What you’re looking at here is a spacious, luxuriously-appointed one-bedroom apartment located in… wherever you damn well please, really. It’s the Brabus Big Boy, and it’s the esteemed Mercedes tuner’s take on the campervan.
‘Van’ is underselling it really, though. The Big Boy – and that really is its name – is based on the Mercedes Actros, which is what we in the business like to call A Lorry. That means it’s powered by a 12.8-litre turbodiesel straight-six engine making 523bhp and a fairly hilarious 1918lb ft of torque. It also means that top speed is limited to a not-so-scorching 56mph.
Brabus Big Boy – front
Still, you probably won’t care how fast you’re going given the sheer luxury you’ll be travelling in. Much like those big American RVs, the walls of what we’ll be referring to as the master bedroom pop out, creating plenty of space for both the king-size double bed and the integrated wardrobe.
Also extendable is the adjacent living room, replete with two sofas furnished in grey Brabus leather, with other bits of trim in dark wood, Alcantara and carbon fibre. Mmmm, classy. Both the bedroom and living room have their own 43-inch 4K TVs, complete with PS5s, and the whole thing’s supported by Starlink satellite internet, so you can rage-quit Gran Turismo 7 Daily Races from anywhere in the world.
Brabus Big Boy – bedroom
Most campervan’s kitchens amount to a piddly little sink and a single hob over a gas bottle. Obviously, that’s not the case with the Big Boy. It has an oven with an induction hob, a dishwasher, an integrated fridge-freezer, a separate drinks fridge and a coffee machine.
And yes, there’s a bog, and it’s not some cramped sub-aeroplane-toilet arrangement (although you will, presumably, still have to empty it yourself at some point – the Big Boy can’t eliminate all the unglamorous elements of motorhome life). It sits adjacent to a separate rainhead shower.
Brabus Big Boy – kitchen/living room
The whole thing gets auxiliary air-con and heating systems, and sits on a fleet of deployable hydraulic stands to counteract any lumpy terrain you might park on. There’s also 360-degree camera monitoring to ensure you don’t accidentally reverse into a small village when manoeuvring.
To Brabus-ify the exterior, the Big Boy has plenty of carbon fibre thrown at it (which we’re sure makes a world of difference to its weight), and there’s a massive illuminated Brabus logo in the grille.
Brabus Big Boy – interior
How much will this 26 tonnes worth of torque and leather set you back? Brabus hasn’t said, but let’s just assume it’s a bit more than a Fiat Ducato with a fibreglass growth on the back.
