CAMPERVAN OF THE YEAR 2025 - Exclusive full live-in review of the amazing Malibu Genius 641 LE
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- Опубліковано 7 лют 2025
- Peter Vaughan gets an exclusive road test of the Out and About Live Campervan of the Year 2025, the unique Malibu Genius 641 LE from Carthago.
The Malibu Genius solves the issue of other Mercedes campervans being too small inside or too long and cumbersome to drive. It does this with a bespoke pod on the rear that extends overall length to 6.40m and adds a rear garage with tailgate - perfect for sports or outdoor gear, or bikes.
Other notable features include the clever Supermax washroom and the fabulous rear bedroom with long, comfy twin beds.
This video is sponsored by Choose Leisure, a Malibu dealer in Canterbury, Kent
www.chooseleis...
To see reviews of other Malibu campervans click on these links -
Malibu 600 Diversity - • The latest PREMIUM cam...
Malibu 540 Compact - • SMALLER IS BETTER! Why...
Malibu 640 Two-rooms - • The amazing all-new ca...
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◼️ REVIEWED BY: Peter Vaughan, Group Motorhome Road Test Editor for MMM magazine and What Motorhome magazine Editor. Peter has been writing about motorhomes since the age of 14, has a love of touring France and is mad about old Italian sports cars.
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Many thanks Peter.👍
Have a wonderful safe 2025 love watching your informative videos throughout the year 👍🏻
Thank you. Happy New Year and happy motorhoming in 2025!
I was expecting you to say, if you want air in the tyres thats a £200 "make it move pack" 😂
Not a slight on your review, which is as comprehensive as ever, btw
That's the German way, I'm afraid. On some models I wouldn't be surprised to see a Wheels Pack that actually adds wheels, but at least the German way means you only pay for the bits you want.
Hello Peter, Merry new year🎉 I love your reviews but I have a question how will the new road tax changes affect the various sizes of camper vans I don't suppose you do a video on that could you please.
Happy New Year to you, too!
Road tax rates for motor caravans (the DVLA classification) are not currently based on emissions, so they are £325 for under 3,500kg (and over 1,549cc engine) and £165 for over 3,500kg
We have a virtually identical Malibu van - but on a Fiat base. We’ve have had it less than a year and love it.
Best thing, it cost us less than half of that ‘maxed out with extras’ van with a Merc badge.
Crazy price.
Alas there can be no comparison between a Mercedes and the Ducato I have had both, the Ducato van went within 4 weeks.
The genius is the Carthago accountant . The margin must be huge.
Why? Expensive base vehicle. Huge investment in tooling for that back end. Top quality build... Look at other Mercedes-based models and you'll see many that cost more.
@@MotorhomeCampervan😂
Excellent video, thank you. Happy New year Peter.
Thank you. And a Happy New Year to you, too!
Love your reviews, always. This camper an is typical Mercedes, over priced. There are plenty of value for money campervans to choose from that don't charge for all the extras. For £120,000 you could have a great more comfortable motorhome.
You'll always pay more for a Merc, or MAN or VW, but I wouldn't want a premium campervan based on a dated Fiat, personally.
As always, you can get bigger for the money but that misses the point. The Genius is a very usable size.
If you prefer a bigger motorhome, take a look at our Motorhome Awards 2025 - www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/motorhomes/news/best-motorhomes-winners-out-about-live-motorhome-awards-2025 and the video here - ua-cam.com/video/fVEQTYCWb18/v-deo.html
£1285 for a 24 inch TV. Utterly ridiculous.
Beautiful van,but absolutely everything seems to be an option,I wouldn't like to see it without any options!
App, the steering wheel is an option too.
Actually I WOULD like to see it without the extensive options. See how it compares to a mainstream van of the same price. If the back end of this van got bumped it would be very expensive to get repaired. Just who are the buyers of a van at this price. Personally I'd spend @ 30/35k on a good well looked after van and spend 100k enjoying it.
