Sunlight Cliff 590 4x4: The Affordable All Wheel Drive Campervan That the UK Cannot Buy Yet

There is a campervan that has been quietly building a cult following across Europe for the last few years. It is compact. It is genuinely capable off road. It is built by a brand within the Erwin Hymer Group, which means the engineering is serious rather than cosmetic. And it starts at a price that makes most other all wheel drive campervans look like they have added a zero by mistake.

The Sunlight Cliff 590 4x4 is, on paper, exactly the campervan that a significant chunk of the UK market has been asking for. A factory built all wheel drive panel van conversion on a Ford Transit base, under six metres long, with a proper habitation interior, at a price that does not require you to re-examine your life choices.

There is just one problem. You cannot currently buy one from a UK dealer.

That situation might be about to change. But first, let us talk about what the Cliff 590 4x4 actually is, because the vehicle deserves a proper look regardless of where you can currently buy it.

What the Sunlight Cliff 590 4x4 actually is

Sunlight is a German brand manufactured by Capron GmbH in Neustadt, Saxony. Capron is part of the Erwin Hymer Group, the same family that owns Hymer, Burstner, Eriba, Carado, Dethleffs, and several other brands. That lineage matters because it means Sunlight has access to the same engineering resources, supplier networks, and production expertise as brands that charge considerably more.

The Cliff 590 4x4 is built on the Ford Transit with permanent all wheel drive, a 2.0 litre diesel engine producing 165 horsepower, and a six speed manual gearbox. The vehicle measures 5.98 metres long, 2.06 metres wide, and 2.84 metres tall. It sits on a 3,500 kilogram chassis, which keeps it within the standard Category B driving licence limit for most UK drivers.

That Ford Transit base is important. Unlike the Fiat Ducato, which underpins the rest of the Sunlight campervan range in front wheel drive form, the Transit offers a rear wheel drive architecture with an intelligent all wheel drive system that automatically engages the front axle when the rear wheels lose traction. There is no driver intervention required. No buttons to press, no modes to select in normal use. The system monitors wheel speed and driver inputs and distributes torque accordingly.

The AWD system is not an aftermarket conversion. It is Ford's own factory fitted intelligent all wheel drive, which has been available on the Transit for several years and is well proven in commercial, agricultural, and emergency service use. This is not a lifestyle accessory bolted on at a conversion stage. It is baked into the vehicle from the chassis up.

Sunlight positions the Cliff 590 4x4 as what it claims is Europe's first full production, entry level, all wheel drive campervan. That claim is worth parsing. There are other all wheel drive campervans available, most notably on the Mercedes Sprinter platform from brands like Hymer and Burstner. But those vehicles typically start at significantly higher prices. The Burstner Habiton HMX 6.0, which we reviewed in detail, starts at around 87,000 euros at German list. The Hymer Grand Canyon S with all wheel drive pushes well into the mid nineties.

The Cliff 590 4x4 starts at approximately 68,499 euros in continental European pricing. The Greentrek variant, which adds sustainable interior materials and off road tyres from tuning specialist delta4x4, starts at around 73,499 euros. Those are extraordinary numbers for a factory all wheel drive campervan with this level of specification.

The layout: familiar, practical, and deliberately compact

Inside, the Cliff 590 4x4 follows the same layout as the standard Cliff 590. A transverse double bed at the rear measuring 192 by 147 centimetres, a bathroom with integrated shower separated from the living area by a folding door, a kitchen with a two burner hob, sink, and a 64 litre compressor fridge, and a front dinette with seating for four and swivelling cab seats.

The interior height is 2.02 metres throughout, which is comfortable standing room for most adults. The kitchen block has been slightly tapered towards the front to open up more space around the dinette and the sliding door entry, which is a small design decision that makes a noticeable difference to how the interior feels when you step in.

It sleeps two. There is no pop top roof option on the 4x4 variant, which means it cannot currently match the four berth capability of competitors like the Swift Trekker X or the standard Ducato based Cliff models that offer a pop top. For couples, that is fine. For families, it is a limitation worth noting.

