What Peter Vaughan thinks of the Trouvaille Classique Rear Kitchen layout with shower and Atek Pop Top
Peter Vaughan has been writing about motorhomes since he was 14. He’s now Group Motorhome Road Test Editor for MMM and editor of What Motorhome, so when he takes one of our ‘vans away for a proper look, we pay attention!
His latest Trouvaille Classique review, published on the MotorhomeCampervan YouTube channel, covers our Trouvaille MWB in Layout Option 2, the Rear Kitchen layout, with a High Roof, the Atek Pop Top and our new shower. He slept in it overnight, so his thoughts come from really using the ‘van rather than a quick look round on a show stand.
Watch the full review
A compact campervan with full motorhome facilities
Peter starts with what sets the Trouvaille apart: it’s built on the medium wheelbase Fiat Ducato and is just 5.41m long, which he describes as really compact, yet it still offers full motorhome facilities. This layout can now be ordered with a shower for the first time.
He also explains where the Rear Kitchen layout option 2 sits in the range. Layout Option 1 was the original side kitchen layout that started life in the short wheelbase ‘van, which is no longer offered in right-hand drive (a brand new Layout Option 1 is coming in 2027). Layout Option 3 is the two-berth Fixed Rear Bed.
The Atek Pop Top
The ‘van Peter tested has the Atek Pop Top fitted on top of the Fiat High Roof, which turns it into a practical four-berth.
He’s upfront that the roof takes a bit of effort to lift, joking that you’ll want to have eaten your spinach first. The Atek Pop Top is a £9,999 option, so he suggests that if you don’t regularly need four berths, a free-standing awning or a cab bunk might suit you better.
If you do go for it, the roof bed is nice and spacious. Peter measured it at 2.1m long by 1.35m wide, which is 6ft 11in by 4ft 5in.
Price and what comes on the Fiat cab
The Rear Kitchen layout starts at £81,999 as a manual, or £84,999 with the eight-speed automatic gearbox, and the Atek Pop Top adds £9,999 (all of these prices include VAT).
Peter points out that the price includes a lot of specification on the cab. You get metallic paint, a leather steering wheel and automatic climate control, so you can set the temperature rather than just switching the air con on and off.
There’s Fiat’s 10-inch display with sat nav, Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, which also shows the reversing camera.
He also highlights the wireless charging pad, the digital instrument panel and the digital rear-view mirror. Keyless starting and an electric parking brake are included, along with 360° parking sensors.
One detail that surprised him was the 230V, 150W mains socket in the cab, which he says he’s never seen in a Fiat Ducato before.
Outside the ‘van
On the outside, Peter picks out the alloy wheels and the framed Polyvision habitation windows. The fresh water tank holds 66 litres and the waste tank holds 50 litres, and both are underslung. There’s a 25-litre underslung gas tank too.
He likes the sliding kitchen window, which is designed so it doesn’t clash with the sliding door. You can pull the kitchen tap out through it and hose down muddy dogs, boots or children before they come inside. As he says, though, that isn’t the real shower, and we’ll come to that.
The living space
Up front there are swivel cab seats, and in the back there are two RIB seats with ISOFIX and height-adjustable head restraints. Peter notes that, as with any Fiat cab, the cab seats sit a bit higher than the rear ones. To help with that, we offer optional flip-down footrests on each side.
He was impressed by the lighting. There are flexible reading lights, a downlight in the cab ceiling, downlights over the sliding door and strip lighting throughout. He also mentions the flip-up table, the USB-A, USB-C, 12V and mains sockets by the seats, and the handy little shelves above the window.
The ‘van he tested was finished in Field Green, and he notes there are about eight colours to choose from for the living area and kitchen, orange included.
For proper meals there’s a larger table on an island leg, which he found reasonably sturdy and which stores neatly on the end of the kitchen unit.
We can make the table any size and shape you like, and Peter fancied a round one. He did point out that the table height suits the rear seats a little better than the front ones. There’s also a second table that can face inside or out when the weather’s nice, plus dedicated storage for your outdoor chairs.
Beds and a very long night’s sleep
Peter shows how easily the rear seats fold down into beds. The bedding stores under the ends of the kitchen and the wardrobe, and that’s also where your feet go when you’re lying down. He says there’s plenty of room even if you have bigger feet than him.
Without using the cab seats, both single beds are 1.8m (5ft 11in) long. One is 68cm wide and the other is 64cm. You can slide them together to make a double, or we can supply an infill to make a much wider full-length double.
Then he shares his own trick. He tilted the end of one bed, unfolded a mattress topper (which he recommends anyway, as he finds the RIB beds quite firm) and laid his pillows on the cab seat. That gave him a bed of well over 7ft, and he says it was pretty comfy.
The kitchen: “a real selling point”
This is the part of the review we were most pleased to see. Peter calls the kitchen a real selling point and says there’s a lot more worktop space than you’ll find in some much bigger campervans and motorhomes.
