Chausson 640 Review

Paul Owen discovers the Chausson 640 is quite the tardis, with a lot more room than might be expected in a van of this size.

If you want maximum interior space within a four-berth motorhome of modest proportions, the Chausson 640 is the ideal choice. At just 6.99 metres long, the Chausson creates expectations of having a cabin that is rather cramped and confined as you first approach it. Then you step inside and find lots of what Cadillac once called ‘the ultimate luxury’: space.

There’s room to move and room to groove, and couples no longer have to inch past each other to get from one end of the Chausson 640 to the other. Chausson’s exclusive New Zealand importers, Craig and Penny Welsh of RV Direct New Zealand in Wellington, confesses they often suggests couples look at the 640 when they’ve initially expressed an interest in the model’s larger, more expensive sibling, the 7.2m-long Chausson 788.

“As soon as I find out that they’re going to be doing the majority of their touring as a couple, I tell them to take a look inside the 640 – they’re always surprised by how much extra space the interior of the shorter van has, particularly inside the larger  bathroom and kitchen areas,” says Craig.  It’s the deletion of the four-berth 788’s island bed that creates the extra room. The four-berth 640 has a much larger drop-down bed and the same five-seat lounge up front as the longer model, and the sleeping platform and the table with the telescopic leg  below it can be effortlessly lowered in seconds by pushing a couple  of buttons. Like an island bed, the Chausson’s dropper can be left  made up and ready for the night. Just push the lowering buttons,  chuck a couple of pillows aboard and climb in. It’s easier than  brushing your teeth before sleep, as, thanks to the lowering table,  the bed lowers to a height that’s as easy as a motel bed to conquer.

Next morning, the reverse of the lowering process is just as easy and effortless, the bed rising silently and smoothly, in less time than it takes to operate the power roof on a classy European cabriolet. With the bed located at ceiling level, there’s an ease  of movement inside the 640 that is only rivalled by some larger tandem-axle caravans with cabins more than 22 feet long. They say that we spend one third of our lives in bed,  which means that the island beds popular in semi-integrated motorhomes and caravans are a total waste of space 66 per cent  of the time. The $177,995 (including clean car fee) Chausson 640 presents a compelling argument for the space  multiplication possibilities of fitting a compact motorhome  with just a drop-down double bed.

Shorter is Sweeter

The benefits of buying a shorter motorhome are multiple, and not a day will pass on tour when the easier parking, the increased opportunities of finding a flat camping site, and the lower fuel and ferry costs won’t be appreciated. One of the biggest benefits of all is that the 640 has a Gross Vehicle Mass (GVM) rating of 3,500kg, which qualifies it for Warrant of Fitness checks at longer intervals instead of the stringent, far more expensive Certificate of Fitness checks every six months. Sure, that GVM figure also means the 640 accrues a clean car fee at the time of its first  registration for use on New Zealand roads, but RV Direct NZ appears to have already absorbed that initial $5,000 registration  fee with its keen pricing of the Chausson 640. Having a vehicle subject to WoF checks instead of the CoF regime will make it far more attractive to buyers at resale  time, while making the overall ownership experience far  more convenient and less costly.

Anyone getting the fitness of their motorhome checked  for a new Certificate of Fitness knows that the process must  sometimes be booked weeks in advance, can take up to three hours of their time, and costs roughly three times more than a WoF check. Each new CoF issued for the vehicle expires within six months, half the valid life of a WoF. Under present regulations,  owners of CoF-certified motorhomes often find that the fitness certificate has expired while the vehicle has been parked for the entire six-month period. That the Chausson 640 qualifies for warrant tests is a huge plus to me, especially as the clean car fee that it also attracts appears to have had so little adverse effect on the cost competitiveness of the model.

A Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi

The wealth of space might be the first impression gleaned when stepping inside the 640, but it will be quickly followed by an appreciation of the décor of the Chausson. Black taps and controls contrast harmoniously with the lighter faux-wood plank floor, the light grey hue of the synthetic leather upholstery, and the sawcut textured off-white of the lockers, cupboards, and drawers. It’s an interior design that has ‘a certain something about it’ and it’s pure eye candy if you’re sick of the slightly depressing dark wood themes of British RV interiors. Leave it to the French to do something simple yet stylish, and that carries over to the construction and engineering applied to the Chausson as it emerged from the huge factory of Trigano VDL, located in the Rhone Valley. Instead of hybridising the front suspension and under-cab chassis of a European van with an Al-Ko rear suspension and alloy chassis as per the usual semi-integrated motorhome, Chausson chose to use the entire chassis and suspension of the Ford Transit platform. This is key to the attractive pricing of the 640, and the negatives appear to be few – a little lost cabin width that’s hardly noticeable given the spacious interior design, and a rear garage that’s rated to carry 150kg of the 640’s 503kg payload instead of the usual 250kg are the only drawbacks.

Meanwhile, the Chausson is a sweet drive. The 170bhp 2.0L Transit diesel offers strong performance with smooth refinement, and the six-speed automatic shifts fluidly and always selects the appropriate ratio. Six-speed automatics are lighter and take less space than those with more ratios, and that weight reduction can translate to increased payload or reduced fuel use. When the six-speed is as good as this one it’s hard to think of a downside to Ford’s choice of a ‘six-of-the-best’ transmission.

Chausson blessed the GRP/composite sandwich walled cabin of the 640 with thick layers of insulation all round, and the roof has a layer that is 54mm thick while the floor has a 63.5mm thick layer. The result is a single-floor motorhome that rides as quietly as one with a double floor, atop original Transit suspension that’s factory-tuned by some of the best chassis engineers in the business to absorb surface imperfections. So successful is Chausson’s retention of an entire van chassis in this
motorhome that I wonder why many more manufacturers don’t adopt a similar design strategy.

Quality Detailing

The New Zealand version of the Chausson 640 gets the Titanium specification upgrade; this means it comes fully fitted with a host of very desirable additions to match the well-considered design details. Foremost of these is the diesel heating, which means the cabin can be heated while on the move, and that you can park up with an already cosy motorhome no matter what the weather.

The Chausson comes with a 100w solar panel as standard, while the rear wall already has bike rack mounts installed. There is also a satellite TV aerial installed, and this particular model came with a 24” TV that slides out on the standard-fit mount from a slot behind the full-height three-way fridge.

While the 640 is technically a 4-berth, it possibly works better as a 2-berth given given that converting the lounge into a second double bed may take a bit of time, and the height of the dropper needs careful consideration so that access and egress to and from it is maintained while reserving a comfortable amount of head room for those ‘downstairs’. What’s nice about the lounge seat design is that the forward-facing travel seats are easy to find and erect and it only takes a couple of minutes to transform the two side-facing bench seats in the lounge into the seat-belt secured pews  required by law.

With the drop-down bed likely to be the prime slumber spot measuring 1.9m x 1.6m, there’s a height limit placed on the appeal of the 640. This also applies when the bed is raised, as there’s roughly 1.9m of head space left once it’s placed in ‘day mode’.

The Anatomic Ceiling

That 1.9m height restriction probably removes roughly 25 per cent of New Zealand men from the list of potential buyers of the Chausson 640 but is still inclusive of the vast majority of Kiwi women with the possible exception of the Tall Ferns basketball team. So, if you both fit beneath that anatomic ceiling there possibly isn’t a better 7.0m motorhome for couples, and the $178K price possibly allows quite a budget for adding further energy storage and solar arrays.

The trusty Transit platform comes with a three-year warranty, on top of the five-year habitation warranty and one-year appliance warranty. All Chaussons come with full New Zealand certification for their gas and electric installations. If you like the modern design of the interior, and the value for money that the 640 represents, you’ll need to get your skates on – there are just five 640s still available, and more won’t arrive until some time next year.

For more information, visit https://rvdirect.co.nz/