If you ask us, off-road camping is the best kind of camping. But hours after hours of brutal, hard-hammering, slow-crawling trail driving can also leave the body aching before you even step out of the vehicle. Unfortunately, many of the best 4x4 camper vans will require you to squeeze those aching limbs into an undersized bed at night. But the new Bürstner Habiton X gives you an agile Sprinter 144 on the trail and your own personal longitudinal bed at camp. That's all thanks to its space-optimizing transformer capabilities.
Slowly but steadily, Erwin Hymer Group has been writing the ultimate master-class syllabus for developing small RVs that pack in the space and features of larger, more luxurious vehicles. With Erwin Hymer serving as the sitting professor of that class, group brand Bürstner has stepped up as its star research assistant, undertaking one market-evolving project after another.
Bürstner had a particularly big 2025 that saw it shake up the industry with two envelope-pushing RVs that gained global recognition by using ingenious transforming floor plans. And with no disrespect to the Signature motorhome and its 2-in-1 hybrid bathroom and swiveling front lounge, the sliding bathroom of the Habiton camper van was arguably the pièce de résistance of that multi-vehicle effort.
This year, Bürstner is all about expanding and differentiating the individual models of both the Signature motorhome and Habiton camper van families. It first revealed the Habiton X all-wheel-drive model at its big 2025 Düsseldorf Caravan Salon debut, but it really brought the new model to life with a recent photo drop that pulls the rugged cabin-morphing camper van out of the exhibition hall and into the wild, rugged backdrops for which it was specced.
As these types of in-field photos always do, this particular drop got us pondering what the Habiton X can really do ... and just how much that signature sliding bathroom compartment can help it do so.
Like other transforming bathrooms, the Habiton X's bathroom finds a compromise between wet and dry configurations by using a slide-away toilet and foldaway sink to free up the shower space. So users enjoy a dedicated shower room without banging their shins on the toilet or arms on the sink.
The Habiton bathroom's real highlight, though, is a day/night conversion system that allows campers to slide the entire compartment forward or backward. When all the way forward, the bathroom extends the rear bed platform via a telescopic structure, creating the full 76 x 28-in (192 x 72-in) single bed on the driver's side. To make room for this to happen, the dining table folds against the wall and the rear bench folds and slides forward just behind the driver's seat.
During the day when the bed is no longer in use, the entire bathroom and dining bench slide back and the dining table drops down, creating the four-seat dining lounge. The toilet and shower can be used regardless of which position the bathroom is in so campers don't have to shift the whole room around just to access it.
The clever bathroom-sliding design gives the Habiton X's compact 144-in-wheelbase (367-cm) Sprinter AWD base van, one of the most popular base vehicles for this type of off-road camper, enough space for a pair of longitudinal beds in place of the transverse bed that's far more common in this size van – just look to the Winnebago Revel, Airstream Interstate 19X and Hymer Grand Canyon S Xperience for proof. Camper manufacturers without a slick sliding bathroom generally end up sizing up to a Sprinter 170 or developing a different type of expansion solution to fit in a longitudinal bed layout.
A better bed brings a boost to any RV but could prove particularly valuable in an off-road camper van. Off-road driving can be quite bumpy, slow-going and mentally taxing, making a good night's sleep more important than ever. So being able to stretch out on your own full-length bed that leaves clear access to the bathroom is a nice advantage over sharing a sideways bed that requires rolling over top your sleep mate (or vice versa) to get out. That's even truer if your body is taking a further beating from the mountain biking, skiing, surfing, kiteboarding, climbing or other serious physical activities that await at your destination.
Along with its all-wheel-drive system, the Sprinter AWD chassis brings increased ground clearance. Bürstner furthers the van's inherent all-terrain capabilities with an available off-road package that includes the bull bar shown in photos, 16-in steel wheels shod in BFGoodrich all-terrain tires, underbody skid protection, off-road downhill speed regulation and a retractable off-road entry step.
Those looking to round out the X's backcountry off-grid spec can option up to an off-grid power system with 150-Ah lithium battery and 150-W solar panel and/or a waterless toilet, such as the Clesana X1 dry-wrap and Trelino composting options Bürstner offers.
The remaining floor plan and features list are pretty straightforward. The kitchen block across from the bathroom has a dual-burner gas stove, sink and 69-L compressor fridge; the rear dining bench has seatbelts for two passengers; and the passenger-side longitudinal bed measures 72 x 30 in (182 x 76 cm). Photos also show a partial central cushion that adds extra bed space by connecting the two beds toward the rear of the van. The Habiton X comes standard with a 95-Ah leisure battery, diesel air/water heating system and 110 liters of fresh water.
The Habiton X starts at a price of €89,000 (approx. US$101,575). The heated pop-up sleeper roof adds €6,990 ($8,000) to expand the van's living space to four sleeping berths.
Source: Bürstner