@@daletinsley2954 I agree 👍
That would just be the wheels 😂
As I've said to others, that's the German market's way but at least you don't pay for, say, an awning or alloys if you don't want them. Just look at it as a £120k 'van that you can spec exactly as you like
Great vlog, been waiting for this one 😎❤️ if I may just mention that the filming format you used (looks like a 3d red/blue filter?) is very odd and not easy to focus on 🤔🙈 might just be me. We are about to take delivery of a Hymer Xperience MLT ...the Malibu will be a future option x
The Hymer Xperience was Highly Commended in the Motorhome Awards 2025. You can see the winners here - ua-cam.com/video/fVEQTYCWb18/v-deo.html and all the results here - www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/motorhomes/news/best-motorhomes-winners-out-about-live-motorhome-awards-2025
Let us know how you get on with your lovely new 'van.
Hello Peter, great video as always . What advantages does this Malibu have over the Adria twin?
The Merc chassis is a HUGE plus over Fiat in my book, plus the bedroom area in the Genius and the tailgate over van barn doors
40k in " extras" what a nerve . Wait untill the Chineese get involved in this game seriously as they are starting to do in the motorcycle business.
I added £60k in options on my Carthago C Tourer, that's the way it is
That's how the German market likes it, so you can specify your 'van exactly as you want, picking from a long list of options. I've seen £60k - £80k of extras on some vehicles but you don't have to pay for stuff you don't want or need.
Hi Peter. I have looked at all your reviews. They all make a genuine accessment of the campervan or motorhome you are reviewing. You seem to not want to show any negativity towards the Genius. Although you say it is a German premium Campervan, is it value for money? By the way, I maybe lucky but the build quality and value for money including the extras I have added to my Swift Voyager 594 are Value for money.
No 'van is perfect and I pointed out some of the negatives of the Genius in the review, such as limited knee-room on the loo. However, it is our Campervan of the Year for good reason. If price is more important there are other campervans and motorhomes that won awards - see www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/motorhomes/news/best-motorhomes-winners-out-about-live-motorhome-awards-2025 and www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/campervans/news/best-campervans-winners-out-about-live-campervan-awards-2025
Compare the Genius with other Mercedes-based campervans and, yes, I think it offers good value. This level of quality never comes cheap.
Great review as always Peter, I wonder how many people will catch that overhang when manovering forward on a tight street. Van build looked excellent but what a faff that toilet and shower screen are. Kitchen hob was small and I would have liked the fridge at eye level. Cheers K.
Thanks for commenting.
Most coachbuilts have a longer overhang, so it's not a big issue. I'd live with the screens/toilet for the larger shower in a smallish 'van. Fridge at eye-level is nice to have but would make the 'van feel less spacious as the Merc is quite narrow. As ever, there are compromises...
Are the accessories available individually as well as components of accessory packs?
Too many of these packs seem to be bundles of 'must haves' (more like 'should be included as standard'), 'nice to haves' & 'luxuries'. Adding stuff that you don't really want or need not only eats into the pounds in your bank account but it also eats into the pounds in your payload.
Most of the extras can be added individually but are cheaper when bought in packs
The Genius maybe a usable size, however does it justify the price plus all the extras you have to pay for. I'll stick with my new Ford cab automatic Swift Voyager 594 and all the extras I have added.
It justfies the price with the size/quality/features - just look at the cost of other premium base vehicle campervans, such as the auto-Sleeper M-Star.
Enjoy your Voyager. Have you seen our Voyager reviews?
Voyager 510 - ua-cam.com/video/H0vXPoimPnE/v-deo.html
Voyager 494 - ua-cam.com/video/DkDjOAq-c6k/v-deo.html
Voyager 584 - ua-cam.com/video/s6vQRJ3l7v4/v-deo.html
The Voyagers are great value but a very different offering to the Genius, which focuses on quality in a compact Mercedes-based package.
Looks a great cc, you get what you pay for 👍. Thanks. HNY 🎉
Not in this case I’ve seen one
So true - you do indeed get what you pay for. It's a great vehicle
Enjoyed the review (as always), but I’m really struggling to see how this warrants the accolade of Campervan of the Year given the extremely high price, ridiculously small kitchen and poor toilet/shower design. I appreciate that every ‘van has its shortcomings and design flaws, but for £120k I’d expect something a lot more impressive.
Surely, the kitchen is a typical size for a fixed bed campervan? As for the shower, it's really good, thanks to the slide away loo. Maybe you need to see the Genius for yourself to see why it won. There aren't many occasions when rival brands are saying how good something is...
