Ever wondered what half a million quid’s worth of motorhome looks like? Wonder no more…
THIS was by some margin the most expensive vehicle at the Caravan, Camping and Motorhome Show in February. Its total cost, as exhibited, of £491,200 is the equivalent of six Chausson X650s (our 2024 Motorhome of the Year). It’s more than twice the list price of Ferrari’s latest sports car, the 205mph 296 GTB. Or about the cost of a two-bedroom apartment with sea views in St Ives, Cornwall. It had better be good…
Of course, you’ll not just need a healthy bank balance before rushing to Morelo’s sole UK agent – you’ll need the appropriate licence for its 12-tonne gross weight (that’s HGV Class 2), as well as the confidence to get behind the wheel of something that’s close to 10m in length. There are no exterior mirrors here, either, those being replaced by the far more techy solution of an Orlaco MirrorEye digital camera system that avoids the usual blind spots at roundabouts, etc – yours for £8,730.
Incredibly, this isn’t the biggest or most expensive Empire Liner – they go up to 11.99m on an 18-tonne Mercedes-Benz Actros chassis (this one is on a slightly more modest Atego but both are in the heavy truck category, rather than light commercials like most motorhomes are built on). And then there’s Morelo’s flagship, the Grand Empire, which can have a 26-tonne gross weight and €853,000 price tag…
But back to this, ahem, lower cost (!) Empire Liner – the range that Morelo describes as providing ‘the feeling of being at home’ (ironically, the company’s entry-level – £200,000-or-so – line-up is called Home). This is the 93 LO, the shortest in a range of 10 models, with the bar layout that we prefer to the twin-sofa 93 LB. Its Atego chassis is powered by a 7.7-litre diesel engine producing 299hp and 1,200Nm of torque – that’s almost three and a half times the output of a typical Fiat Ducato. And, with a motorhome of this size, you’ll probably be thinking about towing extra transport for nipping out and about; with a 2,910kg braked trailer capacity, it won’t have to be a Smart or a Toyota Aygo…
The statistics continue to exceed our usual expectations, with 19.5in wheels (the Alcoa light metal rims here are a £5,690 extra), a 180-litre diesel tank (optionally 280 litres) and 120-litre gas tank. Water capacities are designed for off-grid living, too – 410 litres fresh (upgraded here to 560 litres), 280 litres grey waste and a further 280 litres black (for the
