[0:00]So, you think you're king of the car park in your G-Wagen, until this guy shows up. Say hello to the most luxurious and most powerful Unimog ever built. Coming up, we're going to show you inside and out. Mm. Comfy. Consider practicality. And it is absolutely practical. Wonder about accessibility. And I may dislocate a hip. Drive it on a public road, and get a bit carried away while commuting. It's like a sports lorry. It makes you feel amazing.
[0:38]Now, anyone that knows me, knows that I love a good Unimog. They are the ultimate in practical go anywhere, do anything vehicles. Like a cross between a tractor and a tank, they can compete in any arena from forestry to agriculture. Now, I have actually driven slightly luxurious Unimogs in the past. There was a Brabus version with a lot of quilted leather, but nothing quite like this.
[1:04]It's not small, is it? But this is Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks collaboration with a company called Hellgeth Engineering to create a mad one-off concept for the Mog's upcoming 80th birthday. And I would genuinely daily this. I would pick my children up from school. I'm not even kidding. So, this thing is originally based on a vehicle called the U4023. So, you get all the really good Unimog stuff like portal axles, front and back, which means there's no diff down here because it's up here, and there's a gear set in the hubs. This thing can wade up to a meter deep without any modification. It's got decent load space here in the pickup bed. I reckon I could get at least two IKEA flat packs in here, or just have some sort of sort of random dance party. It is quite practical. A frame that'll actually flex while it's off-roading. Super strong four-wheel drive and of course a full compliment of diff locks. But this version just gets, well, more of everything, like LED lighting, front and rear. Matt gray paintwork, 20-inch aluminium beadlock wheels with a central tire inflation system, which means that you can pump the tires up from inside the cab. It's got more angular body panels that make it look a bit like a Unimog Death Star. And also digital rear view mirrors like a truck. It's got an awesome roof rack, although it is slightly inaccessible. I'm not sure what you'd actually be able to get up there. Skid plate off a battleship. World's biggest roll hoop. And it's got a 165 L fuel tank, which can be extended to 235 L or more if that's what you need. It would cost you roughly 350 pounds to fill this with diesel and it only does single digit MPG. Mainly because in here is a Hellgeth tuned version of Mercedes' OM936 straight six diesel engine. That's 7.7 L of gumption, 1.1 L per cylinder. It's got 300 brake horse power and 1,033 pounds feet of torque. Which sounds like a lot until you realize this thing weighs over 10 tons, which gives it the power to weight ratio of an original Renault 4 at about 30 brake horse power per ton. 0 to 62 miles an hour is, yes, possibly. But obviously, that's not the point. This thing is about being good off-road. And it's got all the right bits to be pretty much unstoppable. But if you want to say that this is the most luxurious Unimog ever, then it better have more than just a cyberpunk outside. And first we have to get in, which requires actual stairs, and I may dislocate a hip. Hang on. Oh, good God. Whoo!
[3:50]Oh! So, one of the first things you'll notice when you get in here is that this is one of the biggest vehicles you could drive on the road, and yet it is only a four-seater. Although those four seats are more quilted and leathery and heated and electric than most Unimogs. Look, it's got air suspension, so your bum is always in the right position. There's a lot of leather everywhere, actually, including on this, what appears to be a day bed, which sits in the middle of the car. And then on these roof panels, which aren't sun roofs, they're just LED leathery kind of accentuators. And you still address the wheel like you're driving a school bus. Look how flat this steering wheel is, which appears to be just a giant version of a normal Mercedes wheel. Then you've got the digital rear view cameras. So, this is the left, that's the right, and there's one in the middle here, which goes directly behind the vehicle. This is the handbrake, which is pneumatic, like on a truck. And then there's a normal set of Mercedes dials. Then you come across to the dash, which is quite simple, and you've got a set of different diff locks here for all three of them. You've got air conditioning and stuff here. You've got ABS for off-road, so it's a different system. Then you've got a splitter box so that you can go into a low range system, effectively. And then there's different things like you can purge the engine, you've got the central tire inflation system. These are very special buttons, they're for the electric windows, and then here are some vents, which look like they're out of a very cheap vehicle. There is a little map light on a bendy thing. And lots and lots of space. Although, I am sat very, very high. I feel like I could lose entire cars under the front of this thing. Interestingly, utility Unimogs, the ones that you see with gang mos and all that sort of stuff, have a steering column that you can unbolt and swing over to the other side