Review: Mercedes-Benz Marco Polo 250 d Sport Long 2017

From the outside, the Mercedes-Benz Marco Polo is undoubtedly a van. Open the door and step onto its wood-effect flooring, however, and you could be forgiven for thinking that you’ve wandered into a rather nicely fitted out city apartment.

Indeed, some of today’s London apartments might actually offer less interior space than the Marco Polo 250 d Sport Long, to give it its full (and appropriately lengthy) name. Disappointingly, Marco Polo was not an Irish minty sweet magnate but a 13th century explorer and author. Mercedes reckons his is a fitting name upon which to hang their concept of a luxury camper van, built here on the long-wheelbase version of the spacious Mercedes-Benz V-Class MPV, which is itself based on the Vito van.

Our Sport trim model was powered by the 187bhp version of the 2.1-litre diesel engine. The £15,000 or so price premium over the equivalent V-Class ’bus is justified by the removal of seats and the insertion of rather posh sleeping and cooking facilities. It adds up to an eye-narrowing £55,000, enough to buy a real flat in some parts of the UK.

The only real drawback of a real flat is of course its lack of mobility. Climbing aboard the Marco Polo, either through the front seats or the sliding side door (which is not on the left side, so passengers travelling in the UK will be getting in and out from the road side rather than the pavement side), you’re delighted by the sight of a compact, easy to operate and well designed miniature home on wheels.

Besides the two-burner hob, fridge, sink, pop-up table and various storage spaces, there’s standard yacht-plank style flooring and a sliding rear seat bench that quickly converts into a comfy double bed. The roof sleeping area is equally easy to deploy, requiring only the push of a button and the release of two simple clips.

Rotating the front seats transforms the Merc from a vehicle into a living room once you’ve made sure that the chairs can swivel without hitting anything. The only obvious error in the control cabin layout is the positioning of the USB ports between the front seats, awkwardly placed underneath the main Comand infotainment controller. Still, there are plenty more USB and power plugs dotted about the place, so it’s not a terminal fault (sic).

This is not a small vehicle but it’s surprisingly easy to biff around in tight spots. The high seating delivers fine forward visibility, with standard parking sensors and a rear-view camera taking care of the back end.

There’s a low mumble from the V-Class's four-pot diesel engine at idle or when it’s started but otherwise the unit is smooth and manly enough to facilitate motorway speed matching. Its burly bottom end torque is nicely keyed into the silken seven-speed dual-clutch automatic gearbox, which always seems able to find the right ratio for any given situation.

A van-sized vehicle on 18in wheels is never going to be as serene as an S-Class on British roads, and it isn't hard to unsettle its composure, but within its limitations the Marco Polo is a comfortable mode of transport. If you’re more used to regular cars, the lack of braking immediacy might come as a shock, but it’s something to which an owner would quickly acclimatise.

Generally speaking, the Marco Polo fulfils its brief with determination and élan. It’s hard to ignore the beefy price tag though. A top-spec, all-in Volkswagen California is marginally cheaper than this Marco Polo, but an entry-level California is the best part of £20,000 less.

To fire up a PCP finance deal on a Marco Polo, you’d need to find an £11,000 deposit and then chuck £600 a month at it for the next three years before deciding whether to pay a sizeable final payment to own it. This is a big financial commitment for something you might only use a handful of times a year. The assumption is that mobile homers are at ease with this type of proposition.