Killer Toyota micro-camper provides trapdoor access to rustic abode (2024)

Not every German-turned-American expedition vehicle builder at Overland Expo West 2024 was vying for a "most massive vehicle of show" title. New entrant World Travel Vehicles (WTV) out of Durango, Colorado offered one of the show's most impressive full-blown all-terrain campers based on a midsize truck, the always-popular Toyota Tacoma. The World Travel TrekTwo aims to be an agile explorer that carries along an efficient micro-retreat with distinctive look and layout.

Since 2016, Burow RV has been building its Oman off-road truck camper series in Germany. It's built over 1,000 models and is now extending its footprint to the US market, launching an Americanized version of the Oman. Going with popularity over familiarity, it skips the Ford Ranger that it uses as a primary base chassis in Europe, opting instead for the American midsize market-leading Toyota Tacoma for its first US product.

A stately expedition motorhome box mounted to the naked rear underpinnings of a midsize truck will always grab our attention, but it's the interior build details that really set the TrekTwo apart. It all starts with the optional trapdoor that WTV terms an "emergency pass-through from box to driver cab." Located below a removable cushion on the 79.5 x 53-in (202 x 135-cm) alcove bed, the flip-up hatch door lets the driver drop immediately down behind the wheel or get directly into the motorhome from the cab.

We're not seasoned enough at extended overland travel to think up all the ways an emergency pass-through could prove useful. The one that does pops to mind, though, is waking up to the sound of grizzlies scratching and crawling at the sides of the vehicle. Sure, the TrekTwo's sandwich-composite hard walls should save you from the startling wake-up of claw tearing through your flesh, but how long before those claws slice through on their way to the bacon grease-spattered stove you didn't fully clean?

You could try to scare that 500-lb hunk of fixated, ferocious fur-muscle away, but having the option to drop down and speed out of there as fast as your mini-motorhome will take you certainly puts the advantage on your side. A vertical pass-through door from the floor below the alcove is more conventional, but imagine what a badass action hero you'll look like plunking straight down from bed and piloting out of danger's grasp.

The rest of WTV's cabin lacks that level of high drama but looks like a very nice space for spending nights out in the rough. The show model, which World Travel Vehicles quoted at a cool US$295,000 with the Tacoma base at Overland Expo last month, features a rustic-chic interior combining light wood and charcoal-colored surfaces and appliances.

The kitchen is located just inside the rear passenger-side door, bringing together a sink, long countertop and dual-burner gas stove with countertop-style hinged lid for added workspace. The 80-L compressor refrigerator is located high up on the opposite wall for convenient access.

Those entering the motorhome can head straight for the wet bathroom, embellished here by a stone backsplash and wood shower floor. The bathroom houses a composting toilet and a slide-out sink that disappears away into the wall for full shower access.

Heading right will take one through the short hallway to the step-up dinette located below the edge of the cabover bed. A small tabletop separates the two benches into a cozy nook for breakfast and dinner.

The dinette can turn into a single bed as an optional upgrade, but the main bed is located a step above, offering a transverse mattress cushioned by a Froli spring system.

The TrekTwo's standard electrical package wires together a 400-Ah lithium battery, 3,500-W inverter/mains charger, two Victron charge boosters from the truck alternator, and 450 watts of solar charging. Buyers can choose to ditch the propane with an induction cooktop and larger 600-Ah battery option. An Elwell gasoline heater system delivers interior heating and hot water; air conditioning is available optionally.

The TrekTwo doesn't appear quite as sleek or lithe as an old-school (or new-school) Toyota Chinook, but it's definitely more compact and agile than the full-size+ expedition trucks that populate Overland Expo, allowing it to keep rambling comfortably when the track tapers, steepens and roughens. World Travel Vehicles is starting its work with Gen-3 Tacoma models for now, not the all-new Gen-4 Toyota showed at last year's Overland Expo.

For those who still prefer a bigger, more tow/payload-capable truck, WTV will soon be adding the TrekFour and TrekFourL models. It'll jump right past half- and 3/4-ton Ford trucks and base those camper rigs atop the one-ton Ford F-350.

Burow plans to build the motorhome components in Germany, and WTV will complete the turnkey campers in Colorado after buyers supply the truck.

Source: World Travel Vehicles