He highlights the drawers under the oven and the set of three drawers in the end cupboard, which give plenty of room for cutlery and utensils. The oven and grill is an option, and you can have a microwave instead. New this year is the Dometic combined air fryer, microwave and oven, which he thinks will be popular. As standard, you get a Thetford three-burner gas hob, or you can choose an induction hob instead.
Power is well thought out, with two three-pin mains sockets and USB-A and USB-C in the kitchen, and another mains socket and 12V socket at the far end. He also liked the little stowage area with its small shelves.
When Peter picked the ‘van up, Richard and Sonya had just come back from a month in Spain in it. He says you can see that real-world use in a lot of the details.
Heating, fridge and wardrobe
The ‘van he tested had the Truma Combi diesel and electric heating, controlled from the Truma panel. That’s an upgrade, as Propex gas heating comes as standard. Opposite the kitchen, there’s a good-sized wardrobe and a 90-litre compressor fridge, with more storage above and below. Peter sums up the storage as really generous.
The new shower option
Peter’s first point about the shower is that it takes up no more space than the standard set-up. The cubicle footprint is the same whether you have the shower or not, and keeping that area compact is what frees up so much kitchen space and storage. The shower is a £2,999 option.
He’s clear that this isn’t a walk-in toilet compartment in the usual sense. A folding door gives you some privacy, but you’ll be using the toilet with the door open, so he suggests pulling the blinds on the back door and the kitchen. There’s no washbasin, so you wash your hands at the kitchen sink.
To shower in this layout, you lift the toilet out and leave it in the aisle, then a screen completes the cubicle. The whole pod is fully moulded, so it wipes clean and should stay practical and durable for years.
In use, Peter says it’s one of the best showers he’s used in a campervan of this size. He found plenty of room, really good water pressure and a tray that drains well without leaving puddles. There’s a shelf with little baskets for your shampoo and conditioner, and a seat if you’d like to sit down. When you’re done, you step out into the aisle and still have privacy to dry off and get dressed.
Options and the as-tested price
Peter runs through the extras fitted to his test ‘van, and he’s honest that they add up. Along with the pop top, oven and cab blinds, it had a 300Ah lithium battery upgrade at £599 (100Ah lithium is standard).
The Fiamma awning came in at £1,045, and our fully fitted sliding door fly screen, which is purpose made for the Trouvaille Classique, is £899. There was also a larger electric step and 270W of solar at £459. As tested, it came to just over £105,000.
Peter’s verdict
Peter is upfront that the Trouvaille isn’t the cheapest ‘van of its size, and he explains why. Orange Campers is a small company, so we don’t have the buying volumes of the big manufacturers to bring component costs down.
What you get for that price is where he spends most of his verdict. He says the ‘van is really nicely made, which you can tell from the lack of rattles on the road, and that it’s much quieter than most other campervans.
Every Trouvaille Classique also comes with a five-year conversion warranty, which not every manufacturer offers, and a cab spec he clearly rated highly. On top of that, he credits the practicality that comes from the family behind the business going away in these ‘vans themselves.
His closing line is that if you can afford it and want a really compact campervan, the Trouvaille Classique is well worth a look.
Not the first time Peter’s been to see us
Peter has followed the Trouvaille Classique for a while now, and this is far from his first look at one of our ‘vans.
Back in March 2025, he joined Richard at The Yorkshire Motorhome & Campervan Show for the unveiling of our High Roof MWB. They talked through the extra headroom and the sleeping options together, and they also covered the pop top option. Watch that video above.
A couple of months later, at The Southern Motorhome & Campervan Show, he came back to look at how our ‘vans sleep, from single beds or a double made from the seats to the fixed double that was on its way.
Most recently, Peter and Rachel Scholes from MMM looked at our Fixed Rear Bed layout while considering the shortlist for the Out & About Live Campervan Awards.
The magazines have been kind to us too. Campervan magazine gave the Trouvaille Classique MWB a four-page feature in 2024, which you can read about in We’re featured in Campervan magazine.
In 2025, the same magazine called our High Roof MWB “Orange Campers’ best all-rounder yet”, and we shared the full story in High hopes, high roof.
This summer, Campervan magazine reviewed the Fixed Rear Bed and What Motorhome reviewed this very shower layout in print, and you can catch up on both in Two magazines, two verdicts.
What we took from it
We’re chuffed with this review, and we think the points Peter raised are fair ones. The higher cab seats are why we offer the flip-down footrests, and you can choose whichever toilet suits the way you travel. The Atek Pop Top is there for people who need four berths, and plenty of our customers are happy as a two-berth without it.
It’s the little things he noticed that meant the most to us: the pull-out tap for muddy paws, the bedding stored where your feet go and the shelves exactly where you need them all come from us using our own ‘vans.
See the Trouvaille Classique for yourself
Reading a review is one thing, but nothing beats sitting in the ‘van, trying the beds and opening every drawer.
Come and see the Trouvaille Classique MWB at our workshop, have a chat with Richard and see the ‘vans being built. Everyone who books a workshop tour gets a free mug set to take home.
Please note: Information in this blog was correct at the time of publishing. Links, offers, specifications and product availability may change over time.
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