Comfort, Safety, and Style
In Australia, the number of motorhome manufacturers has mostly stayed the same over the past 10 years, even during the COVID pandemic. Consequently, when a new player enters the market, it creates interest. Just over a year ago JB Caravans bought out the remnants of Paradise Motorhomes with the long-term view of rebuilding the brand … a project that JB has been working on since then. However, in tandem with that JB has been developing its own range of motorhomes – obviously inspired by the Paradise range but without the luxury price tag.
Introduction to the JB Touring Motorhome
Enter the JB Touring, the first of the new motorhomes out of the JB Caravans factory door. I first saw it at the recent Newcastle Caravan, Camping and Lifestyle Expo on the JB Caravans stand, where it caught my attention. It is undoubtedly an impressive-looking motorhome. JB’s Jody Calvert organised a review time and I was soon hitting the road for a drive.
The JB Touring is built on an Iveco Daily 50-180 cab chassis. It’s powered by a 132kW/430Nm turbo diesel and Iveco’s slick eight-speed torque converter gearbox. Although the Daily has a GVM of 4,495kg, that can be upgraded to 7,200kg. Of course, a Light Rigid truck licence is required with the upgrade. JB supplied me with a weight certificate which showed a Tare Mass of 3,840kg. Even with the 4,495kg GVM, that gives a decent payload of 655kg – even with the 200kg absorbed full water tanks. The motorhome I reviewed was a two-seater. However, there’s an option to have seatbelts fitted to the rear seat.
Being a very contemporary vehicle, the Daily has all the expected safety features like the Antilock Braking System (ABS), Electronic Brake Force Distribution (EBD), Anti-Slip Regulator (ASR) and Hill Holder. Plenty of tech features are included too, like the electric hand brake, multi-function steering wheel, twin airbags, cruise control and Apple CarPlay.
Construction and Design
JB’s motorhome is built very much in the contemporary style with full composite fibreglass construction that has one-piece panels for the walls and roof (which has a domed profile). The floor, which is fully insulated, is also a one-piece item. Included in the external fittings are a Dometic CaraD security door, Dometic double-glazed acrylic windows and a Carefree Altitude awning.
All the external storage bins are fully moulded and form part of the overall body structure. Although some bins are used for essentials like house batteries and gas cylinders, there’s still plenty of storage for all the camping essentials.
The Iveco base vehicle is loaded up with safety and tech features including satellite navigation and Apple CarPlay, cruise control, power mirrors, a multi-function steering wheel, twin airbags and an electric park brake.
Power Management and Off-Grid Capabilities
The heart of the motorhome’s power system is a 4kW EcoFlow power kit. It’s a 48V DC ‘plug and play’ arrangement that is a central hub for the 2 x 2kW Lithium LiFePO4 batteries, 3 x 200W solar panels, the 1,000W DC-DC charger and the 3,600W inverter. Fitted into the locker above the habitation door is an EcoFlow interface panel that controls everything.
Aside from the electrics, there’s a 200-litre freshwater tank and a 75-litre grey water tank, so off-grid travel for an extended period is quite practical.
Interior Layout and Comfort
The motorhome’s external length of 7.9m (25ft 11in) means that there’s plenty of room to move inside. Up front is the lounging and dining area. Behind that are the kitchen facilities, which effectively split the living and bedroom areas – leaving space across the rear for a full-width bathroom.
White is the predominant colour scheme, resulting in a very bright interior that’s offset by items like the black upholstery, fridge and sink. A very generous window area allows for good natural light and ventilation.
In the cab area, both seats swivel around. Since the advent of the electric handbrake, there has been no more conflict with the floor-mounted handbrake. However, the base plate over the hole where the handbrake used to be is a little reminder of that.
