Europe has a comfortable lead designing the world's most luxuriously accommodating production camper vans. The US, on the other hand, is more about forging a lead in rugged, versatile off-road adventure vans. Now, Winnebago Industries' Grand Design RV is bringing those two worlds screaming together. Its all-new Lineage van features a level of interior glamping luxury you don't usually see outside the European or custom markets, housed within a ruggedized Ford Transit van primed for all-terrain journeys to remote off-grid campsites.
A relatively new brand in the Indianan heartland of the American RV industry, Grand Design typically busies itself with big honking premium travel trailers and Class C motorhomes. The Lineage Series VT is its first dip in the camper van pool, and rather than going the more obvious and popular route (Mercedes Sprinter), it shows its American Midwest pride by starting off with a Ford Transit 148 topped with a high roof.
To give its first Class B that spontaneous, adventurous edge upon which American van-dwellers thrive, Grand Design includes standard all-wheel-drive for distributing out the 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6's 310 hp and 400 lb-ft (542 Nm) of torque to all four wheels. It ensures those wheels are adept at using that torque to bite into the ground below by wrapping them up in a set of BFGoodrich KO2 all-terrain tires, hanging a full spare off the back by the ladder.
Connecting those ruggedly shod wheels to Ford's chassis is an upgraded Van Compass suspension with 2-in lift. A set of running boards helps occupants make the leap up to the raised van floor.
A full-length roof rack comes standard atop the hard-roofed two-sleeper Lineage VT, flashing 400 watts of pre-mounted solar panels at the sun. Buyers can double that to 800 watts, optionally. The optional pop-up roof, meanwhile, comes directly adorned with 300 watts of solar, no rack. The non-pop-up van includes a full-width light bar on the front of its rack, while both models come with area pod lights at the rear corners.
A passenger-side awning comes standard, and buyers really looking to keep powered up for long off-grid stints can opt up to the available 720-W solar awning. The VT camps electrically with no propane equipment, powered by a 48-V Lithionics package with a 165-Ah battery that can be optionally doubled up to 330 Ah. That system is designed to power base camp for up to three days with the 20K-BTU underbody-mounted air conditioner humming along to keep the inside cool.
All that off-grid, all-terrain focus lets the Lineage VT's American roots shine, but stepping through the sliding rear door is like taking a quick trip across the Atlantic. Sure, many manufacturers use Europe's preferred floor plan with foldaway rear bed, front-facing bench/dining area, and central wet bath/kitchen, but Grand Design dials up the continental flavor with lesser-seen features inspired by – some even directly imported from – the Old Continent.
It starts smack in the center of the van with a wet bathroom that pushes outside its cramped driver-side compartment to span the width of the van to the kitchen counter. The shower floor is integrated into the main aisle, below a removable floor panel, and a roller door wraps around the space for privacy. A rainfall shower head is built into the ceiling directly over the aisle, offering a more neatly integrated solution than the typical shower head or sprayer.
That style of expandable roller door wet bathroom has been a staple of European camper design, even on rather inexpensive vans, for as long as we've been following. During that same stretch, most American camper van builders have remained a little too comfortable with closet-like wet bathrooms and deconstructed spaces that break down to stealthy nothingness.
Being a Winnebago brand, Grand Design could have quite easily carbon-copied the Revel's small but clever wet bath, but it instead went a few steps further to maximize elbow room and elegance. In fact, when you consider the overhead rainfall shower, the Lineage VT bathroom is most similar to the design we recently saw in the Camper Schmiede Marilyn Onroad, an experimental one-off custom camper. Not bad for a volume production van from a big Indiana RV maker.
Outside that bathroom roller door, the Lineage VT kitchen block pulls more than just inspiration from the European market, featuring a countertop made from Italian porcelain. That top isn't merely a luxe appointment, concealing an InvisaCook induction cooktop below. A cleaner solution than an above-counter or portable induction cooker, the unit is always at the ready but stays completely out of the way, maintaining a clear, flush usable work space when not in use.
That premium residential-grade cooktop design is complemented by a rectangular kitchen sink with a cutting board cover and a swivel faucet that offers both direct and wide rainfall modes. The 91-L fridge/freezer is located at the end of the galley block, just inside the sliding door, while a pop-up spice rack makes use of the space behind the sink.
Stepping into the convertible rear bedroom area, a foldaway center bed panel fills out the space between two side consoles to complete the bed foundation. The driver-side console houses the electrical and systems hardware, while the passenger-side console complements the overhead cabinets in offering loads of storage space. The latter even includes a handy integrated mesh laundry bag below a removable top panel and a slim, heavy-duty storage tray that slides out of the rear door.
Once the center panel is folded down and the mattress segments put in place, the 54 x 80-in (137 x 203-cm) bed stretches across the width of the van. Another clever highlight Grand Designs has hidden away, a 50-in projector screen at the foot of the bed unfurls from the overhead cabinetry at the push of a button next to the passenger-side window. A magnet integrated into the underside of the passenger-side overhead cabinet floor works to hold a projector in place for enjoying movies in bed.
The front end of the Lineage VT interior offers plenty of natural light thanks to another feature literally imported straight from Europe. The double-pane skylight extends from just over the windshield up to the roof, bringing in plenty of sunlight and delivering up views of the sky above.
We recall watching that style of skylight spread around the European camper van market back around 2018 and 2019. And not so long after that, pop-up roofs also started becoming more panoramic, ditching smaller standalone windows in favor of wraparound mesh delivering grand views of the stars at night and plenty of sunlight and fresh air during the day.
The Lineage VT picks that latter trend up, as well, using a dramatic 270-degree front-side mesh wrap on the fabric of its own pop-top. The optional upstairs bedroom space sleeps two people, providing a four-person family camper option.
Other notable features in the 21.9-foot (6.7-m) Lineage VT include a Firefly touchscreen command system, an outdoor shower port on the driver's side, a 30-A shore power hookup, a 6,800-BTU furnace, and a water heater. Options include a roof-mounted Starlink internet dish, along with previous mentions like the solar awning and added battery capacity.
The RVIA-certified Lineage Series VT starts at an MSRP of US$218,557, and while anything over $200K still reads quite expensive to our naked eye, that price doesn't look bad at all when you start looking around the market. We're not even sure how Winnebago is going to convince customers that $254,000 is a reasonable MSRP for the Revel when its own brand is offering this beauty for under $219K to start.
Some of the VT's features are better seen than read, and if you have 30 minutes (or 10 and a keen eye for skipping through YT videos to the info you want), Grand Design product manager Stephan Dolzan does a great job showcasing the camper van from bumper to bumper, inside and out:
Source: Grand Design
