Could a small, car-sized camping vehicle like this make vanlife more affordable?
DON’T rush down to your Bürstner dealer to order a Habiton, nor even your local Renault agent. Not yet. For now, this is just a concept but it’s tantalising to see that a company the size of Bürstner is dabbling with the idea of a campervan so small. After all, this Erwin Hymer Group brand also builds the nine-metre-long Elegance A-class, costing from £164,790…
OK, so there are smaller, cheaper Bürstners – even a pop-top campervan in the 2024 range – but, surely, it’s the ever rising cost of entering the world of leisure vehicles that has pushed the company from Kehl, by the Franco-German border, into testing the water with this micro camper, which made its debut at last September’s Caravan Salon Düsseldorf.
The Renault Kangoo, on which the Bürstner Habiton is based, was launched in its latest form last year and comes as both a small van and a five-door car, much in the style of rivals such as the Citroën Berlingo, Peugeot Partner and Volkswagen Caddy. At under four and a half metres long, it is usefully more compact than even vehicles like the Ford Transit Custom (now over five metres in its latest guise). The 2024 Kangoo also comes in petrol, diesel and fully electric versions.
It’s not just the city-friendly size of the Habiton that will appeal but the fact that it has five belted seats, too – in that aspect, it’s still a standard Renault hatchback. Bürstner has shown two versions of the Habiton and both should fit into a domestic garage or a multi-storey car park. The L1 has a roof tent, while the L2 is perhaps more conventional with its front-hinged pop-top. Whichever version you prefer, the seats fold down and an inflatable mattress topper unfolds to create a 2.05m by 1.36m double bed that virtually fills the body of the car.
More unusual is the L1 version’s additional accommodation on top of the little Renault. Open the roof shell and all you can see is a pile of tent material but this soon rises to a full-sized bedroom, just like an inflatable awning or tent but above eye level. It’s a really large bed up there – measuring 2.07m by 1.48m – that’s reached by an external ladder, and there’s a window, opening flyscreened vents and a pair of battery-powered lamps. With internal headroom of 1.08m, you can sit up in the rooftop space and the tent could, perhaps, sleep three kids, making this possibly the smallest-ever five-berth!
So, the L1 version has more accommodation and its roo
