Fiat’s
Ducato continues to gain favour with conversion companies
across the country, following its huge success in Europe,
both as a cab-chassis and van. Frontline Campervans is
the latest here to have its way with the attractive Italian,
and has just released its Spirit van conversion –
a beauty.
In
something of a break from most conversions, Frontline
has positioned the kitchen and bathroom at the front,
leaving a Ushaped, rear dinette/bed with a large boot
underneath. This vehicle was also a prototype, with some
final layout details, dimensions and positioning still
to be finalised.
The
Ducato has good internal headroom and is quite wide, avoiding
the tunnel effect of many long, narrow van-based campers.
It’s also not too long, allowing you to park quite
readily in a single car space, making touring and day-to-day
living with the vehicle that much easier.
The
Vehicle
The
Ducato is a great base vehicle, being space efficient
and neatly
packaged.
The transverse-mounted 2.8L intercooled turbo-diesel drives
the front
wheels,
thus avoiding any driveline intrusion in the cab. The
flat floor and
walk-through
design allows easy internal access, and with its high
seating position and windows all around, visibility
is excellent. Moreover, with a tare weight of just 2660kg,
you’ve got 850kg to play with before reaching
its 3510kg gross weight.
 The
doors open wide, allowing easy access, although they are
quite heavy and the stays not particularly effective.
Both front seats have fold-down armrests.
Big, electrically adjustable mirrors with
separate
convex spots are standard, as are electric widows, remote
central locking, power steering, cab airconditioning,
a single in-dash CD/stereo and lots of storage nooks and
crannies (but no glovebox). A big plus is the inclusion
of dual front airbags, ABS and four-wheel disc brakes.
Mechanically,
the engine is quite simple, being only of single overhead
camshaft design, with two valves per
cylinder.
It employs a high-pressure fuel pump with electronic control,
direct injection, air-to-air intercooling and a turbocharger
to achieve 94kW of power and 300Nm of torque. A five-speed
manual is the only transmission offered, and although
it’s fine, I’m sure Fiat would sell more if
an automatic were available.
Fiat
specifies a 30,000km service interval – something
that will have most diesel mechanics throwing their arms
up in despair – and a programmed maintenance management
system is built-in. Fiat backs the van with a three-year/180,000km
warranty and 24-hour roadside assistance, so it must be
feeling confident.
On
The Road
‘Zippy’
is the best way to describe the Ducato in action –
and quiet. It’s also very comfortable. The steering
wheel and pedals are very slightly offset to the left,
which felt initially odd. The wheel is a sporty three-spoker,
with limited tilt adjustment. The stubby, dash-mounted
gear lever is fun, if a little notchy. The
pedals
are small and closely spaced, but you get used to it.
Typical of electronically controlled diesels, the engine
starts immediately and settles down to a nice idle. The
accelerator has quite a short throw, so response
is immediate. The engine is delightfully smooth and surprisingly
quiet once under way. With maximum torque at just 1800rpm,
it pulls strongly and you can let it run down in a taller
gear without worrying about driveline snatch or shudder
when pulling away. Front-wheel drive and wheel-in-each-corner
design imbues the Fiat with semi go-kart handling. Consequently,
it steers well, with little body roll, and this
should be a bonus in the wet, mud or snow.
On
The Outside
The
striking metallic ‘baroque red’ of the test
vehicle certainly makes it stand out from the crowd –
a welcome relief from the usual white. A van conversion
requires little structural modification, so the Spirit
looks very much like a factory conversion. Colour-coding
of the awning is a bonus.
Starting
at the front, the big, double headlights should provide
good night vision. On the driver’s side are three
fixed windows – dark tinted like all the others
– plus the usual utility connections for the water
tank, mains power, mains water and access to the Thetford
toilet cassette. A thick plastic rubbing strip runs front
to back, affording good lower-body protection too. The
grey water tank is tucked up just behind the side-exiting
exhaust, and its connector is readily accessed without
having to clamber underneath.
 Double
barn-style doors, with a high-mounted stoplight and big
taillights right on the corners, dominate the rear. Plastic
bumper-ends help protect the lights and are separated
by a sturdy steel step/bumper. Up on the roof are two
small, clear hatches, a lowprofile Dometic air-conditioning
unit and a Winegard wind-up TV aerial.
The
gas locker for the single 4kg bottle sits just ahead of
the side door, while overhead the 3m Fiamma windout awning
sits high to clear the sliding door. A single external
light provides night-time illumination, while an Omni
step pulls out to make access easier. The sliding side
door locks in place when fully open, which is a nice safety
feature when stopping on hills, provided you make sure
to open it all the way initially.
In
The Kitchen
The
main kitchen unit sits behind the passenger seat and is
almost fully exposed when the sliding door is open. Even
when the door’s closed, the opening side window
still allows both a good view and good venting, aided
by a wind-up fan hatch overhead.
