Toward the end of each summer, the annual Düsseldorf Caravan Salon showcases the most diverse selection of camping vehicles you’re likely to ever see gathered in one place – from beautiful classics to cutting-edge concepts and prototypes, and from tiny, featherlight trailers to massive tundra-roving 8-wheelers. It’s never easy to pick out a favorite vehicle from that deep fleet, so we don’t usually try. This year, however, the new Bimobil EX 270 popped out as not only one of the most visually arresting rigs in all 15 exhibition halls of the show but also the one in which we’d most like to disappear into a cloud of self-made dust – for a week, month or maybe indefinitely.
The Caravan Salon has long stood as the world’s largest RV show. This year, it welcomed 259,000 visitors and 834 exhibitors from 41 countries across the world, encompassing just shy of 2.7 million square feet (250K sq m) of exhibition space. For comparison, the show that literally named itself “America’s Largest RV Show” in Hershey, Pennsylvania took place last week with 40 manufacturers showcasing RVs across 1 million square feet (93K sq m) of show space. Since it winds down on Sunday, we don’t have a final visitor tally but should know by next week if it bested last year’s 45,813 visitors – a far cry from 259K.
That’s not meant as a knock on the Hershey show, which generates plenty of RV industry excitement in itself, but it provides a little insight into just how large the Düsseldorf expo looms in front of a visitor’s eyes and camera lens. And it alludes to just how impressive a vehicle has to be to stand out as the unequivocal Best in Show, even if just in one man’s opinion.
CC Weiss/New Atlas
We consider Bimobil a staple of the Caravan Salon and a must-stop booth each time we visit. Even during down years when it doesn’t have anything that new or different, its expedition vehicles loom large as truly thoughtfully crafted all-terrain machines built for long-term travel on and off the beaten path. They also represent a wealth of experience, as the manufacturer, headquartered in the fun-to-say Bavarian community of Oberpframmern, has been at it since 1977, preparing over 5,000 campers during that half-century in business.
Bimobil’s current lineup features dozens of campers in many sizes paired with myriad truck and van chassis, ensuring that every buyer can precisely meet their needs with just the right RV amenities aboard the base perfect vehicle.
Bimobil
The vehicle base in this case was a pristine, deep-red Land Cruiser cab-chassis that exemplifies Bimobil’s unflappable travel-anywhere spirit just as keenly as the brand’s own expedition camping modules. That cab wore the rough, unmodernized edges of the classic 70 series that still plays by the old rules of off-roading in those countries that so allow. Germany is not one of those countries, but expedition builders like Bimobil and Desert Tec procure them through the import market and build thoroughly outfitted world tourers in and atop them.
CC Weiss/New Atlas
It was the square cut of that cab’s jawline and its magnificent red paint that drew us in, but it’s the overall EX 270’s compact, nimble size and resulting roam-anywhere versatility that really drove it home as our favorite of the show. It’s a new build prepared earlier this year for display at June’s Abenteuer & Allrad off-road fair ahead of the Düsseldorf appearance and while it can technically sleep up to four people via one of three available floor plans, it strikes us as one of the world’s preeminent two-person all-terrain adventure RVs.
Helped by the single-cab Land Cruiser 79 up front, the entire EX 270 vehicle measures 580 cm (228 in) from bumper to bumper, shorter than many of the camper vans displayed prominently throughout multiple Caravan Salon halls. And while it’s not the smallest, nimblest motorhome based on a Land Cruiser or something of similar ilk, it does find a perfect sweet spot of compact on-trail capability and roomy at-camp comfort, digging out a niche between Bimobil’s smaller demountable campers and its full-blown monster rovers.
Bimobil
As noted previously, Bimobil offers three different floor plans for the EX 270 module, all with a sleeper alcove above the driver’s cab. The Caravan Salon variant included one of the brand’s best signature features, but it was all closed up on the show floor owing to lack of space. That feature is the available lift-up hatch in back, which opens to invite in the local scenery and fresh air. The dinette is located right next to this hatch, providing the opportunity to enjoy breezy al fresco meals protected all the while by the shade and comfort of the Bimobil roof.
That dining area converts over into a single bed, filling out the three-person maximum sleeping capacity for this floor plan in conjunction with the transverse bed in the alcove. The kitchen is located on the driver-side wall across from the entryway and carries a dual-burner gas stove, sink, under-counter 75-L fridge/6-L freezer, and work and storage space.
Bimobil
The wet bath is located conveniently right next to the floor below the bed, offering an Ogo dry separating toilet, fixed sink and shower. A 100-L fresh water tank keeps the taps flowing, while a 67-liter gray water tank catches the runoff on the other end of the drain.
Crafted from composite sandwich panels, the EXZ 270 motorhome also includes a 180-Ah double-battery pack, a Truma Combi D air/water heater and space for a 20-L LPG tank. The interior stands 6.3 feet (193 cm) high and comes trimmed in a generous amount of solid wood. At 298 cm (117 in) in total exterior height, it’ not meant to squeeze into all those 2-m-high parking decks so you’ll have to park it out in the open air.
Bimobil
We’d be inclined to stick with the debut layout for its al fresco dinette and convenient bedside bathroom, but those shopping for alternatives will also have the option of a longitudinal alcove sleeper floor plan that maintains the rear dinette and available flip-open hatch but swaps sides of the bathroom and kitchen.
The four-sleeper floor plan puts the dinette right below the end of the bed and widens the benches so they convert into a double bed instead of a single. The bathroom and kitchen appear a little smaller as a result and are both pushed against the rear wall.
Bimobil
Bimobil relies mostly on all-Toyota running gear but does swap out the rear suspension for parabolic and air springs, helping to stabilize all that excess mass behind the cab. The new suspension also increases gross vehicle weight to 4,000 kg (8,818 lb), leaving 600 kg (1,323 lb) of payload after accounting for the motorhome, driver, full fuel tank, 90 liters of fresh water and LPG tank.
Bimobil has not yet added the EX 270 to its comprehensive pricing catalog, but the specific model it showed at the Caravan Salon wore a final price of €259,769 (approx. US$298,200).
Source: Bimobil
