having the large sliding door is that the interior feels a little more confined than it usually might do. However, that is offset by having all the cabinet work finished in a light colour and the roof and walls lined in a light grey velour.

All the windows have curtains. Ventilation is provided by two Fiamma fan hatches – one above the kitchen area and the other above the bed. Roof-mounted air-conditioning is optional.

Setting up the Lifestyle takes only a few minutes. Driver and passenger seats are swivelled around – a little tricky on the driver’s side with the handbrake and steering wheel, but it can be done. A small table stored behind the driver’s seat sits on a single pole that can be easily fixed between the two seats. Any multiple-person banquets are going to have to be held outside under the awning.

What’s interesting about the kitchen setup is that there is a generous amount of benchtop space, indeed considerably more than I have seen in larger motorhomes. Behind the driver’s seat is a two-burner Cramer cooktop, sitting above a Waeco 110 litre fridge. Storage consists of two large drawers plus a floor locker. There’s also small shelf above, with halogen light below.

On the opposite side is the washing up section, with a square stainless steel sink, sans drainer. Although there is bench space, there is also a hinged flap – it butts into the air space at the non-doorway end of the bench, not the in the doorway itself as in many motorhomes.

Ceiling-mounted downlights illuminate the kitchen bench area very nicely. A cupboard, two drawers and a cutlery drawer make up the general storage under the bench, along with the essential-for-me microwave oven: an LG.

The moulded fibreglass bathroom has translucent laminated glass doors and comes with just a flexible hose shower and Thetford cassette toilet. There’s no vanity sink or cabinet but there is a wall mirror plus a roof vent.

Across the rear of the Transit, the 6ft 2in x 4ft 4in (1.9m x 1.3m) double bed has an innerspring mattress, which sits at window ledge level.

It’s worth pointing out that the kitchen bench does not butt right up against the bed, thus making it easier to get in and out of, especially if you happen to be the person sleeping right at the rear.

Good ventilation is assured with large hopper windows on both sides and presumably if you feel safe and have a large enough flyscreen, the rear doors can be opened as well. Two halogen reading lights are mounted on the offside and there’s also a ceiling downlight above the bed.

Above the rear doors and reachable only by kneeling on the bed, are two overhead lockers; it’s nice to see metal struts being used, rather than plastic ones which, we suspect, only have a limited life.

Underneath the bed is a large storage area that is accessible from both inside the motorhome and outside, with the rear doors open. It’s certainly very good for handy access.

About halfway along the nearside wall and mounted on a mobile arm sits a flatscreen TV, which can be rotated to be seen from either the bed or the swivel seats at the front.

The powerpoint for the TV can also be used for appliances on the nearside kitchen bench. Powerpoints are also supplied for the offside kitchen bench and there is also one above the entry door, which means that something like a laptop can be used when sitting in the front seats.

The bottom line

The Lifestyle Transit is a very interesting variant of the more conventional sliding door model. The smaller, standard RV door adds to the versatility of the motorhome layout and this is a very well appointed design.

An option on this model is to have two single beds but the double bed is at a reasonable height and not difficult to get in and out of. It’s good to see that full use has been made of the driver’s cab with both seats swivelling around, and there is a fair amount of storage space throughout the motorhome.

Although a Transit-based motorhome may not be seen by some as particularly big, the Lifestyle unit offers a high level of appointment and is of a size that is going to give comfortable and easy driving for one or two occupants.

We liked:

Screen door conversion in place of sliding door

Swivelling driver and passenger seats — a very effective use of space in a relatively small motorhome

Good kitchen bench area

We would have liked:

A grill in tandem with, or separate from, the cooktop