53K? You could buy a cabin, a jeep, and a small bit of land for that money. Or a second hand full sized tour bus with a hot tub and a big screen tv.

I agree, you can probably get a decent 2nd hand 4WD and create your own offroad RV, customised to your own specifications, for less than US$ 53,5K all in. I know, crisis and all that, but guys can we keep things real?? What market is there for this sort of thing? How does a middle class person ever get to this sort of stuff without having to mortgage his house?

The amount of modifications required means that it seems pretty permanent, so unless you\'re okay with taking it down to the shops, you also need to buy an everyday vehicle, plus rego, insurance, etc. Pretty costly toy, for the few weeks a year that you might use it...

Yes...easier to buy this official JEEP accessory and save the cash tow MORE gear and be able to go off roading without a weird cap.
http://www.autoblog.com/2010/07/20/jeep-to-offer-trail-edition-camper-as-official-mopar-accessory/

All that price tag and there is not even one solar panel on all of that rooftop real-estate. The designers obviously had some flaws in their plan as it seems they focused on the ergonomics of the sleeper aspect of this camper, rather than the efficiency of storage or the strain on the vehicle\'s electrical system to power the lights and water systems. Instead of a nonsensical, bulky, and quite frankly out of place toilet, they should have just chucked in a shovel. This seems to me to be the brainchild of a desk-jockey who pines for the fjords. I apologize for the harsh criticism, but there seems to be a huge lack of modern green thinking on this one.

I\'m just saying that more could be done in that price, your paying a premium for pain and discomfort. At least give proper toilet and shower, and the sleeping area can pop up full, not hinged, there can be a better design for that area. I wonder whose placing order for the pain.

$53k is 5x what I thought the price would be when I reached the bottom of the article. I guess they only want to sell a few of these. Clearly it\'s not worth 2-3x the price of the vehicle that\'s carrying it.
gilla, that trailer looks like a much better choice, at only $10k.

Seems to be missing the spare tire.....

Here is another, although more expensive, variant. http://www.earthroamer.com/galleries/xv-jp_first_photos/index.htm
Also, for what it\'s worth, I\'ve got about 75K invested in my Jeep (price of vehicle plus upgrades) to set it up for overland use and still about 15K under the cost of this camper kit. Mine is still the same basic configuration as from the factory so I can still take 3 other people plus the necessary gear for 5-7 days of camping. The main difference of course is that we sleep in tents and cook outdoors.

This should be considered a challenge for some Jeep enthusiaist somewhere to develop a better, less-expensive version of this concept using materials found at the local hardware store. Then they can populate the market with an affordable product more people -not just the insane(ly) rich people- can enjoy and perhaps build on their own, thus adding to the plethera of things you can modify on your Jeep.