Full review

Words and photos: Peter Vaughan

The Coachman Travel Master Imperial 845 motorhome

Coachman Caravans entered the motorhome market with the Mercedes-based Travel Master 545 and 565 low-profiles, the former instantly scooping the Luxury Motorhome of the Year title for 2023. 

Of course, it didn’t make the leap from towed caravans unaided – being owned by Kabe, it took a Swedish-built motorhome and anglicised it to meet the unique demands of the UK market.

A smaller, lighter Sportivo model is available, along with (Polish-built) Affinity campervans, but, following a show debut last October, it’s the A-class Imperial that’s leading the way, with the first examples arriving in dealerships just before you read this. 

It takes the same route as the first Travel Masters, tweaking an existing model and, arguably, stays closer to continental spec as the doors remain on the European sides (like most other imported A-classes). But this flagship is a big step up – it’s 58% more expensive and 43cm longer, with a tonne more gross weight and two extra wheels, as well as a double floor. 

At £209k (including awning), it needs to be something special to compete with the likes of established premium players, Carthago and Hymer.

The spec

The price of this motorhome would buy a three-bedroom house in Worksop, just down the road from Clumber Park where we tested it, so it needs to impress in all areas. 

Under the bonnet is Merc’s most powerful motor for the front-wheel drive Sprinter, with its 170 horses corralled through a nine-speed automatic gearbox that’s silky smooth. 

It might not sound particularly potent, but there seems to be plenty of performance on offer and the ride is quite cosseting, albeit not absorbent enough to prevent some rattles on the often-abysmal Nottinghamshire roads.

It’s a handsome beast with a distinctive face featuring slit-like LED headlights and MAK alloy wheels. The underpinnings are more typical, with Mercedes-Benz providing the power (via the front wheels) and Al-Ko mating that with its tag-axle chassis.

With the German opposition, however, I usually spend half a day trying to fathom what spec is standard, what  is in which pack and how much it all adds up to. Here, the list price might look a bit bold, but everything is standard (even the 5.5m electric awning in reality, because none are scheduled to be built without it). And the standard specification isn’t just designed to include all the stuff you really need; it’s calculated to trounce the German opposition.

Roof-mounted Dometic air-conditioning, a security alarm, double-glazed cab side windows, a premium sound system with subwoofer, full leather upholstery and 150W solar panel are just some of the items that you might have expected to pay extra for.

But perhaps the most impressive bit of kit is the Al-Ko levelling system – press a couple of buttons and four legs drop down from under the motorhome, ensuring that you’re completely level and with no rocking on the suspension as you move around inside. 

There’s even a setting to tip the motorhome to one side to ensure that you’ve totally emptied the waste tank – a tank that, of course, has an electrically controlled dump valve. 

The heating and insulation

All this comes before we mention the heating and insulation, for this is a motorhome built in Sweden to cope with the harshest of Scandinavian winters – Kabe even tests its motorhomes with an amount of snow on the roof. 

So, not only does it have an Alde ‘wet’ central heating system, but you can separately control the lounge and bedroom temperatures. There’s a heat exchanger, windscreen heating and a heated cab carpet. 

The furniture is vented to allow the warmth to flow around the vehicle. Walls are aluminium inside and out (better for heat distribution), and carpet lined for acoustic and insulation properties. 

Best of all, the heated floor genuinely feels worthy of the word ‘luxury’ when you walk around in socked feet. On a cool April evening, there were no  cold zones in this motorhome – I could have been in a brick-built apartment…

The cab

The chief A-class bugbears of engine noise (well suppressed) and wipers covering enough of the huge glass (impressive, and correctly set up for right-hand drive) are covered here.

Then, the twin-lens bus mirrors and reversing camera (displayed through the sharp MBUX display) take the chore out of manoeuvring, but you always have to remember that this is nearly nine metres of motorhome with the turning circle (like any tag-axle model) of a cross-Channel ferry. 

The heated and cooled Isri captain’s chairs with every conceivable adjustment ensure you’re comfy, but the wireless phone charger seems oddly placed, with nothing to stop your mobile sliding onto the floor.

The styling

The styling, including chromed IMPERIAL branding, lives up to the price tag, but it’s some of the details that impress more before you even climb inside. Here, the double floor storage (a first for Coachman) isn’t just a big cellar in which your gear can clatter about. 

There’s a pull-out tray designed especially for skis, while more general storage is catered for with slide-out boxes that can be taken indoors for loading. 

Even the gas locker has an added trick – a rotating base to make cylinder changing easier. 

The garage

Then there’s the garage – headroom 1.14m, width 85cm at floor level – with its doors linked to the remote central locking. 

In here are all manner of shelves, baskets and even a hanging rail ( for those ski clothes, perhaps), as well as the outside shower, the 1,800W inverter and access to the twin 130Ah AGM leisure  batteries. 

And your bikes can be secured more, err, securely as there are adjustable lashing points not only horizontally but vertically, too. 

Only the illumination of the garage is below par, while the other exterior criticism is the typically letterbox-like bonnet with a funnel required to top up the windscreen washers.

