The World’s Toughest Bus Is Now A Seriously Awesome Motorhome Built To Camp Where No Prevost Can Go

For years, the wild minds at Torsus have built a bus for the most extreme parts of the planet. The Praetorian doesn’t just have the coolest name for a bus, but it’s pretty much the best choice you have if there’s an active volcano between you and wherever you need to be. Torsus has pitched the world’s toughest bus to the mining industry and schools. Now, there’s a version for an easier life. This is the Praetorian Liberra, and it shows a softer side of an extreme rig.

Torsus has actually been pitching the idea of a camper version of the Praetorian for years. Expedition motorhomes are quite popular among the wealthy right now. These mammoth motorhomes are built on heavy-duty commercial truck chassis and are modified to have four-wheel-drive, huge tires, and enough stores to sustain an adventurer for potentially weeks at a time. Basically, an expedition truck is the rig you buy when you wish you could take your Prevost or other Class A motorhome off-road. Torsus has been so interested in this niche that it has even released renders of what a camper version of the Praetorian could look like.

Now, thanks to German Torsus distributor All4Bus and RV manufacturer Dämmler, that Praetorian motorhome is finally happening. But this isn’t just a camper box grafted onto a truck like so many other expedition rigs. The Praetorian Liberra is a proper motor coach, just one that can go anywhere.

Buses Built To Go Anywhere

I’ve been writing about Torsus for years now. Part of it is because I have an adoration for anything relating to buses. Another part of it is because a Praetorian is definitely on my dream road test list. Forget a Ferrari, put me behind the wheel of a Torsus! I’ve written about the company’s history before:

Torsus International is based in the Czech Republic, and it has a history of building tough vehicles. The company’s parent is Pulsar Expo, founded by Vakhtang Dzhukashvili and Yuliya Khomych. Pulsar Expo specializes in custom vehicle conversions for governments, VIPs, and more. Pulsar Expo even had some presence in America as it handled passenger vehicle fleet sales before supplying the U.S. Department of State with around 200 vehicles in 2015.

Eventually, Dzukashvili ran into a problem. A big part of the Pulsar Expo business is sending specialized vehicles to remote and rugged parts of the world. His team would try to modify existing vehicles as they had in the past, but this wouldn’t work. Pulsar Expo’s clients needed something bespoke. Torsus was launched in 2016 as a spin-off of the Pulsar Expo. The Torsus Praetorian – which is the coolest name for a bus – project kicked off in 2017 and the Torsus team had one goal: build the toughest, baddest bus the world has ever seen.

Torsus’ customers aren’t your typical fleet buyers. Torsus builds buses for industries and activities ranging from oil and gas to forestry and mining, disaster response to expeditions, and any other application for business or adventure that requires moving a lot of people over rugged terrain. Torsus also sees its buses used as mobile command centers, laboratories, ski resort transports, mobile clinics, and the ultimate RVs.

The current iteration of the Praetorian is known as the TG3. The latter part of its name explains a good part of its origin. Torsus is very much like an old-school coachbuilder, and it makes something new on top of an existing chassis. In this case, Torsus uses the MAN TG3 chassis. Base power comes from a MAN 6.9-liter turbodiesel straight-six making 240 HP and 682 lb-ft of torque. Should you want it, you can kick power up to 290 HP and 848 lb-ft of torque. That power is routed through a 12-speed ZF Tipmatic AStronic automatic transmission.

That’s not a ton of power — American heavy-duty pickup trucks would run circles around a Torsus — but the Praetorian makes up for it in incredible off-roading capabilities. Gear includes front, center, and rear locking differentials, 46-inch Michelin XZL tires, a central tire inflation system, low-range, and off-road driving modes. Check out this Top Gear video of one driving up a volcano:

Additional capability in the 28.5-foot bus comes from 19.5-inch disc brakes, a 2.2-foot wading depth, and 14 inches of ground clearance when measured from the coach’s lowest point, the bottoms of its axles. The bus can climb a 60-degree grade, has a 32-degree approach angle, a 26-degree departure angle, and a 41-degree approach angle. There’s even a 12 metric ton winch so the Praetorian can even rescue itself.

The off-road gear is really only part of the Praetorian’s magic. Then there’s the bus body itself. Torsus wraps the Praetorian’s all-metal superstructure in a composite body featuring non-woven Polyester and PE foam for insulation. That’s apparently pretty good for extreme conditions, but Torsus also partnered up with Webasto to create an overpowered HVAC system. The air-conditioner in the Praetorian is capable of cooling the interior down from 140 degrees to 86 degrees in only three minutes. Give the system 15 minutes, and the Praetorian’s interior will be down to a cool 68 degrees. Apparently, the ridiculous air-conditioner is even powerful enough to be a backup cooling source for the diesel engine.

The Torsus also keeps itself toasty in severe cold using radiant heaters in the walls and radiators at every seat. As of the coach’s most recent update, the engine’s cooling loop also goes through the cabin to heat it up faster, too.

