Nobody asked how much a dream family vehicle costs — now there's an answer. American builder Custom Crafted Vans has just wrapped its 58th project: a family camper based on the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 3500 with a 170-inch extended wheelbase. According to the builders, it's the most expensive family vehicle the company has ever made, with the conversion price landing near $300,000.
And that's not even the full picture. The base Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is billed separately, so the final price of the finished motorhome ends up even higher. The workshop isn't chasing volume: it turns out just five or six custom vans a year, and the waiting list has already stretched past six months.
Up front, the new motorhome gets four individual Scheelmann seats: two extra seats can be moved or removed thanks to floor-mounted rails. Above them is a passage to a pop-up roof with its own sleeping berth. In the rear sits a U-shaped sofa that, together with the table, folds out into a bed that's nearly king-size.
Between the two sleeping zones sit a kitchen with an induction cooktop, a sink and a 195-liter fridge, plus a full shower with a separate toilet. Fresh water capacity is 132 liters, with separate greywater tanks for the shower and sink at 57 and 42 liters.
Off-grid power comes from an 810 Ah battery bank, a 3,000-watt inverter and 420 watts of solar panels. But those 810 Ah shouldn't be compared directly to an EV battery: the builder hasn't specified the system voltage, and without it there's no way to calculate the capacity in kWh.
A big chunk of the price also came from the exterior gear: a beefed-up Fox suspension, off-road tires, a pop-up roof, a cargo platform, an awning, extra lighting and an electric bike rack. The finished van's weight and remaining payload capacity weren't disclosed — for a build this loaded with hardware, those numbers matter more than fancy trim or expensive leather.
Earlier it was reported that Mercedes-Benz unveiled the new GLA with a range of up to 657 km.
