Like a T6 camper that’s grown up
FIFTY years ago, the Dormobile brand was so synonymous with campervans that its name was sometimes used generically, like Thermos or Hoover. Its side-hinged pop-tops were fitted to everything from Austins to VWs, from Bedfords to Land Rovers, and it made coachbuilts, too. But that era came shuddering to a halt when the Folkestone factory shut its doors in 1994.
The current company effectively relaunched the brand in 2020 and is now based in the New Forest. It still offers restoration facilities for those classic models but key to its future health and growth will be a range of new campervans, including side kitchen conversions on the Ford Transit Custom and VW Transporter, plus larger layouts on the Peugeot Boxer. Its latest model, the Ohana, debuted at Campervan Campout and is based on the MAN TGE (sister van to the Volkswagen Crafter) with 140bhp motor and eight-speed automatic transmission.
Unlike most other conversions of this class-leading base vehicle, Dormobile’s design makes no attempt to combine coachbuilt-style facilities with panel van dimensions. Instead, it approaches camping from the opposite direction, aiming to offer a VW T6-like conversion in a bigger, more spacious vehicle.
On the outside, everything has been kept simple, although the alloy wheels and metallic paint are included in the £84,995 price tag. There’s little else (bar subtle Dormobile badging) to mark this out as a campervan, and the side windows are tinted glass rather than motorhome-style double-glazed plastic. A 130W solar panel is mounted on the roof and a roll-out awning features, too.
Inside, the layout looks akin to smaller campers, featuring an RIB 120 rear travel seat and a side kitchen – all finished to a high standard. The big difference is at the back, where a fixed bed runs across the ’van at high level (with the benefit of pods on either side to achieve a 1.87m maximum length). The mattress is also 1.21m wide and has a domestic-style thickness of 180mm. This arrangement also gives the Ohana a super-sized garage (1.45m wide, 93cm deep and 91cm high), so storage shames smaller ’vans.
Of course, as Dormobile converts a high-roof version of the MAN, there’s no need for a pop-top here, so the second bed is formed at low level from the rear bench. This unfolds into a 1.84m by 1.12m double where your feet go beneath the rear bed (in a recess that can store your bedding by day).
Then, if you need five berths to go with the five seatbelts, you can simply add a Cabbunk. On site, this Ohana had a double passenger seat in the cab, whi
