Ever thought Otto needed a school bus more befitting of his wild Springfield Elementary adventures? Well, we reckon we’ve found just the thing…

This is the fantastically named Torsus Praetorian, which its makers claim is the world’s first hardcore, 4WD, off-road bus. What a thing to behold. 

Torsus says its creation is based on a heavy-duty MAN chassis and is powered by a six-cylinder diesel engine making 240hp and a huge 925Nm of torque. There’s also locking differentials, leaf spring suspension, 389mm of ground clearance and some gnarly looking Michelin off-road tyres.

Plus, it’ll apparently carry up to 35 passengers over the most inhospitable terrain in the world, all while playing the entire box set of Harry Potter movies on its onboard DVD player. Nobody else have that on school trips back in the day? Without the inhospitable terrain part, of course – unless that’s how we’re describing the area of northern France between Cherbourg and Paris.

Anyway, the Czech Republic-based company has actually just won a Red Dot Design Award for the Praetorian, and in the accompanying press release it describes this badass bus as “indomitable”. No wonder it caught our attention.

STORY Greg Potts