Best motorhome for innovation 2025

The vehicles we see are always surprising us with their latest features, but what exactly is the best motorhome for innovation? Well, we have judged them for the Practical Motorhome Awards 2025, and are revealing our pick of the new developments we have seen this season.

There’s no getting away from it – the best motorhomes are increasingly innovative nowadays. It seems the confines of space and the need to keep things lightweight have really concentrated their minds on creating the most innovative motorhomes. This includes solving issues you face when you are living on the road, such as how to cook effectively, or how to create a comfortable bed without making everything too cramped for daytime living.

In this guide, you’ll see models from some of the best motorhome brands in the industry, including Rapido, Adria and more. Sometimes we think the solutions they come up with could be taken into the world of conventional home and vehicle design without much adaptation at all.

This year’s winner is Auto-Trail’s Excel range – we’re impressed by how the brand has managed to add a pop-top roof as an optional extra, providing extra space which, in a compact ‘van, can make all the difference.

The best motorhome innovations are:

Shortlisted at the Practical Motorhome Awards 2025

Auto-Trail’s Excel range – with pop-up roofs
Fleurette’s Elister range
McLouis Fusion’s new look

Our top picks from recent years

Rapido C03
Chausson X650
Hymer Venture S
Knaus Tourer Van 500 MQ Vansation
Weinsberg X-Cursion Van 500 LT
Chausson S514 Sport Line
Chausson 711 Travel Line
Sun Living S70 SP

The best motorhome for innovation is:

Auto-Trail’s Excel range – with pop-up roofs

• Base vehicle: Fiat Ducato
• Price: £64,102-£68,206
• Berths: 2-3
• Belts: 2-4
• MTPLM: All 3500kg
• MIRO: 2755-2945kg
• Payload: 555-745kg
• Length: 6.20-6.90m
• Width: All 2.24m

Reason to buy:

• Loads more space and a proper upstairs in a low-profile

Reason to avoid:

• As a pop-top in a low-profile is so unusual, you might forget it’s there!

The best motorhome for innovation the Practical Motorhome Awards 2025

If you’ve been making your mind up between a campervan or motorhome, you’ll know all about pop-up roofs on campervans and van conversions. They are offered everywhere, either as standard or as an optional extra, and at the very least provide extra headroom, if not an additional double bed.

But getting such a structure on low-profile motorhomes, with its coachbuilt roof, is a much more challenging venture. So full marks to Auto-Trail for offering a pop-up roof this season as an optional extra on all of the models in its Excel range, launched last season. As the Excel is a compact range, having the extra room makes a lot of difference.

Auto-Trail has even designed it so that the ladder faces forwards rather than backwards. In particular, this makes getting down again facing the ladder (the safe way) much easier. And on the models we saw, the ladder doesn’t get in the way downstairs.

Fleurette’s Elister range

• Base vehicle: Mercedes Sprinter
• Price: £98,390-£98,890
• Berths: Both 4
• Belts: Both 3
• MPTLM: Both 3500kg
• MIRO: Both 3121kg
• Payload: Both 379kg
• Length: Both 7.30m
• Width: Both 2.30m

Reason to buy:

• A great way of bringing light in where it’s needed.

Reason to avoid:

• An extra window does of course mean an extra place where water could get in but that is a minor point.

Highly commended at the Practical Motorhome Awards 2025

Drop-down beds can sometimes feel a bit dingy once you are in them, especially if they don’t come with any additional lighting. You can feel as if you have been put away in a locker. French brand Fleurette’s new low-profile Elister range – its first ever range on a Mercedes Sprinter – not only has reading lights for its drop-down bed, but each of the two models in the range includes a small window up here. So whoever sleeps up there can have a full view of what is going on, and find out for themselves what the weather is like.

The non-opening window is also visible when you raise the bed up again into the ceiling. So it provides extra daylight in addition to the sunroof – a great bonus, given that the bed itself obscures the heki in the ceiling.

McLouis Fusion’s new look range

• Base vehicle: Fiat Ducato
• Price: £77,495-£79,495
• Berths: All 4
• Belts: 4-5
• MTPLM: All 3500kg
• MIRO: 2910-2950kg
• Payload: 560-590kg
• Length: 6.59-7.45m
• Width: All 2.35m

Reason to buy:

• A great, bright interior

Reason to avoid:

• You might prefer the felt look after all

Highly commended at the Practical Motorhome Awards 2025

When it comes to wall coverings in motorhomes, manufacturers often seem to go for some kind of wood-type veneer, which can often easily scratch, or some felt-type covering, which deadens the sound but can sometimes feel a bit dingy.