of the vehicle. So, you can work from the most convenient side for the thing you're doing. This one doesn't have it because this is kind of a luxury, powerful one. And then when you're off-road, you can go into low range on the transfer box, you can have crawler gears, and then you can even have gearing in the portal axles. So, this thing would be absolutely unstoppable off-road. Unfortunately, it's very expensive, so they've said we can't off-road it today, but they didn't say I couldn't drive it on the road. But before that, ever wondered why the Unimog exists? The thing about the Unimog is, it's always been a bit of a legend. And it's been in the game for getting on for 80 years. Originally designed by aero engine engineer Albert Friedrich, Unimog's first prototypes were knocked out by Friedrich, Heinrich Rößler and Hans Zabel after World War II. And the original Mogs were supposed to fit over two rows of potatoes for tractoring work with their portal axles, but also have equal size wheels and coil springs so they could operate as a truck on road, doing both jobs, which makes them a two-for-one deal. So since inception, they've always been designed to do a variety of things. Unimog is actually a mishmash abbreviation of the German Universal Motorgerät. Gerät being the German word for a piece of equipment, which is obviously what you bolt onto the basic Mog. They're the Swiss Army knife of truckery. The shortened name officially hit the shelves on the 20th of November 1946, and since 52, it's been a brand under the auspices of Daimler Trucks and Mercedes-Benz. And the older ones keep going. This is a venerable Unimog from back in the day, and it's got five gear levers, can reverse in all four gears, and still makes off-road stuff look easy. But the really cool thing is, Unimogs come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. Ooh. Let's take a look at some of the older Mogs in the museum, because they're all quite different. This is a Unimog that's been adapted for use on the railways. So, it can drive to an access point, be on the rails within 30 seconds, it can tow a thousand tons either forwards or backwards. So, if you've got a train stuck in a tunnel, that's your rescue truck. Snowplow.
[8:01]Fire engine. 1940s farming, and Swiss Army. Forestry.
[8:11]Milk float.
[8:14]Massive flatbeds.
[8:21]These early versions were only roughly 25 horse power, but they could still do tiny forestry. By the way, you see these? They keep you afloat in a wet and muddy field.
[8:42]That's the thing about a Unimog, it's adaptable. It's small enough, or at least the smaller versions. Small enough to get places that other heavy plant can't get. And then you can drive it on a road at up to 56 miles an hour, and it's actually comfortable and quiet, especially with these sprung seats. It's a real experience to drive one. And then when you get to a place where you've got to work, you can bolt on pretty much any piece of equipment you can think of. To drive, it's very lorry-like. So, even though it's quiet and comfy, the steering is very vague. The gearbox is a little slow. The road holding is there, but I wouldn't want to push it too far. Oh, Jesus, corners are not its favorite thing. The one thing I keep thinking is, it does make you feel super, super powerful. This is like driving a tank on the road. I suddenly realized what truck drivers feel like and how much attention they have to pay. It's not that hard to drive, though, you just got to be aware of the size. So, these rear view mirrors, the digital ones, actually work really well because they show me directly what's down here by my hip, and also what's behind on the rear wheel arch. Hehe. I'm going through town. It's kind of like a bit, it is a bit scary.
[10:13]I can't imagine you'd get more attention if you're in a Lambo. Look, traffic. I'm in traffic and it's not its favorite place to be. Good God. Right, I've got to look down here. Oh, good God. Yeah, we're good. It's a sports lorry. It's a sports lorry. This is incredible. It's probably my favorite car of the year, just because I love Unimogs. Hehe. I'm driving around town in a giant truck. I mean, I have driven lorries before, but this just feels like something different. It's the hyper car version of an Arctic, and it makes you feel amazing. There's a roundabout. Brilliant.
[11:06]Hehe. I could have just driven straight over that and it would have been fine.
[11:16]Oh, no. I've got people. It's a narrow bit of road. Yeah, it's okay when there are no other cars. I could, I could daily one of these. I could genuinely drive one every day. It would be hard to go, say, into Central London in one. But I try. Just need some air horns. Ha ha! So, this particular awesome Unimog isn't slated for production as yet, mainly because people who buy Unimogs generally buy them for working rather than popping to the shops. But it does go to show what can be achieved if you never use an underground car park. Though apparently there has been some interest in a limited production run, probably costing north of 750,000 euros. I tell you one thing, though, if you turn up to casino square in one of these, nobody is looking anywhere else, no matter what Lamborghini you've got. So, what would you use one for? I have some very specific ideas.
