Kimberley Kruiswagen

Kimberley Kampers is celebrating 30 years as one of Australia’s longest-standing RV manufacturers with the launch of the Kruiswagen, based on the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter AWD van.

The Kruiswagen is being produced in Ballina, NSW and is built on the 2024 Mercedes Benz platform, with factory-fitted AWD. It can be supplied with the standard payload rating, or with a GVM upgrade that includes a 50mm lift kit, heavy duty aluminium wheels and BFG All Terrain tyres. Both versions can be driven on a car driver’s licence. 

The ‘Benz is powered by a proved 2.0-litre, four-cylinder, twin-turbo diesel engine is said to have more power than the outgoing top-shelf V6 diesel, with up to 31-percent more fuel efficiency. 

This potent four drives through a nine-speed Distronic gearbox to torque-variable axles that can be locked in a 50:50 power split for tricky off-road operation.

Adaptive cruise control, lane assist, 360-degree surround cameras and a 260mm touchscreen console are included in the specification.

Kimberley points out that weight considerations were paramount in the design of the Kruiswagen, which is why lightweight composite, alloy, stainless and recycled PET are used in the fit out. Sustainable bamboo is used for the wood-look drawer fronts. 

Another weight-saving initiative is fitment of a 48-volt EcoFlow power hub. The battery pack is said to be lighter than 12V equivalents and can use thinner wiring that also reduces weight.

Charging is from solar roof panels – 400 watts standard that can be optioned up to 1200W – and from an upgraded vehicle alternator or mains input. Kimberley bypasses the standard EcoFlow alternator input that restricts charging to only seven amps and reports alternator charging levels of 55-60 amps.

Kimberley can fit a reverse-cycle aircon unit that also operates from the battery pack, but we’re sure there would be some operating time limits on that system, even with the optional 10,000 Watt-hour pack.

The two-door fridge and induction cooktop are also electric, but hot water and the cabin heater use diesel fuel. There’s a slide-out exterior cooktop, in addition to the outside kitchen and the optional, movable end of the kitchen bench can swivel through the open door and double as an outside table. It also works as a desk top in front of the passenger seat that swivels around, facing into the cabin.

The bathroom cubicle features a shower and composting toilet that is also a weight-saving initiative and avoids the need for chemicals and regular pump-out. Water tanks can total 196 litres and there’s an additional 20-litre emergency water tank.

A six-seat dinette is located aft and a drop-down double bed sits above it. A double skinned dinette table separates, leaving one behind and the other fits as an outside table.

Ample opening windows are midge-meshed, as are side and rear door curtains. An optional power awning can be enhanced with side walls and floor.

The Kruiswagen is connected electronically, of course, with Bluetooth smart phone apps, Starlink-ready wiring and USBs.

Pricing ranges upwards from $189,000 for the Classic and upwards from $239,000 for the Ecoscape version.

On and off road

We checked out a Kimberley Kruiswagen that was fully optioned by NSW distributor, Camperact.

This vehicle had a full suite of available options, including an aluminium winch bar; sump and rear diff protection plates; high-performance suspension, with remote-reservoir shockers: off-road aluminium wheels shod with BFG 265/70R16 AT tyres and four driving light bars, including roof-mounted track-edge lights.

These additional extras took the RRP to $255,000.

We didn’t need to do a long on and off road test, because we’d already checked out the 2025 Sprinter 4WD van. Our evaluation of the Kruiswagen was confined to a short on and off-road driving stint, and checking out its camping credentials.

There’s not much you could teach the highly experienced crew at Kimberley Kampers about bush travel necessities and they all seemed to be there. We’ve always reckoned a double bed that can electrically raise and lower above a four-seat dinette is a great layout and that’s what the Kruiswagen had.

A powered sliding door and auto-deploying electric sidesteps made entry and exit a breeze.

We’re looking forward to a longer bush stint in a Kruiswagen, once the factory gets ahead of a long order queue!

GVM upgrade and warranty issues

The high equipment levels in the Kruiswagen added significantly to its tare weight: around 3700kg, compared with the empty van’s 2330kg, so it was obviously necessary to have a gross vehicle mass (GVM) upgrade, beyond the single-tyred 4100kg factory GVM. (Sprinters with dual rear tyres are rated at cup to five-tonnes GVM, so the frame, bodywork and powertrain are well specified for an increase above 4100kg.)

At OTA the alarm bells always ring when we evaluate a vehicle that has GVM upgrade and a Second Manufacture compliance plate in place of the original factory one, because that potentially puts the buyer in a sandwich between the original vehicle maker and the secondary manufacturer.

However, after discussions with Mercedes-Benz Australia and Kimberley Kampers, we’re sure that this process has been done correctly and Kruiswagen buyers shouldn’t be involved in a toffee-pull between the four parties involved.

“We went through the GVM upgrade, BFG tyre change and Dobinsons suspension lift process in conjunction with Mercedes-Benz Australia and would actually have factory approval for those changes, if our volumes were sufficiently large, but the Daimler AG approval process works for volumes of thousands of vehicles per annum, not hundreds,” said James Cockburn, Kimberley Kampers’ CEO.

It seems obvious from the way the modifications have been done that the after-market kit warranty responsibilities are quite clear: B F Goodrich’s 265/70R16s are 121/118S load and speed rated well within the Sprinter’s capabilities and Dobinsons has done the front and rear suspension spring and shock absorber changes, including reservoir dampers and leaf rear springs that should exceed the performance of the factory dampers and parabolic-leaf rear springs.

The wild card in the case of any Second Manufacture vehicle is the powertrain, should there be a problem, such as the occasional case of transmission cavitation that’s been reported in 2025 Sprinter 4WDs, but Mercedes-Benz has already investigated one such issue in a Kruiswagen, without any suggestion that the Kimberley Kampers’ modifications were responsible.

“The upgraded GVM of 4430kg is still well below the Sprinter’s top factory rating of five tonnes – with exactly the same powertrain – and doesn’t exceed the permitted factory-rated front and rear axle capacities,” said James Cockburn.