We've already seen the unique spin Australia's BRS Offroad was able to put on the teardrop trailer, and more recently, it's further honed its craft on a larger, blacked-out stealth machine that disappears into the nighttime landscape like an international dark sky park. The new Pursuit Carbon doesn't just look cool in the parking lot and not-there after dark, though, it bushwhacks through nature's gnarliest, expanding into a proper three-person shelter complete with hard-floor bathroom hatch, both indoor and outdoor kitchens, and a queen bedroom below the starry sky.
The Pursuit itself has been on the market for years and even won itself a prestigious Camper Trailer of the Year Award from Australia's Camper magazine back in 2018. In fact, the Pursuit was the trailer that launched the BRS brand a few years before that. The company added the Carbon edition in 2023, splitting the Pursuit into a two-model lineup.
The Pursuit Carbon does not feature carbon fiber construction, despite what its name might lead one to assume. The "Carbon" tag is merely a way of denoting black-out aesthetics meant to add an "aura of mystery and refinement."
Mission accomplished, in our opinion. We always found the original Pursuit's half-white, half-black coloring an underwhelming look. Perhaps that's just a general prejudice against large(ish) white trailers we've developed over decades of driving past sprawling, US highway-side RV lots overflowing with massive, cheaply built bright-white boxes, but the Pursuit's white upper body previously made us gravitate away and toward the more unique style of BRS' Sherpa teardrop.
That's all in the past though, as the black-out bodywork has fast-reversed our general feeling about the Pursuit, accentuating the trailer's uniquely brawny shape and hard lines in a way a fine tailored black suit might reinvent an otherwise unremarkable bloke into a dashing gentleman. And that's a good thing because the Pursuit has a lot a whole lot going on under that pitch-black look.
Well larger than the Sherpa teardrop, the Pursuit is still a relatively compact trailer designed to comfortably accommodate two to three people. It stretches 19.7 feet (6 m) long and stands just under 9.2 feet (2.8 m) at the highest part of its fixed hard roof.
The Carbon's cabin is accessed via a rather dramatic full-height hatch door that swings up instead of out, inviting weary adventurers into a cozy space that exists somewhere between a teardrop cabin and larger travel trailer interior. As with a teardrop, the queen-size bed dominates the inside, only this time it doesn't quite fill it, leaving space for a two-person lounge at the foot of the bed and a fully outfitted kitchen against the rear wall.
The two vis-a-vis bench seats can convert into a sofa and third sleeping berth with an available midsection. They also create a proper dinette with help from a table that slides out from under the bed.
The hatch entry door is mimicked on the opposite side, where a smaller lift-gate opens to serve as the roof of the bathroom. A lower slide-out becomes the floor, and a privacy curtain connects them into a hard-floor above-ground bathroom certain to provide cleaner stability versus the more common on-ground shower room.
As for the indoor kitchen, a dual-hob induction cooktop comes standard, but buyers can double the space with the optional four-burner gas stove. Other standard equipment includes a sink, range hood, 1,000-W microwave and plenty of readily accessible cold storage from two 30-L fridge drawers integrated into the bases of the bench seats.
Those who prefer the theater of open-air cooking will be happy to note that the Pursuit Carbon doubles up on kitchen space. In fact, the external slide-out comes better equipped than average, combining a dual-burner stove and Sizzler BBQ grill into a cookout powerhouse.
The outdoor kitchen also has a hot/cold sink, 80-L standing Isotherm fridge/freezer and recessed cutting board for prep. With up to six total burners of cooktop and a separate grill, the Pursuit Carbon all but begs campsite cooks to split up and team up on elaborate multi-course feasts.
In terms of its Outback-ready underpinnings, the Pursuit Carbon grounds itself on a hot-dipped galvanized steel chassis, 2,600-kg Cruisemaster XT airbag suspension, and 17-in black-out wheels rolled into Maxxis 265/65R17 all-terrain tires. What the body lacks in actual carbon fiber, it makes up for with a single-piece sandwich composite shell that features high-density closed-cell foam insulation vacuum bonded between two layers of fiberglass. That shell is supported by an all-aluminum substructure, and the trailer checks in at a 3,527-lb (1,600-kg) base weight before options.
BRS introduced the Pursuit Carbon last July and sells it for a listed base price of AU$136,990 (approx. US$90,900). That's quite a chunk of change for a trailer, but BRS doesn't let campers go without, throwing in a 24-in smart TV, dual 200-Ah lithium batteries, 380 watts of solar, a 1,600-W inverter, air conditioning and heat, and a Garmin command center. The company also invites buyers to remove features they don't want in order to shave dollars off.
BRS' American distributor RVs of America doesn't currently list the Pursuit Carbon in its inventory but sells the original black-and-white Pursuit starting at US$110,000.
Source: BRS Offroad