Mini Review: Rivenlee Nirvana

AHEAD OF THE FIELD

Peter and Lee Jakins, owners of Rivenlee Horse Floats, had been in the horse float building business for about 10 years servicing the 'top half' of the market (as Peter described it), and have decided to include motorhomes into their repertoire.

Horse floats - the luxury kind built on truck cab chassis or, in some cases, fifth wheelers - are designed to provide lodging for horses in the rear and owners at the front. Remove the horse accommodation area and you're left with plenty of people space.

The first motorhome off the line was their Nirvana. Built on a Mercedes Benz Atego cab chassis, at 38ft (11.6m), it isn't small. It is powered by a 175kW/235hp turbodiesel engine that drives through a six-speed automated manual transmission (a manual gearbox is available) and the vehicle requires a Medium Rigid driver's licence. The driver's cab is a four-seater, and two of the dinette seats in the rear have seat belts as well.

When designing the Nirvana, Peter left most of the Atego cab intact, departing from the more B and C class designs and cutting a walkway through to the rear. To provide 38ft (11.6m) of motorhome, the original Mercedes chassis was extended. The cab has a streamlined moulding fitted to the roof, and the top of the motorhome itself is raised at either end (not flat), thus giving an area where the air-conditioners and solar panels could sit below the roofline.

Two slide-outs are built into the offside, one for the general living area and the other for the rear bedroom.

There is plenty of external bin storage. Some of the nearside bins are occupied by the slide-out barbecue, 5kVA generator and a 450Ah battery bank. This Nirvana had a very striking metallic blue and grey colour scheme. Inside, the teal blue palette was eye catching to say the least.

With the slide-outs open, the interior of the Nirvana is very spacious. It's designed with a front living, dining and kitchen area, amidships bathroom and a rear bedroom. The front living area has a leather lounge, a dinette in the slide-out, and a kitchen bench along the nearside. The slide-out has windows all around (including the side walls), which together with the remote controlled roof hatch, provide plenty of natural light.

The kitchen bench is long and includes a Smev cooktop, grill and oven, Dometic three-way 224L fridge, and a Panasonic microwave. A flascreen TV is fitted into the top kitchen cupboards.

Located between the living area and rear bedroom, the bathroom is no shoe box. It is fitted with a separate shower cubicle, separate toilet with Dometic VacuFlush commode, and a neat wash basin and vanity. Also doubling as a laundry, one of the nearside cabinets has a front loading washing machine/dryer which is next to the electrical control cupboard.

At the rear, the main bedroom has the east-west queen-size bed fitted into the slide-out. There are no bedside cabinets, but we did note that the ceiling-mounted reading lights have easy-to-reach wall switches. Opposite, a small desk is located between two cupboards.

Also fitted in this area are the essential wall mirror and flatscreen TV. Adding to the side cupboards, the rear wall is fitted with wardrobe space.

What the Nirvana does with a high level of appointment and impressive list of options is add another dimension to the luxury end of the motorhome market.

Pics: Two slide-outs expand the Mercedes-Benz Atego's already spacious interior.