Storage is handled through the under bed area accessible via the rear doors, overhead lockers, and various shelf and compartment solutions throughout the living space. The rear doors open to reveal a generous loading area beneath the bed platform, which is where your boots, wet gear, climbing equipment, surfboard, or whatever else brought you to the middle of nowhere in the first place goes.

Standard equipment includes an awning, premium framed windows, a 12 inch touchscreen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, ambient lighting in the seating area, and the usual Sunlight amenities that you would find across the Cliff range. The Adventure Edition adds bespoke 4x4 decals and black 16 inch alloy wheels. The Greentrek variant goes further with 17 inch off road tyres from delta4x4, a Ford Raptor style grille, bronze accented black wheels, and an interior finished in sustainable materials designed to improve the interior climate.

Why the Ford Transit base matters for all wheel drive

The choice of the Ford Transit over the Fiat Ducato for the 4x4 variant is not arbitrary. It is structural.

The Fiat Ducato is a front wheel drive platform. Converting it to all wheel drive requires aftermarket modification, which adds cost, complexity, weight, and potential reliability concerns. Dangel and other specialists offer Ducato 4x4 conversions, and some are very good, but they are conversions rather than factory systems.

The Ford Transit, by contrast, is available with factory all wheel drive from Ford's own production line. The system uses a rear wheel drive base with an electronically controlled wet clutch that engages the front axle when needed. The drivetrain components are tucked away beneath the chassis without raising the ride height significantly, which means the load floor height and interior dimensions remain largely unchanged compared to a standard rear wheel drive Transit.

For a campervan manufacturer like Sunlight, this means the habitation conversion can proceed on a proven all wheel drive platform without needing to engineer around an aftermarket drivetrain. The vehicle arrives at the Capron factory in Neustadt already capable. Sunlight adds the living space. The result is a factory campervan with factory all wheel drive, which is a simpler, more reliable, and ultimately cheaper proposition than any aftermarket 4x4 conversion route.

There is one significant caveat. The Ford Transit AWD is only available with a six speed manual gearbox. There is no automatic option. For a campervan that weighs close to 3,500 kilograms fully loaded, a manual gearbox adds effort to the driving experience, particularly in stop start traffic, on steep campsite entrances, and during the kind of slow speed manoeuvring that touring in the UK constantly demands. If you have read any of our other reviews, you know our position on automatics: for most people, most of the time, an automatic gearbox makes campervan driving calmer and less tiring. The lack of an auto option on the Cliff 590 4x4 is a compromise that some buyers will accept willingly and others will find difficult to overlook.

The Greentrek: the one that looks like it means it

If the standard Cliff 590 4x4 Adventure Edition is the sensible choice, the Greentrek is the one that makes you stop scrolling.

The Greentrek variant takes the same mechanical package and wraps it in a visual identity that is genuinely distinctive. An olive green exterior with contrast elements. A Ford Raptor style front grille that gives the Transit a presence it does not normally have. Seventeen inch off road tyres from delta4x4 with a tread pattern that extends to the tyre shoulder for serious grip on gravel, mud, and snow. Black KlassikB wheels with bronze accents. It looks like something that belongs on a forestry track in Norway rather than in a dealer showroom.

Inside, the Greentrek uses sustainable materials designed to improve the interior climate. Sunlight describes it as a particularly pleasant room and sleeping environment, and while marketing language deserves a raised eyebrow, the use of environmentally conscious materials in a campervan that is positioned for outdoor adventure makes logical sense. The people buying this vehicle care about the environment they are driving into. Building the interior with materials that reflect that is not a gimmick. It is consistency.

At approximately 73,499 euros, the Greentrek is around 5,000 euros more than the standard Adventure Edition. For the tyres, the wheels, the grille, and the interior materials, that premium is not unreasonable. Whether it is worth it depends on whether you want the Cliff 590 4x4 to look like a campervan that happens to have all wheel drive, or an all wheel drive vehicle that happens to be a campervan. The Greentrek is firmly the latter.