@@MotorhomeCampervan although I stick by my comments regarding the kitchen and bathroom, I’m happy to be corrected when I view one (I’ll be buying a ‘van this year having sold our motorhome). However, I feel the list price remains ridiculously high for a campervan, so it’s highly unlikely I’d buy even if my concerns are unfounded.
They can keep it. Stupid money. The kitchen area is so poor. The MH panel van market are pricing themselves out of business. They are at their highest price as we dive into a recession. Which builders go under first?
Many Mercedes-based models are dearer, costs have shut up - like everything else. I'd suggest the ones that will go out of business will be the poor quality conversions without type approval - the opposite end of the market to Malibu.
Lousy kitchen, really bad
Compare it with other fixed bed campervans of this type and you'll see that it's similar but with better storage than most. You can't fit everything into a 6.4m panel van...
You’d have to be utterly blinded by badge snobbery to find any convincing argument for this van at £125k (and I bet even that figure doesn’t include a workable off-grid leisure battery/ charging setup). The washroom in particular is poky, tacky nonsense. There are loads of alternatives offering the same, or better, layout-wise for far, far less. Sure, they probably say ‘Fiat’ on them somewhere but so what? At the end of the day they’re all converted delivery vans no matter how thickly the ‘premium’ grille/ paint options/ alloys/ stickers are loaded on.
There are plenty of VW, MAN and Mercedes-based 'vans that cost more and, if you drive any of them, you'll never want a Fiat again. You wouldn't expect a Fiat car to be the same price as a Mercedes, would you?
@@MotorhomeCampervan Believe it or not there are plenty of buyers - both car and commercial (fleets managers, especially!) - who actively select against your preferred brands, experience having shown them to be synonymous with higher costs at purchase and in service, and inflated claims of quality which simply aren’t borne out in terms of reliability.
Are they not worried people will try to plug in a giant ethernet cable into the side?
Over £1200 for a small television, an electric step that doesn't automatically retract. However, it does have the Malibu logo inside the boot door. Wow. I'm amazed at £124k the upgrades that are not included at that price. Some manufacturers take the proverbial. To exclaim you have a good size shower, which you prepare like a jigsaw. As for sitting on the toilet, very £124 k. Keep your knees tucked in while going. I'd say just about sums it up.
I'm not sure why you'd focus on a few negative details when there is so much here that's superior to other Mercedes-based campervans (all at similar or higher prices)
Reading through the comments here, I don't think the general public is convinced.
@@raymondc5473 You'll find comments like this on every review and the more expensive the 'van, usually the more detractors. Interestingly, rival manufacturers weren't at all surprised that this picked up the top award...
Tiny kitchen, awful shower/toilet arrangement, space wasted by having a dining area, don't care for upholstery fabric, I could go on! Would I pay 120k for it? Would I heckerslike!
Only good thing about it is the Mercedes part! Cathargo are taking the p@##!
Ive got a 2014 Auto-sleepers Bourton on a Mercedes chassis, and it's far better than this useless lump of nothingness! Rant over!
😂😂😂 60ltrs fresh water, 50ltrs grey and almost zero external locker storage... all in a larger coachbuilt motorhome. Serious limitations with the Bourton. And then there's the M Star from Autosleepers....£125k basic.
@paulbassett2715 well nobody is forcing you to get one I hope!
We all have different priorities, that's why we have a whole raft of categories in the campervan awards - www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/campervans/news/best-campervans-winners-out-about-live-campervan-awards-2025 and the motorhome awards - www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/motorhomes/news/best-motorhomes-winners-out-about-live-motorhome-awards-2025
If you prefer a more "British" layout, then Auto-Sleepers' M-Star is even more expensive and has none of the innovation seen in the Genius...
Really struggling to see the huge price differential compared with our Malibu 600. Appreciate Merc is premium brand, but it’s still a bus! I think the Ducato squarer wider shape is still the best. Those now using Merc, VW & Ford have all introduced compromised products as they are all narrower. The tailgate is a gimmick, where do you put bikes if you don’t want to put them inside loosing your garage? I’d choose a 640 on a new Fiat Ducato 10 next time for the longitudinal beds.
You can easily spend £100k on a Fiat Malibu these days and, as we've seen with Carthago motorhomes, buyers of premium motorhomes often want a better chassis than the Fiat. Yes, the Ducato has great internal dimensions but its design is now almost 18 years old - and it shows!
