Full review

Mclaren Sports Homes has added the new Savage to its line-up, with prices starting from £67,000. Based on the long-wheelbase VW Crafter, the Savage features a fixed rear bed layout but not to the usual continental style. The real USP here is a bed that can be raised to the roof at the touch of a button to maximise the garage space underneath. As the bed is longitudinal, the huge garage is long enough to transport motorbikes. Whatever you plan to carry, the Savage should have the capacity to cope, though you’ll need to be sure that the 500kg payload is enough.

The washroom (offside) and kitchen (nearside) both sit in the centre of the vehicle, with two front layouts available. Mclaren’s four-berth uses twin forward-facing travel seats that form a bed at night-time, while the two-berth version (as seen here) features a side settee.

The emphasis in the Savage conversion is practicality and, as well as a full set of tie-down rails in the garage, a durable Titanium high-impact flooring system has been used throughout. Smart Black Ash furniture and black soft furnishings (in premium leather/alcantara) give the Savage a purposeful look, while the washroom features white marble-effect panelling, a bench-style cassette loo and a rather basic flip-up washbasin. You can, of course, specify other trim options to suit your taste as the Savage is built to order.

The base model is built on the VW Crafter LWB Trendline with the 2-litre, Euro 6, 138bhp (140PS) engine, a six-speed manual gearbox and front-wheel drive. Standard equipment includes cab air-con, cruise control, front and rear parking sensors (essential on a vehicle this long), Bluetooth connectivity and an eight-inch touchscreen media system. A raft of safety features such as ESP stability control and city emergency braking, which can automatically apply the brakes to avoid a collision, is also standard.

Standard habitation equipment includes swivel cab seats, a 95-litre 12V compressor fridge, a Thetford two-burner hob with gas-on-black-glass design, a Thetford oven and a Truma Combi 4kW gas/electric boiler. A 90-litre insulated fresh water tank is fitted, while there’s also a rather more modest 50-litre insulated waste water tank and a 20-litre LPG tank.

The demonstrator (pictured) is based on a fully-loaded 177bhp Crafter with an eight-speed automatic gearbox (which is a torque-converter transmission, rather than a robotised manual DSG ’box) and also boasts a set of beefy off-road 17in Black Rhino alloys and chunky BF Goodrich All-Terrain tyres. For more serious adventures off the beaten track, there’s also an all-wheel drive 4Motion derivative.

Also fitted to the show model are a 300W roof-mounted LED light bar, Fiamma awning, 100W solar panel, rear ladder, external shower and side bars. Inside, the standard VW front seats have been replaced by rally-style Recaros and there’s a wireless charging point. All Savage conversions feature a three-year warranty on the base vehicle and the habitation equipment.

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