As a former full-time RVer, I can tell you that when living on the road, it’s difficult to balance efficiency and convenience. When planning our nomadic experiment, we decided to ignore those who told us we should tow a small car behind our mobile home. We just couldn’t justify the extra fuel it would take to haul a vehicle behind our rolling house. It wasn’t too long into the trip before we began to question this decision however.

Anyone who has traveled in an RV knows that they’re not the most nimble of vehicles. Plus, once you’re all set up in a campsite, it’s pure agony to batten down all the necessary hatches so you can drive into town for water or toilet paper. It would have been so nice to have a separate car to use for these small trips. An RV with the morphing abilities of the Colim Caravan would have been even better.

Image via Christian Susana

The brain child of German designer Christian Susana, the Colim (Colors of Life in Motion) camper is the perfect example of an intelligent mobile home. The outer appearance is very simple yet aerodynamic. It may not have all the bells and whistles of today’s monstrous diesel RVs, but it makes up for that with one significant amenity: the front part of the cockpit is actually a separate vehicle, and can be detached for fuel-efficient exploration while the rest of the motorhome stays behind.

Image via Christian Susana

The detachable vehicle seats two people, and bears a stricking resemblance to the tiny smart cars you may have seen cruising around town. According to Susana, the Colim’s trailer sleeps four people and the combined vehicle a top speed of 90mph (FYI: that blows most RVs out of the water). For now, the Colim is only a concept, but Susana says he’s shopping around for a firm that would be willing to manufacture it.