Full review

Words and photos: Peter Vaughan

The Hymer Venture S

Hymer’s VisionVenture was the irrefutable star of the 2019 Caravan Salon Düsseldorf (CSD), but it was just a concept – a vehicle built to show off new ideas and wow an exhibition audience. Three short years later (shortened further by the worldwide pandemic), Hymer returned to the CSD with the Venture S, a motorhome bearing remarkable similarity to the VisionVenture, but with one key difference – a price tag.

Now you could order this vehicle (from £196,100 in the UK), which Hymer justifiably calls “an entirely new motorhome category.” Production starts this summer for dealer demonstrators, with the first customer models (including right-hand drive UK vehicles) expected in early 2024. But we couldn’t wait that long, so we begged Hymer for one of the prototypes to bring you this road test, the first in the world.

The spec

If you expect a £200k motorhome to be 9m long, you’ll be disappointed here. But, if you like your motorhome to be nimble and compact, read on.

The Venture S is under 6.5m in length and only 2.16m wide. However, it’s based on a 4x4 Mercedes Sprinter (hence the ‘S’), with its high-riding stance creating an overall height of more than 3m. Thanks to the lofty ground clearance and slim body, it perhaps looks taller still. 

This is no pseudo-off-roader, however. It can do more than out pose a Range Rover with its 20,000-lumen overcab light bar (legal for road use with main beam headlights). The bumpers and skirts are covered with a special textured, impact and scratch-resistant finish from BASF, called Elastocoat, and there’s a protection panel under the engine.

The optional 18in Delta alloy wheels are shod with chunky BFGoodrich all-terrain tyres and the short rear overhang and swept up tail are designed to cope with steep inclines. We couldn’t take this one through a quarry or across fields, but we’ve previously seen just how capable these 4x4 Sprinters are,  especially with the latest 4Matic system, which automatically distributes torque between the front and rear axles. 

Hymer hasn’t skimped on the spec under the bonnet, either. It’s the top 190bhp power unit (now a 2-litre, four-cylinder), mated to the nine-speed automatic transmission. You can feel the benefit of its impressive 440Nm maximum torque from the off, despite the Venture S having an unladen weight of over 3.5 tonnes.

Perky performance was anticipated, but I was prepared for the Hymer to lean through the bends, when actually it stays incredibly poised. Even the modest additional road noise from the off-road tyres couldn’t spoil the pleasure of driving this motorhome, but what I really wanted to do was try out its unique on-site features…

The roof

Unless your motorhome previously served with a number and route description above the cab, it seems likely that it is, in effect, a motorised bungalow. In contrast, once you’ve parked up, the Venture S becomes a two-storey home from home.

That transformation might, aesthetically, remind you of VW campervan pop-tops; here the roof is a whole lot more sophisticated. For a start, it isn’t lifted by gas struts or an electric motor, but with a pneumatic system that takes about three minutes to fully inflate the double-skinned walls of the roof. 

Its construction uses a patented fabric that’s comparable to that used in the automotive industry for airbags and, when you raise the roof, you don’t just inflate the pop-top but also the mattress, which can be adjusted to your preferred softness. 

What makes the Hymer’s upper bedroom even more exceptional is that there’s no ladder. Instead, there’s a proper staircase, which doubles up as added storage (like your understairs cupboard at home!).

The bedroom

So, what’s it like to live/sleep in? Well, going upstairs at night seems natural (unless you live in a bungalow) and the steps are easy to negotiate and even gently illuminated at night. The air-filled mattress is as comfy as almost any bed I’ve ever slept on and it has generous length, albeit with a cut-out at one side for access.

There’s blown-air heating up top from the 6kW Truma diesel/mains system (which can be operated from Hymer’s easy-to-use control panel or the app) and, whilst the bedroom seemed cooler than the main living area below, I was very comfortable with outside temperatures around four degrees overnight. Hymer says the Venture S has been cold chamber tested and could reach 20 degrees from minus 20 inside in under four hours.

My duvet stayed put with the roof lowered, while the cushions from the rear lounge became pillows and I could even reposition the pendant lamp upstairs for a restful level of evening light. Sitting up to read is no problem – there’s up to 1.50m headroom at the head of the bed! And, had I not been road testing in February, it would have been great to open up the floor-to-ceiling flyscreen window for a grandstand view out in the morning.

There are downsides, too, of course. There’s nothing you can do about the fact that the Hymer’s roof lets in more outside noise (traffic, wildlife, etc) than in a conventional motorhome and you might need to invest in eye masks – it does get very light up there when the sun rises. 

As you’re sleeping so high up, any restless sleep   is also exaggerated (but not intolerable) in the vehicle’s rocking; the optional rear steadies are something we’d recommend. But, if you’re worried about sleeping in a storm, there’s always the alternative downstairs bed made from the rear lounge. 