How it compares to the competition

The Cliff 590 4x4 sits in a market segment that barely existed a few years ago and is now growing quickly. Factory all wheel drive campervans on premium base vehicles used to be the preserve of the Sprinter based brands at prices that started in the high eighties and climbed rapidly from there.

The Burstner Habiton HMX 6.0, which we reviewed in detail, starts at around 87,000 euros at German list. It offers a more innovative layout with a patented sliding bathroom and heated pop top roof, plus the refinement of the Mercedes Sprinter platform with a 9G-TRONIC automatic gearbox. It is a genuinely impressive vehicle. But it is also around eighteen thousand euros more expensive than the Cliff 590 4x4 before you tick a single option.

The Hymer Grand Canyon S with all wheel drive sits even higher, with UK listings suggesting base prices in the mid nineties. Again, a brilliant vehicle with the Sprinter driving experience and Hymer's engineering pedigree. But the price gap to the Cliff 590 4x4 is now over twenty five thousand euros. That is not a marginal difference. That is a second hand car.

On the other end of the scale, there is nothing. The Cliff 590 4x4 essentially has the entry level all wheel drive campervan segment to itself. There is no comparable Ducato based competitor because the Ducato does not offer factory all wheel drive. There is no comparable Transit based competitor because no other manufacturer has built an all wheel drive Transit campervan at this price point.

Sunlight has found a gap and driven a Ford Transit through it.

The UK question: can you buy one, and if not, when

This is the part where the excitement meets reality.

Sunlight campervans are sold in the UK through a small number of dealers, most notably Lowdhams in Nottingham and M5 Leisure in Cheltenham. Both dealers stock and sell Sunlight's Ducato based Cliff range, including the Cliff 540, 600, 601, 602, and 640. The Sunlight Vanlife 540 V, which we reviewed separately, is also available through Lowdhams.

The Cliff 590 4x4, however, does not currently appear in any UK dealer's inventory. It is not listed on the Lowdhams website. It is not listed on the M5 Leisure website. It does not appear on AutoTrader or any other UK campervan marketplace. As of early 2026, the Cliff 590 4x4 remains a continental European product.

The reasons are not entirely clear from the outside, but there are several plausible factors.

First, the Ford Transit AWD in the specification that Sunlight uses for the Cliff 590 4x4 is the continental European variant. While the Ford Transit AWD is available in right hand drive in the UK, the specific chassis configuration that Sunlight's conversion is engineered for may not yet be certified or homologated for right hand drive production. Adapting a habitation conversion from left hand drive to right hand drive is not trivial. It affects the sliding door position, the kitchen layout, the electrical routing, and the relationship between the cab and the living space. Every manufacturer that sells in the UK faces this challenge, and some models simply do not make the transition because the engineering cost does not justify the projected sales volume.

Second, the UK market for all wheel drive campervans is still relatively small. Most UK touring is on paved roads, and the majority of campsites have hardstanding or at least reasonably firm grass pitches. The proportion of UK buyers who genuinely need all wheel drive is smaller than the proportion who want it, and manufacturers make production decisions based on the first number rather than the second.

Third, supply constraints on the Ford Transit AWD platform itself may be a factor. Ford's all wheel drive Transit production has historically been limited compared to the front and rear wheel drive variants, and allocation to campervan converters competes with demand from commercial, emergency service, and agricultural customers.

All of that said, there are reasons to believe the situation may change.

Sunlight's UK presence is growing. The Vanlife 540 V launch at the CCM Show 2026 demonstrated that Sunlight is willing to bring new and distinctive models to the UK market. Lowdhams, as the primary UK dealer, has been expanding its Sunlight range steadily. The broader trend in the UK campervan market is towards more capable, more adventurous vehicles, driven by buyer demand for shoulder season touring, wild camping capability, and the kind of go anywhere confidence that all wheel drive provides.

The Ford Transit AWD platform is also becoming more familiar in the UK. Ford sells the Transit Trail with all wheel drive through its standard UK dealer network, and the mechanical components are well supported. If Sunlight can engineer a right hand drive version of the Cliff 590 4x4, the aftersales infrastructure already exists.

