The Vanyx Is The Perfect Adventure Vehicle: 2 Levels of Pure Luxury, Ready to Go Off-Road

Vanyx is the name of the off-roader and the company making it, with backing from parent company Smart Adventure GmbH.

The vehicle has been in the works for at least a couple of years but only made its grand debut in early 2024 at the CMT Caravan Motor Tourism Trade Show in Germany. Still in final prototype stage, it's available for pre-order, but, as you must have anticipated, ownership entails a bit more than just the condition mentioned above. It also requires a generously-sized bank account.

Described as "the dream of the perfect adventure vehicle" and "a revolution among camper vans," the Vanyx is the high-end version of off-roaders. It's luxury in its most rugged form, promising extended autonomy wherever you might go, off-road capabilities, super-fancy features, and high-tech appliances.

It's a take on vanlife of the kind you don't see that often, if only because vanlife is all about cutting costs and making do with whatever you can fit inside said van. Obviously, "making do" rings differently when you can afford to spend a fortune on an RV.

Vanyx is based on a MAN TGE 180 4x4 van with a tuned 250-hp engine. Its compact dimensions of just 6 meters by 2.5 meters by 3.7 meters (19.6 feet by 8.2 feet by 12.2 feet) are supposed to make it a reliable solution for off-roading.

Its light weight of 3.5 tons when fully loaded, as well as the all-wheel drive, adjustable air suspension (which can add as much as 15 cm/6 inches of ground clearance), 18-inch forged alloy wheels with all-terrain tires, surround camera system, and the Line-X protective coating also help with that.

Not only can the Vanyx go off the beaten track, but it can stay there for extended stretches. It's designed for extended autonomy in terms of power and water, in keeping with the motto "Offroad outside, luxury inside, always independent." To state the obvious, it's not "always" independent, but chalk that up to poetic license to say that it offers more autonomy than similarly-sized van conversions.

For power, the Vanyx relies on a roof-mounted 800W solar array and a 1,200Ah lithium battery bank. Appliances like the cooktop, the fridge, and water heater run on solar power, while the 6,000W heater runs on diesel from the engine, or can be hooked up to solar as well. Vanyx says that cutting off LPG shaves off weight and is more efficient in the long run.

The water tank can hold as much as 700 liters (185 gallons) in a single go, but Vanyx also includes a proprietary water filtration system that can turn gray water into drinkable water. The toilet is an electric dry one, while both shower heads in the wet bathroom are more efficient than anything else the industry offers right now, with a trickling rate of just 2.1 liters (0.5 gallons) per minute.

And these are just the features you couldn't do without when out exploring. Vanyx takes these and wraps them in the most outrageous and expensive van package you're likely to see all week, if not more.

The van is actually a 2-level mobile habitat that offers separate living and sleeping areas. The upper holds two large beds, both of them suitable for a couple of adults each, while the ground floor holds the kitchen, the bathroom, and the dining slash working slash lounging area.

Each level has its own audio system, which is a nice way to ensure no one fights about which music to play. Also on the ground floor, you get a small garage and drying closet hidden behind the bathroom mirror, but these are still in the final stages of development, as shown in the second video available at the bottom of the pages.

Finishes are premium, as are appliances. You get real wood throughout, genuine leather (except for the Alcantara on the seats), and real stone in the bathroom. You also get carbon fiber wherever possible for shaving off weight, which makes the use of real stone a rather strange choice. The kitchen sink is carbon fiber, as is the bathroom sink, the toilet, and the bed frames upstairs.

The kitchen is a compact, L-shaped one located in the middle of the ground-level layout, with the bathroom on one end and the dinette on the other. It offers considerable storage and pretty much everything you need to live on the road, though it does seem particularly compact for use by four grown adults.

The bathroom is a spa-like one, but of the wet variety, with a wand shower and an overhead rainshower shaped like the Vanyx logo. The stone walls integrate LED mood lighting, which adds a super-futuristic touch to the space – just in case the exposed carbon fiber toilet wasn't enough futurism for you.

The dinette at the front can be both a workspace and a lounge and is built around an extendable floating wood table. There's ample headroom throughout the entire ground level, but taller people can also be further accommodated because the bed platforms can be lifted to create more space.

Vanyx describes the van as "an exclusive manufactured product in a limited small series." In case the description above wasn't enough to drive home the message that this is a premium product priced accordingly, this phrase will definitely do it. The Vanyx comes with a price tag close to $1 million.

For more clarity, that's exactly €890,000 for the "Luxury Edition," after taxes, as per one trade publication, which converts to approximately $967,000 at the current exchange rate. A lower-spec "Pure" base version is also available starting at a lower €344,280 ($374,800). Vanyx plans to make only 99 units of the "Luxury" version but, according to the same source, chassis #01 is still available online even after all these months from the official unveil.