Motor home researcher.

Thats  one  of  the  foibles  of  this  forum,  Headsup.  your  posts  only  appeared  for  ME  to  see  on  Friday  26/10/18.  so  I  hope  by  now  you  might  actually  have  resolved  your  dilemma  for  good  or  ill.

Do  let  us  know  how  your  getting  along  with  the  searches  etc  and  don't  forget  there  are  more  Shows  scattered  around  the  country  over  the  year  so  some  might  be  closer  to  your  home  than  the  NEC ( another  show  there  in  February ) 

If you are touring the continent you will see that they favour “garage” style motorhomes - a raised sleeping area with a garage underneath for storage. If you look at UK models then they are generally of the “caravan” style with beds at floor level, increased headroom but less storage. Once you have decided which you prefer you will have made a substantial reduction in the available models which will help the selection process.

If you can’t decide between the two styles then there will be many, many opinions on this forum which may or may not help!

depending on budget, this might fit your bill exactly...

a few years ago Hymer brought out the B544....layout as you've described...

much imitated....by Burstner, Rapido.....and probably best of all Frankia with their 640SD...

at 6.5m....very large space inside, lounge, washroom, kitchen all great....drop down bed also featured lengthways sleeping in the thickest A class bed I've ever seen...

issues....very few...lack of large storage area for bikes etc...

this year, enter the 6.98m F line i680 with a garage gafted onto the rear end....this also gives even more wardrobe storage inside the across the rear washroom....

a Tardis in 640 form, but the 680 is even more...

not cheap, but massively well built, huge deep double floor, fully winterised lovely van. 

frankia i680

I'm on my third A-class with a drop down bed. Think very carefully about  drop down beds because they are not to everyone's liking. They have a weight limit [mine is 200kg], can be cramped for those sleeping next to the windscreen, you have to use a ladder to access, the one sleeping on the inside may have to climb over the one on the outside, they are heavy to pull down, have to be prepared before going to bed - lowering the front seats as a minimum, headroom is limited, and my wife dislikes them. They are space savers though which is why we continue to have them.

A-classes come with problems in general such as reduced access to the engine compartment hampering maintenance, difficult to gauge where the front nearside and front are as they are out of sight, cost. You do get extra space and the expansive views through the windscreen. My wife loves them - bird spotting through the large glass frontage - but has never driven one. She drove our earlier coachbulits and fancies a Merc next.

We have a garage in our current van and do not like it but it's the penalty we pay for wanting a fixed single bed in the rear. 

It is easy to see the benefits of an A-class, not so easy the drawbacks. Despite what I say above, A-classes suit us and we don't regret having them. We had a Hymer 544 [see BB's post above] for eight years. I'd love a Frankia!

Good post, A

weve got a fixed transverse bed in the rear of our van (with large garage underneath) and a drop down one in the cab which we have used a couple of time when we've taken daughter and G'd away with us.

we're not overly tall and didn't find the bed too short (even in our slimmer type van) but sitting up (due to the lack of 'firm' sides to lean on) might be an issue. we can also leave bedding in place and don't require a ladder (we don't even have one) as the bed comes down pretty low and we can hop up via the side seat and the bed is enormous at 1.60m wide....so loads of room.

on many of the latest A classes there is the option to sleep lengthways by sliding out built in 'extensions', the Frankia (and some small Hymers)  certainly employ this set up.

sitting up is probably easier this way as occupants would be leaning against the front 'pod' of the roof....also entry/egress is easier as there is a small access 'gap' between the two sleepers.

the Frankia is a terrific van and I'd love one, but we are really happy with the smaller footprint (6.40 X 2.12) of this van.

the only other issue I can think of is (as usual) weight...

extending the 640 (itself, sometimes tricky at 3.5t) into the 680 has to add weight which might make the 4.25 chassis a far better option.