For 2025 McLouis Fusion (the tie-up between McLouis and Auto-Sleepers) has revamped all its models. As part of this it has introduced a new foil-based “Cashmere” surface on most interior walls, at least in the main living areas. This was chosen primarily for aesthetics, and it is true that it really brightens up even the dimmest of interiors. But we also think that because of its embossed appearance it offers great scratch resistance too.

That’s worth thinking about when you’re choosing a motorhome, especially, for example, if you think you are likely to be travelling with boisterous kids who don’t let the confines of a motorhome spoil their play, or with a dog who is apt to jump up and scratch the wall in excitement at the merest hint of a walk or food.

See my review of the McLouis Fusion 373 for more on a ‘van from this range.

Rapido C03

• Year: 2024
• Berths: 3
• MTPLM: 3500kg
• MiRO: 2860kg
• Payload: 640kg
• Length: 6.19m
• Width: 2.17m

Reasons to buy:

• A proper approach to a bed is always a plus, particularly with a transverse bed

Reasons to avoid:

• If you absolutely need to have a vehicle shorter than 6m (say for a reserved parking space), this isn’t for you

What difference can 20cm make? When it comes to the C03, the answer is quite a lot.

Starting with the idea that not every transverse bed model has to be squeezed down to be 5.99 long, the French company has opted for a van that is still on the short side, coming to only 6.19m – although if you’d like a ‘van under 6m, our best small motorhome guide is sure to help. But that extra length has enabled it to include an almost full-height wardrobe and proper steps up to the bed.

Suddenly the rear end of this transverse bed motorhome has gone from being just somewhere you only use because you have to, either hurling yourself in or squeezing your toes on those ladder rungs, to somewhere you would actually want to retire to for the night. How’s that for a motorhome layout? Underneath this bed, you also get a spacious garage with enough room for two bikes.

Full review: Rapido C03

Chausson X650

• Year: 2024
• Berths: 4
• MTPLM: 3500kg
• MiRO: TBC
• Payload: TBC
• Length: 6.36m
• Width: 2.1m

Reasons to buy:

• Chausson’s regularly innovative designs often make perfect sense, and this does

Reasons to avoid:

• Compact does mean exactly what it says

Chausson launched its X range a couple of seasons ago, designed as that elusive thing – a crossover between a van conversion and a low profile.

In Chausson’s vision that meant a relatively narrow width but with flat walls and above all a spacious lounge. Much of that was apparent in the first model, the 6m long 550, graced with drop-down bed over the lounge. But that vehicle has now been joined by its bigger brother, the 6.36m-long X650. Along with a side kitchen and a washroom with a swinging partition, it has a garage at the back.

It’s a rather ingenious garage too, because once you have arrived on site and taken everything out (and this garage has room for two bikes), you can lower the garage roof to become the floor of the rear dressing room. No one needs to feel a lack of privacy any more.

Hymer Venture S

• Year: 2023
• Berths: 4
• MTPLM: 4100kg
• Payload: 375kg
• MIRO: 3725kg
• Length: 6.45m

Reason to buy:

• All those novelties in a self-sufficient package

Reason to avoid:

• The price

Well, at the Practical Motorhome Awards 2023 it could hardly be anything other than the Hymer Venture S that was the winner in our Innovations category. Taking just four years to turn from a prototype to a commercially viable vehicle that looks surprisingly like the original vehicle is an achievement indeed.

When we judged it at the time, we said: “if any of the innovations in this motorhome take off to the point where they will have become more commonplace, motorcaravanning will have evolved”.

We are not just talking about the inflatable roof, although you will notice the ease with which it can be raised, and the excellent soundproofing qualities it has. There is also the clever staircase that doubles up as a compartmentalised storage area, and of course that fold-down sun deck at the back.

Most of us can still only dream about such novelties. But the fact that they are already in a commercial vehicle just four years after even being mentioned is a big step forward.

Full review: Hymer Venture S

Knaus Tourer Van 500 MQ Vansation

• Year: 2023
• Berths: 4
• MTPLM: 2800kg
• Payload: 140kg
• MIRO: TBC
• Length: 5.88m
• Width: 2.16m

Reason to buy:

• Flexible accommodation in a compact van

Reason to avoid:

• It’s quite pricey

The Tourer Van (along with the X-Cursion range in Knaus’s budget Weinsberg range, which we are also including in this category) is the first product of Knaus’s tie-up with Volkswagen. So, still unusually for a coachbuilt motorhome, it is based on a VW Transporter 6.1.