If you are seriously interested in the Cliff 590 4x4 for the UK, the best practical step right now is to contact Lowdhams or M5 Leisure directly and ask. Dealer enquiries from potential buyers are one of the most effective signals a manufacturer can receive about market demand. If enough people ask, the business case for a UK version strengthens. If nobody asks, it stays on the continent.

The alternative: importing one yourself

For buyers who cannot wait, there is always the option of importing a left hand drive Cliff 590 4x4 from a European dealer. This is legal, possible, and some people do it. But it comes with practical considerations that are worth understanding before you commit.

A left hand drive campervan in the UK means overtaking is harder, drive through facilities are awkward, toll booths and car park barriers are on the wrong side, and passenger visibility at junctions is reduced. For some people, these are minor irritations. For others, they are daily frustrations that erode the pleasure of owning the vehicle.

There are also administrative costs. Import duty, VAT, vehicle registration, and the Individual Vehicle Approval process for vehicles not originally type approved for the UK market all add to the price. By the time you factor in these costs, the savings compared to waiting for an official UK version may be smaller than expected.

That said, if you tour primarily in Europe, a left hand drive campervan is actually an advantage on the continent. If your touring pattern is a ferry crossing followed by weeks in France, Spain, Portugal, or Scandinavia, a left hand drive Cliff 590 4x4 imported from a German dealer might make more sense than a right hand drive version ever would. It depends entirely on how and where you travel.

What this means for the UK all wheel drive campervan market

The Cliff 590 4x4 matters even if you never buy one. It matters because it proves that a factory all wheel drive campervan does not have to cost eighty or ninety thousand pounds. It proves that a compact, sub six metre panel van on a Ford Transit base can offer genuine off road capability without sacrificing interior comfort or pushing past the 3,500 kilogram licence limit. And it proves that there is a price point, somewhere in the high sixties to low seventies in euros, where all wheel drive stops being a premium niche and starts being an accessible option.

That changes the pressure on every other manufacturer in the segment. If Sunlight can deliver a factory 4x4 campervan at 68,499 euros, buyers will rightly ask why a Sprinter based competitor costs twenty five thousand more. The Sprinter offers a different driving experience, a more refined platform, and an automatic gearbox, and all of those things have value. But twenty five thousand euros of value? That is a harder argument to make when the Cliff 590 4x4 exists as a reference point.

For the UK specifically, the Cliff 590 4x4 represents the kind of vehicle that could do extremely well if it arrives with right hand drive and sensible pricing. The UK has some of the best reasons in Europe to want all wheel drive in a campervan: wet grass campsites, muddy farm tracks to small sites, steep and loose surfaced access roads in Wales and Scotland, and a climate that makes traction relevant for far more months of the year than Mediterranean markets. A compact, affordable, Ford based all wheel drive campervan would find an audience here. The question is whether Sunlight chooses to serve that audience, or leaves the door open for someone else to fill the gap.

The bottom line

The Sunlight Cliff 590 4x4 is a genuinely compelling campervan. It offers factory all wheel drive on a proven Ford Transit platform, a practical and well thought through habitation layout, and a starting price that undercuts every all wheel drive competitor by a meaningful margin. The Greentrek variant adds visual drama and sustainable materials without pushing the price into uncomfortable territory.

For UK buyers, the frustration is straightforward. You cannot walk into a dealer and buy one. Not yet. The vehicle exists. The platform exists. The dealer network exists. The demand almost certainly exists. What is missing is the commitment from Sunlight to engineer and certify a right hand drive version for the UK market.

If that commitment comes, the Cliff 590 4x4 will be one of the most interesting new campervans to arrive in the UK in years. A factory 4x4, under six metres, on a Ford Transit, with a full habitation interior, at a price that starts below seventy thousand euros. That is a combination nobody else is offering.

Until then, it sits across the Channel, looking excellent, and reminding us that the campervan we want and the campervan we can buy are not always the same thing.

And if the cost of any campervan still feels like a stretch, well, that is exactly why we run Campervan.win. Someone has to make these things accessible.