The tailgate isn't a gimmick. You can open it in the rain without your bedding getting wet and your living area cold. Bikes can go in the garage or on an external rack that folds down to allow the tailgate to be opened.
@ fair enough, however the Ducato series 10 is “new” and a 640 Malibu with similar spec is no more than £95k before dealer discounts. So still can’t see £35k difference. Genuine question; what makes the Merc base vehicle so good by comparison? As I just see them both as panel vans.
@@CharmingVanAxJ Fiat calls the Series 10 Ducato "new" but it's just another update of an ageing van with very litle changed bar a bigger screen. Drive the Merc and I doubt you'll want another Fiat, the engine is smoother, the ride better and the fit and finish and paint quality are in a different league. But, as you say, you pay for the privilege.
Sorry far to expensive , I will stick to my Fiat Ducato, Consort Pace ,lovely vehicle,
I agree that Consort make a nice 'van. Did you watch my factory tour? ua-cam.com/video/radtgCAqT5M/v-deo.html
Odd to have a bed for a 6'8" person who would not fit in the toilet.
Hmmm🤔. Well we've all got different ideas on things. I cant see how this camper warrants the price for starters. I dont like the tiny kitchen. Ok,its got a toilet and shower but what a faff and that shower screen looks very flimsy😂. And over £1200 for flippin 60cm tv😮? Theyre having a laugh. I suppose itll sell if only for some reason you simply just cant have a longer motorhome. But if you're not restricted to this length/width would you really spend that amount when you could buy a slightly longer, well equipped decent secondhand motorhome for half the price? Even if i had the money to buy this new i know where my money would go.
Yes, there are lots of different types and sizes of campervan and motorhome for all sorts of different buyers. That's why we have different awards categories - see ua-cam.com/video/fVEQTYCWb18/v-deo.html and ua-cam.com/video/U3IMx9wZGkQ/v-deo.html
The shower screens aren't flimsy, quality throughout is very good.
You can always buy bigger, especially if you go secondhand, but that's not the point. A smaller (especially narrower) 'van will go where bigger coachbuilts can't and be a lot more pleasurable to drive.
Yes,I understand why there are different sized camper and motorhomes. I'm just surprised that one metre less in length would make such an impact on people's decisions. It's not as though it'd fit in a single parking space any easier😉😂. I know it's more than length that might sway judgement too. Generally class B campers are narrower , lower and drive differently to class C motorhomes. I'm sure some people will find B's less intimidating to drive than C's.
Personally I just don't get the extra long customised van campervan trying to be a motorhome when said size difference is so small😂
But as you said, we're very lucky to have so much choice to choose from.
What a joke! The worrying thing is that there are idiot people who would buy this!
What exactly is the joke when this was the most talked about (and admired) vehicle at Europe's (perhaps the world's) largest motorhome show?
Finally, a bed where you can sit up to read.
But then it's spoilt by having extremely dangerous mains sockets right next to the door where trailing cables can easily get caught by those coming in and out of the van - I can imagine a child pulling a kettle of boiling water all over themselves. A more sensible & saferplace would be at the other end of the kitchen above the fridge.
It's a two-berth (with just the option of an occasional third berth), so I don't see many children ever getting to live in a Genius
@@MotorhomeCampervan grandchildren come to visit on site.
What are you smoking nothing special, and a ripoff at that price
Never smoked anything. Wonder why almost the whole industry reckons this is something really special then???
It’s pretty horrible to be fair.
I guess if a campervan recognised throughout the industry as something special is "pretty horrible" you're not in the market!
and still the boring standard floorplan with two extra seats.......
That's what a lot of folk want - a good bedroom, proper shower and a garage, plus the ability to carry passengers when required. But there are other layouts in the market if it doesn't suit you. Have you seen the other award winners?
www.outandaboutlive.co.uk/campervans/news/best-campervans-winners-out-about-live-campervan-awards-2025
Awning will catch on trees etc ….stupid and again overpriced idea 🦧
90%* of awnings on vans this size & larger never get used.
*99% of statistics are made up.
It's an option, so just order without.
That said, I've never caught an awning on anything and my own camper has one (because my wife insisted on it).
Much more typically overpriced 🦧
Plenty of Merc Sprinter models cost more, without the innovation or quality