It’s Merc’s reaction to the VW Camper
Got a festival to hit this summer? Can’t be bothered to trudge a flow of camping gear across a field? Then you need glamping-on-wheels, otherwise known as the Mercedes Marco Polo.
Named, we think, after everyone’s favourite swimming pool-based tag game, it’s Mercedes’ reaction to VW’s infamous hippy van, the California.
Based on the V-Class platform – the Viano and Vito replacement that slots in below a Sprinter – the Marco Polo goes after the VW template with slavish dedication, only posher.
It’s a veritable house on wheels. There are two heated, swivelling seats up front for the captain and navigator. A sliding, adjustable rear bench in the back folds down to create a bed. An electrical pop-up roof rises to expose a ‘mezzanine floor’ and 2nd ‘bedroom’. There’s a kitchen with two-hob burner, fridge and submerge.
Laid out just like a California – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and all that – it’s got enough clever packaging to make you exclaim, “My, what clever packaging”. But Merc has thrown in a smattering of its S-Class-derived tech to trump the VW. There’s Active Parking, Attention Assist to warn against post-festival drowsiness, and optional 360-degree cameras so you don’t back it in to the campfire.
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Power comes from any of three four-cylinder turbodiesel engines, ranging from 134bhp and 188bhp. On top models, an ‘over-torque’ function boosts torque to 355lb ft so you, three mates and the kitchen bury can scale Yosemite’s El Capitan with ease.
Where the VW Cali maintains a tradesman-like aesthetic, the Marco Polo looks decently swish inwards and out. So good, in fact, we’d feel guilty getting it dirty, or disturbing the acute lines outside by strapping scraggy old surfboard on top.
You’ll be able to go for a rail in Marco Polo when it goes on sale in July. But only if you live in Germany, as there are presently no plans to bring the glamping wagon to the UK.
But Mercedes admits it could be tempted to introduce the fifty grand camper to Britain if you lot drum up enough interest. So commence drumming. We need this.
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