 At
night, the kitchen area is really
brightened by three
downlights.
Set
in the benchtop is a glass-lidded Smev two-burner gas
cooktop. Below it, you can opt for a microwave or Smev
gas grill. In the test vehicle, three drawers sat below
the grill with a single drawer and cupboard to the right.
There’s not much benchspace beside the cooker, especially
with the optional 15in LCD flat-panel TV. This would probably
be better off out of the way; above the sink on the wardrobe
end panel perhaps.
 Unfortunately,
the narrow aisle between the main kitchen unit and the
bathroom makes things difficult, and getting cutlery from
the lowset drawers even more so.
In addition, the TV seems quite vulnerable to splashing
oil or fat, reinforcing the need for it to be relocated.
We suggested turning the cooker so the lid opens towards
the TV, giving it protection, and moving the griller (or
microwave) and drawers to the end of the cabinet.
A
great idea, however, is the drop-down outdoor table that
folds out from the kitchen unit. It’s quick to position,
sturdy when in place and makes a handy outside table for
two. Above the TV is a small cupboard and above it is
a neat all-in-one AM/FM radio with CD/DVD that plays through
two rear-mounted speakers and provides both musical and
movie entertainment. Very nice. On
the driver’s side, between the bathroom and dinette,
is an 85L Engel fridge/freezer that runs on 12V or 240V
only. Above this is a lidded, single-bowl Smev sink with
folding tap and above that is a run of cupboards that
extends to the back door(s). Electrical switches and a
battery monitor also sit up there, in easy view, alongside
a TV aerial point.
A
fluoro light beneath the cupboard illuminates the sink
at night, while during the day there’s plenty of
natural light. Controls for the Truma gas hot water are
on the bulkhead behind the sink, between  windows,
as is a double power point. At The Dinette The
rear-positioned dinette seats two comfortably,
with one
person on either
side,
facing
each other across a central, swing-away table. One or
(maybe) two extra people could be seated across the back,
but without a backrest. With big windows all around there’s
great visibility, and the tall sidewalls don’t hunch
you forwards as they do in some smaller vehicles.
Overhead
are two ceiling-mounted downlights that flank the outlet
for the air-conditioning, and the side and back windows
are curtained in plush microsuede that matches the vehicle’s
paintwork, adding to the quality feel. Similarly, the
use of Beech timber trim is a break from the mundane and,
along with the blue of the cushions, makes the Spirit
a good-looking vehicle inside as well as out. The house
battery (two, in this vehicle) and hot water service live
underneath the driver’s side dinette seating.
In
The Bedroom
As
you know, the dinette becomes the bed, but what makes
this arrangement special is the way in which you can partially
make it up, but leave the dinette in place. The rear half
of the bed is always in place, and dropping the table
only makes up the front half.
For
people like us, it means my wife can go to bed across
the back, while
I sit up late and write C aravan
& Motorhome articles.
Anyway, it’s a clever
way of providing both a sleeping and seating area in a
small vehicle, without taking up extra room.
The
bed is plenty long enough, even for me, and the cushioning
thick and comfortable. A large boot area is under the
rear bed section, accessed through the back doors. When
getting changed – or, indeed, just when standing
– there is good internal headroom (1.85m) and the
ceiling is insulated, as are the tops of the walls, down
to window level. Keeping Clean Sitting directly behind
the driver, the bathroom is a one-piece fibreglass unit.
It incorporates the ever-present Thetford electric-flush
loo, with a hand shower mounted overhead. Pleasingly,
the shower’s finished in stylish chrome rather than
– you guessed it – white. Being one piece,
the cubicle is easy to clean and should remain leak-free.
 Unusually,
there
is no natural
light
inside, only a fluorescent strip to brighten your ablutionary
experience. Ventilation is through a small vent, and its
fan sounds like it’s sucking for all it’s
worth. Between the bathroom and the kitchen sink is a
floor-to-ceiling unit with two doors, the top one accessing
a deep wardrobe and the bottom a shelved cupboard, for
clothes storage. I think these would be better reversed,
however, with the shelves on top and the hanging space
below.
Worth
Buying?
Bearing
in mind this was a prototype, Frontline has done a great
job with its new Fiat Ducato Spirit conversion. It’s
a vehicle you simply enjoy being in – whether you’re
on the move, stopped for a cuppa or making camp for the
night. The kitchen would benefit from a little extra thought
and the TV would probably be best repositioned, but you
could still readily live with this vehicle.
From
a driver’s perspective, the Ducato is a great vehicle:
responsive, spirited (hence the name) and safe, without
a trace of vice in its nature. All things considered,
the Spirit is a great vehicle, and excellent value at
the price. Who said you need to be a movie star to go
on a Roamin’ Holiday?
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