Swift Bessacarr

The UK's Swift Group is a big player in the UK/European motorhome market, with motorhomes sold under the Swift, Bessacarr, Escape and Autocruise brands as well as caravans sold under the Swift banner.

With three Yorkshire production facilities, Swift holds a 21 per cent stake in the UK motorhome market and turnover exceeds £200 million annually ($393 million).

While the company has been in business since 1964, it’s a relatively new entrant to the Australian RV scene, officially setting up shop here in 2012.

Here we’re looking at the Bessacarr 494, a 25ft C Class motorhome based on the Fiat Ducato cab-chassis.

EASY DRIVER

Driving away in the Bessacarr, the rig doesn’t feel too ponderous and the Ducato 3.0-litre turbo-diesel is nicely responsive in the mid-range.

The automated manual transmission is slow to change gears in auto mode — using manual mode and lifting off the accelerator during shifts helps speed things up. It’s not an ideal transmission for the regular gearshifts required around town, but on the open road you don’t need to shift as much and so in a motorhome is not a deal-breaker.

The Ducato’s seats are comfortable and offer plenty of adjustment, and there are no issues with the simple controls. Fiat provides plenty of stowage up front for drink bottles and so on, too.

The Bessacarr has one storage locker on the nearside rear, accessed via a locking fold-down hatch. The storage space is not large — you won’t fit a gennie in here — but it’s also accessible from inside by lifting the bed base.

There’s also a lockable hatch just ahead of the access door for two 9kg gas bottles and a Thule 4900 4.5 awning with single LED coachlight sitting just below it.

Then on the offside you’ve got the access hatch for the Thetford toilet cassette and inlets for town power and water.

TWIN ACCESS

You can step into the living area through the wide corridor between the front seats or the side door just forward of mid-point along the 494’s nearside flank.   The door is set low so there’s no need for a folding step — you have one step up inside to get to floor level.

The Bessacarr’s neat trick is the side door being integrated into the Fiat’s central locking fob with its own dedicated lock/unlock button (as well as having a key lock).

On opening the gas-strut assisted door, you’ll see its moulded plastic internal cover that incorporates a window blind and a lidded tub, perfect for use as a garbage bin. There’s no screened door or window here, unfortunately.

Above the door inside there’s the water and electrics control panel. A graphic representation of the motorhome (as well as labelling) makes it simple to get what you want turned on or off.

The layout is warm and while the woodgrain-look laminated panelling is traditional it goes well with the dark brown/beige soft furnishings and off-white walls and ceilings.

The front living area is well lit with a large over-cab polycarbonate hatch (which has a slide-over mesh screen or blind) and a Seitz C8 flush-fitting hopper window on each side, both screened and meshed also.

There’s seating for six here when the captain’s chairs are swivelled, with a two-seater bench on the nearside facing in and an offside bench facing forward.

The table, clipped into the wall on the offside and supported by a single leg on the opposite side, is a good height and there’s good leg room under the table when sitting at the forward-facing bench. This bench is also fitted with lap-sash seat belts for two.

Storage is covered off with lockers high up on both the near- and offside, and open cubbies ahead of them. There’s a small amount of storage under the nearside bench, with most of the space eaten up by the housing for the gas bottle compartment.

LOUNGE/BED CONVERSION

The lounges convert to a 1.85m x 1.33m (6ft 1in x 4ift 4in) double bed easily, with the table serving as part of the bed base. It unclips from the table-height rail and clips into the lower, bed rail.

For bed-base duties, the table also has a shorter support leg that you fold down and lock into position when you’re folding in the table-height support leg. A curtain on a ceiling-mounted track slides across to give more privacy up front.

On towards the mid-section of the layout and you’re presented with the kitchen on the nearside wall. While it’s quite a compact space, there’s a surprising amount of useable bench space, and there’s a window here to improve ventilation when cooking (together with the fan-assisted hatch above corridor) and a neat, easy-to-clean grey glass splashback.

