pasha4bmw posted this Prius camper at the Cohort with the title “Oregonians would approve”. True that. I became intruiged, especially the exotic license plate. Turns out this isn’t targeted at Oregonians or any Americans.
It’s called the Relax Cabin, and it’s made in Japan. And it sleeps four, two on the fold-down lower bed and two cozy individuals in the pod on top. I’m not sure where the license plate is from, but it looks far away. This might have gone over in Oregon about 5-10 years ago, at the height of the Prius fad. Now Oregonians want Sprinter 4×4 vans in black or dark gray.
Wouldn’t this increase drag and thus negatively affect fuel economy?
Not to mention the extra weight…
Interesting concept, I doubt it would sleep four people of european descent who are over six feet tall.
That reminds me, ever watched Kintaro Walks Japan?
I had the same thoughts. Four asians is plausible. Five if they’re North Korean. Three Europeans max though and no more than two if they’re from Kentucky. Just sayin’.
Uh been to Asia lately? Folks are pretty tall now and not as fat as North Americans. N Korea and less developed countries excluded.
It can’t be an Oregonian vehicle- I don’t see the “Subaru” logo on it anywhere.
I’m quite sure the plate is Japanese.
that thing is hideous!!! that said,,,,,,,,,not bad on the inside!!!
Whisky Tango Foxtrot-or, in other words W T F ?????
Sierra Mike Hotel (Shaking my head – Lima Oscar Lima ;o).
My wife says that the license plate is from Sendai Japan. Sendai is a major city about 250 or so miles north of Tokyo.
The Prius is hugely popular in Japan. My brother-in-law traded his Avensis for a Sai, which is a fancy Prius.
I think that this Prius camper is a great idea…if it can handle American highway speeds…I want one!
FWIW Sendai is the city that got wiped out by the 2011 Tsunami.
If you can manage to find those horrendous video clips, that was Sendai.
Prius Aqua (Prius C in USA) outsells the Prius in Japan, no surprise because the former is smaller.
Owner’s manual doesn’t recommend towing for the Prius, so RV options are pretty limited. The Prius V might be a good choice for those who want to bivouac and save fuel; otherwise, get a car rated for towing and draw a collapsible trailer.
My first response to that top photo is that the Weinermobile lost half its Weiner!
Ha! You nailed it.
The “weiner” kills the aerodynamics, cutting the mileage by quite a bit. Obviously not removable, so what’s the point? You could do almost as well in mileage with a camper on a light pickup.
This Oregonian 17-year Prius driver does not approve. Better to sleep two with a removable hatchback tent.
Ahhh, You beat me to it!
It is bizarre looking on the outside, but pretty cool on the inside. Don’t however think, as someone else pointed out, that it would sleep 4 people of large stature more like 2 comfortably.
Reminds me of the Saab Toppola
That was my first reaction too. Thanks for posting the picture
Reverse CC effect!
My wife & I are curious about RV camping, so I’ve recently seen a white version of this on a different site. (Don’t remember which one.) A couple of the commenters there remarked that the profile view looked like a giant “adult toy.”
If they could come up with this in a less suggestive form, we might be interested.
Wow. A hybrid porta-potty, perfect for those darned IBS moments…
Not bad – I’ve stayed in smaller hotel rooms in Japan.
That’s actually not so bad looking. If the camper was the exact color as the Prius, it would blend in better. The contour of the camper matches the back of the car perfectly as if it was part of a puzzle.
I like the fact that it has its own tail lights. Most likely, this was made to be semi permanently installed on the car.
Saab had a camper setup like this but it looked more crude.(Like somebody had a left over compact pickup truck camper and shoehorned it into a Saab)
I think that”s quite well done, a real advance for the typology, more like a yacht. This recent discovery, on the other hand, is less so…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvfwIsJngxQ
Still interesting though.
That reminds me of roly-poly caravan humping Opel Astra seen in Brenner on Austro-Italian border…
Something similar to the photo from the manufacturer’s website.
http://heku-fahrzeugbau.de/wohnmobile/
I assume you must lose the rear seat?
Nope, if you look at the lower-right picture you can see the back seat under the upper bed.
Reminds me of this Australian handbuilt effort towards the same goal.
Neat idea and well executed. However, being a former owner of a Gen III Prius, I can only imagine how painful it would be to drive that with the extra weight and drag. My pet peeve with our Prius was how much the engine droned on any hill or form of extra load. Add the extra resistance of this thing, and the ICE will be screaming all the time.
What? My post to Cohort made it to CC? Woo-hoo! 😀
It seems to have windows on the the inside side walls but not on the outside?
THIS is the mini-camper I want! Kitted out like this with the manual transmission of course. FYI, this pic was cropped for shit when I found it…I picked it because the visual butching up of the Element looks perfect, even if that machismo is only skin deep.
Factory Hatch Hutch on a Torana.
Top speed 45
It’s RHD so the pictographs are Japanese on the license plate. Chinese and Koreans use LHD.