The monstrous 35-seat Torsus Praetorian is packed full of extreme features, including military-grade air-conditioning designed to protect occupants in the harshest of conditions.

Travelling by bus can be a mixed bag. You’ll either glide quickly to your stop, or you’ll be stuck next to someone unfamiliar with deodorant.

Czech company Torsus, like many other manufacturers around the world, had one goal in sight when designing the Praetorian: the ability to go absolutely anywhere with consummate ease.

The Praetorian has plenty of ground clearance and can wade through water up to 68cm deep. Both are thoroughly put to the test on the rain-soaked course, and Detour team were quite amazed to complete two laps with heart-stopping climbs and descents, potholes that would swallow a car and angles that would surely tip one over with this remarkable vehicle completely untroubled.

Off-roading in the Torsus Praetorian is like nothing else. Somewhere under the floor comes the basso growl from 6.9 liters of diesel engine. It works with low-range gearing, diff-locks, and massive Michelin off-road tires to prevent this nearly 30,000-pound giant from running away down the 30-degree slope.

The Torsus Praetorian is a heavy-duty off-road vehicle built on a MAN chassis, designed for extreme conditions like warzones and disaster relief. With a powerful 6.9-liter diesel engine and 4x4 system, it handles tough terrains with ease, offering durability and reliability for transporting teams in the harshest environments.

The Torsus Praetorian is a bus. But it’s so much more than that. It’s a bus able, without really breaking a sweat, to climb a literal volcano.

On the slopes of Sicily’s Mount Etna, a trio of huge all-terrain buses ferry adventure-seeking tourists up to almost 10,000 feet to watch nature’s fire and fury in action. Meanwhile, at Ukraine’s front line, where humanity’s own capacity for violence is tragically being tested, other vehicles from the same manufacturer serve as ambulances and mobile drone control units.

When even the instructors at the Millbrook proving ground think this ranks in the top three of weird stuff they’ve been asked to shepherd round the military-grade off-road testing area, you know you’re driving something out of the ordinary. Meet the Torsus Praetorian, a bus for the End of Days if ever there was one.