To the right of the single-basin stainless steel sink with single mixer tap, there’s a fold-out bench section that goes across the door entry and locks into position with two hinge locks.

The cooktop, grille and oven and fridge are easy to get to, but the corridor is a bit narrow and there’ll be some negotiating between couples wanting to work at the kitchen while the other wants to get to the rear bedroom.

There isn’t a lot of storage space at the kitchen, with two small lockers at the ceiling (with the microwave fitted between them) and one drawer and a couple of cupboards below the bench.

Across the corridor is the bathroom, which you get to through an outward opening door. Here there’s quite a reasonable space, with a cassette toilet at the forward part of the bathroom, then the washbasin and then towards the back an enclosed separate shower with curtain.

A screened hatch sits above the main area of the bathroom, and lighting is covered off with two LEDs in the shower enclosure and two downlights in the bulkhead above the toilet and basin.

The shower has a height- adjustable mixer rose and a neat step-up to place your feet when showering (but really to accommodate the rear wheel arch).

COSY BED SECTION

The rear bedroom has a east-west double bed butting up against the nearside wall. While a tasteful fabric mural adorns the rear wall, above the bed on the nearside there’s just a grey panel.

There’s only one small hopper window in the bedroom, on the offside, but there’s a large ceiling hatch above the bed that lets in a lot of light and plenty of LED downlights and two reading lights.

Getting around the bed is all but impossible when the added bolster is fitted at the bedhead to give the bed its full length. Walk-around room is tight at the rear side of the bed, too — with or without the bed extension of course.

There’s a good amount of storage in the bedroom, with two drawers on the forward side of the bed (and small locker below) and a hanging wardrobe space above.

You’d probably end up using some of these drawers for kitchen condiments, given the lack of storage space in the kitchen proper.

There’s also a narrow hanging cupboard on the rear side of the bed and a narrow two-tiered cupboard below.

Bedside table space is very small, but at the foot of the bed on the forward side of the bedroom there’s a generous bench space, along with a large mirror, cupboard space and shelving space below.

This corner also accommodates the TV bracket and aerial jack and 240v power outlet.

There’s also a small three-tier shelf in the rear offside corner, while under the gas strut assisted bed base there’s more storage space -- mostly taken up by the ducted heating system, so you won’t be packing much in here.

Capping off storage options in the bedroom are two overhead lockers above the bedhead.

VERDICT

This is a well-laid, generally well-featured and well-made motorhome.

We particularly liked the well thought-out bathroom space and quick to set-up front bed and being a bit lighter overall than most Aussie motorhomes, should mean a saving on fuel costs.

WE LIKED:
>> Quality of fit and finish
>> Quick to set-up front bed
>> Bathroom space

NOT SO MUCH:
>> Kitchen storage could be better
>> Bed tight on walk-around space
>> No storage options for large gear like a gennie

SWIFT BESSACARR 494

Base vehicle: Fiat Ducato 180 Multijet
Tare weight: 3200kg
GVM: 3700kg
Licence: Car
Occupants: Four
Engine: 3.0-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel
Power: 130kW/400Nm
Transmission: Six-speed automated manual
Brakes: ABS discs with ESP
Travel length: 7750mm (25ft 5in)
External body width: 2340mm (7ft 7in)
Travel height: 2760mm (9ft 1in)
Interior height: 1965mm (6ft 4in)
Rear bed size: 2000mm x 1320mm
Cooktop: Thetford Aspire 2, 3 gas/1 electric burner
Fridge: Dometic 105-litre fridge/freezer
Microwave: Built-in with digital controls
Lighting: 12V LED
Batteries: 1 x 100A/h deep-cycle
Air-conditioner: n/a
Toilet: Thetford cassette
Shower: Separate cubicle
Hot water/air heater: Truma Combi 6 gas/electric 23L
Fresh water: 90 litres
Grey water: 68 litres
Gas cylinders 2 x 9kg
Price (drive-away, NSW): $166,900
Supplied by: Sydney RV Group, Penrith NSW
More info: Swiftrv.com.au