Being a B-class motorhome, there is no Luton peak bed and the cab roof area has been nicely finished off with a shelf across the cab and storage cupboards on either side. Both seats come with reading lights and the area is generally well finished off. However, I did think the base of the seats needed a ‘skirt’ just to take away the slightly industrial look of the seat base. Although both the seats swivel, being at a different height to the rear seat they don’t marry up particularly well with the table behind the driver’s seat. However, the rear seat in front of the fridge is set at a good height for the Nuova Mapa-mounted table. The rear seat has the expected features like a reading light, a Sirocco fan and a power point with USB hub under the squab. There’s an overhead locker above the seat and a large drawer in the seat base for storage. A drawer is much easier to access in the lower storage areas.
For a relatively large motorhome, the kitchen bench is surprisingly compact. There’s enough benchtop area for a Dometic two-burner induction cooktop and a square moulded sink. Thanks to an angled cupboard in the bedroom area, there’s a bit more benchtop working space than expected. In the under-bench area, four good-sized drawers surround the NCE microwave oven.
Not quite facing the kitchen bench, there’s more kitchen storage on the opposite side of the motorhome. The Dometic 180-litre compressor fridge has a two-door shelved cupboard above and a two-tier wire basket pantry alongside. The kitchen storage facilities score quite well.
Read Bed Space
East-west beds in a motorhome without a slide-out are unusual but this one fits in quite well. Even with its bolster extended length of 1.9m (6ft 3in), there’s still just enough walk-around space at the base of the bed. The pillowtop mattress has a standard width of 1.53m (5ft). Overhead lockers are fitted above the bed and both occupants get a Sirocco fan and a bedside wardrobe complete with hanging space, a pillow cubbie and shelf space on two levels. They’re quite well appointed and include the now standard power point and USB hub in the pillow cubbie. A nice touch are the light switches right at pillow height. At the base of the bed, small diagonal cupboards are in each corner. Above the rear cupboard, there’s a TV mounting point.
Full-Width Amenities
Across the rear, the bathroom has a Dometic cassette toilet centre stage, a 0.9m x 0.7m (3ft x 2ft 3in) shower cubicle on the offside and a vanity cabinet in the opposite corner. There’s plenty of drawer storage alongside the cabinet with the top-loading washing machine; and above, the cupboard has plenty of shelf space. Neither of the cupboard doors has a mirror on the outside, just a small one on the side of one of the doors.
The Bottom Line
As expected, the Iveco Daily is a good base vehicle for the JB Touring and a pleasant motorhome to drive. For the most part, the fit and finish pass muster; and there’s little creaking and squeaking from the rear when on the road. It has a spacious interior with a practical functional separation. JB’s first effort at building a motorhome looks very good.
Specifications
VEHICLE
Manufacturer JB Caravans
Model JB Touring
Base Vehicle Iveco Daily 50-180
Tare weight 3,840kg
GVM 4,495kg
Licence Car
Passengers 2 (opt 4)
MECHANICAL
Engine 3.0-litre turbo diesel
Power 132kW @ 3,500rpm
Torque 430Nm @ 1,500rpm
Gearbox 8-speed auto
Brakes ABS and EBS Disc
DIMENSIONS
External length 7.9m (25ft 11in)
External width (incl awn) 2.4m (7ft 11in)
External height 3.2m (10ft 6in)
Internal height 2.0m (6ft 7in)
Bed size 1.9m x 1.53m (6ft 3in x 5ft)
EQUIPMENT
Cooktop NCE 2-burner induction
Fridge Dometic RU6408X 189-litre compressor
Microwave Oven NCE 25-litre
Lighting 12V LED
Batteries 2 x 2kW Lithium
Solar panels 3 x 200W
Air conditioner Dometic Freshjet
Toilet Dometic cassette
Shower 0.9m x 0.7m (3ft x 2ft 3in)
Hot water heater Girard instantaneous
Heater No
Water tank 200-litre
Grey tank 75-litre
Gas cylinders 2 x 4.0kg
Price $216,000
Supplied by
JB Caravans
2256 Pacific Highway
Heatherbrae NSW 2324
Ph: 02 4987 5930