But that isn’t the only unusual thing about this vehicle. The 500 MQ model is only 5.89m long, so you wouldn’t have thought it would have enough room for a washroom with a separate shower cubicle. But Knaus has got around that problem by designing a shower that can collapse to half height when not needed, leaving you enough room to spread the transverse double bed out fully. Then in the morning when you need a proper wash, you can just fold the bed back and reassemble the shower again. Just the type of innovative feature you could want to see when buying a motorhome.

You can still access the loo whatever mode the shower is in.

Like the 500 LT, the other model in the Van Tourer range (and also available as a Weinsberg X-Cursion van), this model also comes with a slide-out bed over the cab in the front, providing four beds in a van that’s considerably less than 6m long. And in the UK it comes in Vansation spec, which means you get all sorts of extras including DSG auto transmission and a rear-view camera.

Weinsberg X-Cursion Van 500 LT

• Year: 2023
• Berths: 4
• MTPLM: 2800kg
• Payload: 140kg
• Length: 5.88m
• Width: 2.16m

Reason to buy:

• Cosy front lounge, exterior access wardrobe

Reason to avoid:

• Payload could be an issue

Motorhomes with doors towards the rear are becoming increasingly rare. So it is good to see Weinsberg (and Knaus, in its Tourer Van range) use this set-up to provide a van with comfortable front lounge with friendly facing settees.

Yet there is still have enough room to include a washroom with a sliding partition and, behind it, a sizeable wardrobe that has exterior access. There’s also a slide out bed over the cab too, providing you with two extra berths.

Chausson S514 Sport Line

• Year: 2023
• Berths: 3
• MTPLM: 3500kg
• MIRO: 2600kg
• Payload: 900kg
• Length: 5.99m
• Width: 2.10m

Reason to buy:

• Great exterior colour, clever garaged and bed

Reason to avoid:

• Limited kitchen

The Chausson S514 wowed many of our judges when it was launched, with its “butterfly bed” that folds up when you are not using it to allow you more dressing space on the inside and more room to store a bicycle in the garage space under the bed.

But we included the S514 at our 2023 Awards because of the striking exterior Chausson chose to kit it out with, a tone known as grey matter which you won’t find on any other motorhome on the market. Unusually the whole motorhome is decked out in this colour, not just the side walls. Along with the black alloy wheels, it gives the vehicle just the kind of sporty look you probably want to pull off if you are a serious cyclist.

Full review: Chausson S514 Sport Line

Chausson 711 Travel Line

• Year: 2018
• Berths: 4
• Belts: 4
• Length: 7.46m
• MTPLM: 3500kg
• Base vehicle: Fiat Ducato

Reason to buy:

• Doors on both sides – everyone is comfortable

Reason to avoid:

• Inside storage isn’t hugely generous

Take your family on long motorhome journeys on the continent and you may well find that two issues keep coming to the fore with rather monotonous regularity: the habitation door doesn’t open on the right side for the UK, so you have to dodge the traffic when you step out; and the bench seats are incredibly uncomfortable when you have been sitting on them all the way from Calais (and that’s after having to decide between the Eurotunnel or Ferry!)

The 711 Travel Line gets around this issue in two very clever ways. It has a habitation door on both sides, so you are always safe getting out of the vehicle whatever country you are in. And instead of being bench seats, the two travel seats in the rear are proper car seats just like you get in the cab: you can sit in them for hours.

There’s a comfortable lounge with a large round table right at the back for when you arrive on site. And neither this lounge nor the travel seats further front play any part in making up the beds. They just drop down from the ceiling.

Full review: Chausson 711 Travel Line

Sun Living S70 SP

• Year: 2018
• Berths: 5
• Belts: 5
• Length: 6.99m
• MTPLM: 3500kg
• Base vehicle: Fiat Ducato

Reason to buy:

• Loads of space and headroom

Reason to avoid:

• Holes that are used instead of locker handles can be tricky

The whole Sun Living range, effectively Adria’s budget brand immediately gained attention when it was launched, thanks to its innovative interior design that really emphasises a sense of space.

This is mainly partly achieved by having loads of headroom, a level floor, and by removing a lot of clutter, such as overhead locker door handles. But the main bonus is having a washroom with a tambour door that can be rolled right back when the washroom is not in use, leaving a vast and open area that the cook, for example, can move about in.

This is apparent even in a model like the S70SP, which has a large transverse bed at the back. And there is an extra bit of cleverness with this transverse bed because it has a hatch beneath it that gives you easy access to the garage under the bed. No more having to dash outside and open the garage door last thing at that night because you forgot you packed the duvets in there.

Full review: Sun Living S70 SP

If you’re embarking on a tour soon, make sure you’re aware of these 33 errors every motorhome owner will want to avoid.

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