For the family that brings everything.

Both are long wheelbase family vans that drive four and sleep four. The difference is what the back of the van is given to. The Mesa has a permanent enclosed shower room as standard; the Outpost puts that space into storage and living instead, and handles washing with an outdoor rear connection and campsite facilities. If a fixed bathroom on board matters to you, the Mesa is the one. If you’d rather have the extra space for kit and living, the Outpost is built for that.

There’s a composting Trelino toilet on board — compact, simple to use, and chemical-free, with no cassette to empty at a disposal point. For washing, an outdoor shower connection at the rear handles rinsing kit, dogs, and muddy boots, and campsite facilities cover the rest the way they would on any trip outdoors. There’s no internal shower room, which is what frees up the storage and living space the van is built around. If a permanent fixed shower room matters to you, the Mesa is built around one.

Four and four. It travels four people in fully belted seats and sleeps four — two on the lower sliding bed and two in the pop-top, which comes as standard rather than as an option.

The Outpost runs a full Victron off-grid electrical system with 400Ah of LiFePO4 lithium capacity and roof-mounted solar, alongside a Truma Combi diesel heating system that runs from the main fuel tank rather than the battery. That’s several days of comfortable use without solar input, and indefinitely with reasonable sun. Additional battery capacity and solar are available for longer trips.

Yes — it’s built for year-round use across the UK and Europe. The van is insulated throughout, the water tanks are insulated and heated, and the Truma Combi diesel heating provides warm air and hot water from the main fuel tank with no gas cylinder to run out of. For families spending extended time in deep cold, the Aquahot hydronic system is available as an upgrade.

Yes. The Outpost is built on a 4,000kg gross weight base vehicle as standard, which puts it above the 3,500kg limit covered by a standard Category B car licence. Driving it needs C1 entitlement, which covers vehicles between 3,500kg and 7,500kg.

If you passed your car test before 1 January 1997, you will almost certainly have C1 already — it is listed in the categories on the back of your photocard, and it is worth checking there before anything else. If you passed after that date, C1 is a separate entitlement: a medical, a theory test and a practical test, usually completed over a few days.

It is worth thinking about early if more than one of you will share the driving on a long family trip. The base vehicle specification can be changed, so raise it on your discovery call and we will work through the options and what each one means for payload. C1 entitlement on a UK licence is recognised across the EU.

The MAN TGE isn’t the most familiar choice — most people arrive expecting a Sprinter — but it’s the right platform for what we build, and the reasons are practical.

Against the Sprinter, it’s comparable in quality and capability at a slightly lower base price, which means more of your budget goes into the build rather than the base vehicle.

Against the VW Crafter, the more important difference is support. The MAN TGE is the commercial vehicle version of the same platform, which means it’s backed by MAN’s truck dealer network — service centres across the UK and throughout Europe. For a van you’re taking seriously into remote places, that network matters in a way it doesn’t for a van that stays close to home.

We’ve driven other platforms. We kept coming back to this one.

The MAN TGE base vehicle comes with a three-year manufacturer warranty through the MAN dealer network across the UK and Europe. The Onyx build is covered by a one-year Onyx warranty, and Victron components carry their own manufacturer warranty. Every completed build also comes with a free three-month check-up.

Yes. Every Outpost goes through an Individual Vehicle Approval process and is registered from new as a motorhome. A panel van registration option is available if preferred and comes with a small discount on the build price. It’s worth understanding the insurance and usage implications of each before you decide.