The lounge

The classic rear lounge might seem as old as the hills, or at least as old as your Road Test Editor, but here is another of the Venture S wow factor features. For a start, the Infinity Screen rear glazing (in double-glazed glass) wraps around the back of the vehicle to give uninterrupted views. 

Then, when the weather’s kind, you can raise the rear window like a giant tailgate (one fitted with a flyscreen). Still not enough? Then the lower part of the rear panel drops down to a horizontal position to create the Sunset Deck. 

Measuring 1.62m by 1.00m, this ‘motorhome patio’ can carry up to 350kg and can be reached from outside via a pull-out ladder. In production vehicles, Hymer will also provide outdoor chairs (stored between the sofas and tailgate) and a safety screen to prevent you falling off. 

The interior

Back inside, the innovation doesn’t stop. The walls are trimmed in bamboo with built-in rails that can be used to attach accessories, extra lighting, the Sonos Roam soundbar or even a projector and screen. The LED strip lights are dimmable and the pendant lamp can be fitted in a corner or hung over the table.

The table itself is neat, too. Hidden under the offside sofa, it simply slides out on rails, then lifts into position and you can raise one or both leaves. It’s such a clever bit of design that I hope it will start to replace fixed tables in other Hymer models. 

We’d like to see more of these soft, pillow-like backrest cushions, too, which really enhance the comfort of this lounge area.

The exterior

There are two external colours to choose from, each with a matching cab. Stone Grey is standard, while this Source Blue metallic is a pricey option. The electric Thule awning seen here is another extra-cost item, as is the towbar (maximum trailer weight is 1,780kg).

The habitation door is linked to the central locking and has soft-closing as well as the essential electric step (with a switch to raise it on the dashboard, where you’ll also find a button to empty the grey waste tank).

There are small external lockers in each of the rear corners. On the offside it’s for gas (just one 6kg cylinder as it only supplies the hob), and on the nearside it houses the mains hook-up and outside shower. A larger skirt locker runs along the nearside but, on the test vehicle, this was largely filled by the Truma habitation air-con.

If external storage seems in short supply, then Hymer has addressed this with airline rails on the rear panel for the addition of a luggage box or bike carrier. There are further rails on the roof, or you can secure your cycles inside using the lashing points in the floor of the rear lounge.

The Venture S is also designed for off-grid use, thanks to three 115W solar panels on the roof and four 80Ah lithium batteries in the floor, as well as a 1,300W inverter. Both fresh and waste water tanks are inboard in the floor for winterisation, too.

The kitchen

The kitchen won’t suit some British buyers because the only cooking kit is a two-burner hob (albeit a smart gas-on-glass affair). If you can live with that, however, there’s plenty to like. Worktop space is pretty generous and the counter itself is in Fenix, a material that’s fingerprint resistant. 

You can create more worktop, too, by slotting in a chopping board onto one of the open drawers (this feature was missing from ‘our’ vehicle).

What really impresses is the amount of galley storage, almost all of it in large soft-closing drawers with positive-locking catches and neat leather pull straps. The two mains sockets here are well placed, too, for a coffee machine or toaster, and shelves with elasticated straps can secure washing-up liquid, condiments, etc.

The fridge is a good size, too (115 litres), and it’s a compressor model that can just be switched on and forgotten about while it simply operates unobtrusively.

The washroom

Opposite the kitchen you’ll find a reasonable-sized wardrobe with a slide-out storage unit below, but the main feature on the offside is the washroom. This has been kept compact to maximise the feeling of space inside the motorhome and, in particular, the wide, open floor area up front.

As you’d expect by now, though, the washroom has a trick up its sleeve. Twist a catch and pull and the whole ‘little room’ becomes bigger when you need to use it.

Inside, you’ll find a cassette toilet, high-level cupboard, large mirrors, generous corner basin, an opening window and towel and robe hooks. The loo looks uncomfortably high but a swing-out footrest solves that issue. It was a bit wobbly in this prototype but that is being addressed.

For showering, it’s no surprise to find a swing-wall design that sees the washbasin and its wall pivot to the right  to create a good-sized shower cubicle. Corner shelves are available for shampoo, etc, and the showerhead can be hand held or clipped to a bracket on the ceiling. Water flows away through two drains but still tended to pool in the front corner – another aspect that will be attended to in production.

The cab

In the cab, the optional Moreno leather upholstery is as immaculately finished as you’d hope and the spec includes the 10.25in MBUX display with fish eye reversing camera and crystal-clear sat-nav.

The seats are superb, complete with tilt and height adjustment, extending squab cushions and optional heating. They also swivel for use on site and the right-hand chair becomes a work station as a fold-out desk appears from the adjacent cupboard – with lamp and mains and USB sockets, too.

Motorhome supplied by Erwin Hymer Centre Travelworld
Tel: 01785 878787
motorhomes.co.uk

Insurance: £N/a
Tel: 0800 975 1307
shieldtotalinsurance.co.uk
For quote details: motorhome.ma/QuoteInfo