Of course, all of that was built for getting 34 hard-working people and a driver safely through some seriously tough environments. But this is also great for the kind of person who fancies themselves driving through some of the hottest deserts.

The Torsus Praetorian Liberra

Torsus custom builds these buses for its customers, and for years, it has been hoping that some RV manufacturer would take it up on turning the world’s baddest bus into a wild motorhome. Back in 2019, it seemed like Torsus had that all figured out when it partnered up with an Australian builder of RVs to make a hot camping version of the Praetorian. Then, the pandemic hit, and Torsus had to put its RV dreams on hold.

That’s finally changing with All4Bus, the official importer of Torsus buses and vans in Germany, and German RV builder Dämmler. The latter has a neat story, roughly translated into English:

80 years ago, the still-young Dietmar Dämmler began an apprenticeship as a carpenter at the Horch factory in Zwickau. He wanted to work with wood, and in the frame construction of Horch’s luxury automobiles, he created a DNA that has remained in the family to this day. After a financially induced detour into underground coal mining and uranium mining, and a long tug-of-war with the political elite of the GDR, he was able to take over a carpentry shop in Zwickau, laying the foundation for our family business, which is still operating successfully 60 years later and is now in its third generation, creating new living spaces to make people happy, whether in their own homes or in motorhomes all over the world. Since then, Dämmler has stood for quality, a family atmosphere, and always being a little bit ahead of the trends.

These two companies have partnered with Torsus to finally see the Praetorian motorhome become a reality, and my, what a cool motorhome the Liberra is.

The first thing I must note about the Liberra is that it’s very much unlike most expedition trucks. Most expedition trucks feature a large camper box placed on the back of a commercial chassis. Good examples of this include the 27North Ascender and the Storyteller Overland GXV Epic. Now, there’s nothing really wrong with these designs. They even have a pass-through between the camping box and the driving cab.

However, the Torsus Praetorian Liberra does this so much better. This isn’t a box bolted to the back of a truck, but a bus converted into a motorhome. The cab and the rest of the living space are naturally combined, just like they would be in a typical American Class A motorhome. Is this a huge deal? Not at all, but I like the polish.

Dämmler says one huge benefit of the Praetorian Liberra over other expedition trucks is its comparatively compact footprint and its wraparound windows. Many luxury expedition rigs stretch out over 30 feet and have only the tiniest gun slits for windows. The standard version of the Praetorian Liberra doesn’t mess with the bus windows, meaning you get a panoramic view of whatever terrain you’re conquering in your giant bus.

As for the rest of the interior, here’s a short blurb roughly translated from Dämmler:

A pleasant bathroom with space-saving sanitary facilities separates the two longitudinal beds from the living area. Four adults can travel here; the longitudinal beds can be converted into a king-size bed, and the comfortable seating area becomes a guest bed in just a few steps. Features such as a gas cooktop/oven, compressor refrigerator, pull-out refrigerators, roof air conditioning, and diesel auxiliary heating ensure comfort on the road, while high-quality, natural surfaces with solid wood create a special living ambience.

Dämmler says it paid some special attention to the wet bath, making sure to make it large enough to actually enjoy showering next to a mountain. Too many RV companies build rigs with lots of luxury and cool touches, only to give you a tiny bathroom you’ll hate to use.

In terms of equipment, the Praetorian Liberra gets a pair of Victron 25.6-volt LiFePO 200 Ah batteries, solar panels, two diesel heaters, an RV air-conditioner, and a Marshall Stockwell II portable speaker. Stores come in the form of a 66-gallon fresh water tank and a 40-gallon waste tank. None of this bit of kit is particularly spectacular. I mean, a Bluetooth speaker in a luxury motorhome costing over half a million dollars is a bit funny. But Dämmler says that this is just what you get in the base model. It expects buyers to do a custom order and fill out the interior and specs exactly as they want them.

Big, Silly, Expensive, And I’m In Love.

Next is the big question. What does the base model cost, then? At current exchange rates, the Torsus Pratorian Liberra would set you back $635,550. That price is about in line with what other expedition trucks of this size will cost.

Of course, the prospective buyer for one of these is a specific kind of person. The buyer for this is someone with oodles of money and wants to take their RV off-roading, but that off-roading doesn’t involve tight trails or any kind of terrain where size is going to matter. Basically, this rig is for wide open spaces only. Yet, a market still seems to exist for oddballs like this!

Sadly, none of these companies is marketing the Praetorian Liberra to American buyers. This means that my dream of driving one of these will remain on hold. Hey, Torsus, are you reading this? I want to do some bus stuff with you!

The Praetorian Liberra would never work for the kind of off-roading that I do, but I still love it. Torsus has proven that its crazy buses are just as beastly as they look. How do you make the world’s craziest buses even better? Put some beds and a toilet in it, of course! I’m glad that this thing exists just for the whole absurdity of it all.