The interior

As soon as you step inside the Imperial and shut the Hartal door with a hefty ‘thunk’ behind you, you’re in no  doubt that you’re in a very large and very luxurious motorhome. But it doesn’t feel like a German one, perhaps  being more homely.

Again, there are practical touches – a shoe cupboard (with plastic tray to collect the dirt) and coat hooks immediately inside. 

Above the door is the Dometic touchscreen control panel, which does everything (so there’s no need for separate switches for heating, etc). 

Here, you can lower the cab bed and windscreen blind, empty the water tanks, adjust all the heating, check water and battery levels, and more. It’s not too complicated, but it’ll take a while to learn all the icons.

The lounge

Heating set just so, the first area you’ll sample will be the lounge, with its full leather upholstery in a dark

grey (there are no alternative colour schemes in the Imperial). You sink into the sofas – L-shaped nearside and shorter, straight one on the offside – in a way that few motorhomes manage. 

The captain’s chairs can be raised to match the settees’ height and they rotate right around, so feet can go on the sofas. 

The TV hides in the offside top locker and slides down for viewing – the screen itself is about the  only item missing from the spec. Or you could just listen to the impressive sound system, with speakers in the lounge and bedroom…

Dining is comfortable with a sturdy table; although, measuring 97cm by 80cm, some may find it too bulky. It’s a shame it doesn’t fold in half. When it comes to travelling, however, rear passengers will welcome the armrests and reclining backrest on the forward-facing bench. There’s Isofix, too.

Lighting is very comprehensive, with reading lights (including the cab) and all the main lighting dimmable from  the control panel. A large Heki rooflight provides daylight but is the simpler, push-up type.

The kitchen

Backing onto the lounge, the L-shaped galley bests the original Travel Masters in having a Corian worktop but it doesn’t get their slot-in domestic style cooker. 

Here instead it’s a three-burners-in-line hob and a separate  (rather shallow) oven (but no grill) mounted high up above the 153-litre automatic energy selection fridge/freezer. Shorter chefs may need to invest in platform shoes…

Otherwise, there’s much to applaud in this kitchen, from the amount of worktop (with mains sockets conveniently above the corner) to the plethora of drawers, including ones for cutlery and twin waste bins. All the drawers are electrically locked for travel, the switch being on the main control panel, of course.

An extractor hood and hose-style kitchen tap are further premium touches, while the inclusion of an eye-level plateless microwave is another nod to the UK market.

The bedroom

The Imperial comes only with an island bed for now, although a single bed version is planned. It’s not the widest bed but it is long and very comfortable, thanks to a standard topper. 

You can also slide the mattress back into a chaise longue position (electrically, of course) for those lazy breakfast-in-bed mornings, while there’s still plenty of room to walk around the bed when it’s extended, plus a floor-level light so you don’t miss the steps in the night.

Reading lights are provided, as well as an array of other lighting, and the roof vent includes a two-way fan. On each side of the bed there’s a recess (with USBs) for night-time essentials, plus the usual his and hers wardrobes and a drawer for your smalls.

A second TV point is on the washroom wall and two large drawers are fitted under the end of the bed.

That’s not the only sleeping space as there’s the usual A-class drop-down bed in the cab. The mattress here feels much firmer, despite the RekarFlex springs underneath, and it’s only 1.17m wide. 

Perhaps best suited to kids (there’s a safety net), it was disappointing to find no privacy curtain or roof vent here. 

The washroom

Forward of the rear bedroom and down a step, it’s no surprise in a motorhome of this ilk to find separate toilet and shower facilities split across the aisle and it’s here, perhaps more than anywhere else in the Imperial, that  the extra space of a tag-axle vehicle has been put to use. 

The toilet door swings around to close off the whole of the back of the motorhome, while a concertina screen closes off the bedroom – we’d have hoped for proper sliding doors at this price point.

You’ll not really notice the small step in the shower tray, instead appreciating the domestic-style space here,  while Kabe’s attention to winterisation includes a pump to suck water out of the shower tray as you wash (no water left in the pipes means no chance of them freezing).

Opposite, the toilet area has plenty of storage (with welcome fiddle rails) and generous space, but it lacks the wow factor. 

The Corian seen in the kitchen isn’t repeated here, although the Thetford toilet does get a ceramic bowl, and the white basin doesn’t shout premium (it’s hard to get your face over it, too, because of the mirrored locker behind).

Biggest downsides of the toilet area, though, are the uncomfortable height of the loo (why is it on a plinth?) and the unfathomable location of the toilet roll holder right next to the basin (soggy loo paper isn’t great).

Motorhome supplied by Coachman Caravans
coachman.co.uk

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

Where to buy

Despite its very recent arrival in the motorhome market, Coachman already has 17 dealers for its Travel Master range. These include Perthshire Caravans in Scotland, Spinney Caravans Flintshire and Newport Caravans in Wales, and Lisburn Caravans and Motorhomes in Northern Ireland.

In England, dealers stretch from Leisure World Catterick in the north, down to Alan Kerr in the southwest  and Premier Motorhomes on the south coast.