Here's my favorite TC from the 2013 Overland Expo

After a week of slowly prowling around seldom-used forest roads in the Sequoia National Forest (in search of obscure Sequoia groves and new boondocking sites), I am no longer drooling over a big wide high Unimog. There were a lot of very narrow "goat trail" roads -- big boulders and fallen trees everywhere, and big tree limbs hanging down. My Tacoma got pretty scratched up -- and there were a couple of times we had to back up for a hundred yards or so, just to turn around and escape from a dead end.

So yes, a Unimog might be great in a wide sandy desert. But in serious woods or in narrow canyons, I am not so sure anymore!

It's something a 12yr old would dream up as the perfect RV.

In the real world not so much. I'm following a blog of a couple using one for the pan-american highway trip.
- They found a deal on tires: $800 each and they are running thru tires every 15-20k miles.
- Fuel economy is measured in gallons per mile.
- Top speed on level paved road = 50mph.
- Another blog with a family in an old VW doing the same trip show up in all the same places with no 4x4.

Late at night when no ones watching...I still want one.

valhalla360 wrote:
Late at night when no ones watching...I still want one.

I have the same problem. This one is for sale around here, has been hard not to go see it:

UNIMOG FOR SALE

But I am afraid that for me this is my Unimog:

Mike's Unimog

Photomike wrote:

But I am afraid that for me this is my Unimog:

Mike's Unimog

I like your Unimog Mike - that is more my sort of price :)

sabconsulting wrote:

Photomike wrote:

But I am afraid that for me this is my Unimog:

Mike's Unimog

I like your Unimog Mike - that is more my sort of price :)

That is still a lot of money for a tiny toy replica!

"Late at night when no ones watching...I still want one." Love it. Reminds me of the "junk food junkie" song from the 70's during the health food craze. The speed would be the worst thing for us right now. Too much weekend warrioring without enough time. I need to drive 75 to get where I want to go for a weekend! There was a summer a while back when we would end up behind a group of Pinzgauers going 45 up Kenosha Pass every weekend with no way to pass. Drove us crazy. If I had time, sure, would be cool to own one.

It's something a 12yr old would dream up as the perfect RV.

In the real world not so much. I'm following a blog of a couple using one for the pan-american highway trip.
- They found a deal on tires: $800 each and they are running thru tires every 15-20k miles.
- Fuel economy is measured in gallons per mile.
- Top speed on level paved road = 50mph.
- Another blog with a family in an old VW doing the same trip show up in all the same places with no 4x4

They are good as an expedition vehicle. The Unimogs real strength is a railway/highway specialist vehicle, they have 35,000lb towing.
There was an OKA two doors down from me, parked on the owners property for 2 years. Sydney is NOT the place you see OKA's. Problem was the gutless Perkins diesel with the earlier OKA's . Now they have a Cummins.(I doubt they still are in business) OKA's like AMESZ , All Terrain Warriors and EarthCruiser(ATW and Earthcruiser are building vehicles for US Customers are built primarily as Tourist Expedition buses or for the Mining Industry. You see these vehicles mainly in Western Australia or the "Top End" Northern territory or Northern Queensland.
OKA as a Truck Camper

As a Tour Bus

Two OKA's and a Unimog

Jeanie and I looked at this MB-Mog too. The builder was out to lunch, so we did not get a look inside. THE cool factor is certainly there. For the record, it is a couple feet taller, pop-top down than my Lance lite-hard side on Dodge.
This brings up an important subject. To what degree do you build up your own rig to motate over bad or worse roads? I have spent a lifetime building four-wheel-drives to one degree or another. My view is the U-Mog above would make a fair rock crawler over non-existent roads. Why? Mongo low gears, lockers all around, huge clearance, Clarence, and even bigger tires which you could run at low pressure to get over the largest slabs of granite. Most of this stuff is a liability on the highway, secondary roads, and even dirt roads. All this leaves is the 'cool' factor. There is almost no place left on the globe that this MB would do better than many of the above poster's rigs would do. Here is my short list of 'must-haves' for a North American centric Expo rig:
1. Enough fuel capacity to travel at least 500 miles without refueling. What? What does that have to do with bad roads or mongo clearance? Nothing. But it has all to do with taking advantage of lower fuel prices (which do vary widely) between Canada/USA/Mexico and even state to state.
2. A truck with mostly stock set up and parts, with a power plant that is not too powerful. The best arrangement is a much more robust drive train than the power plant can deliver power to said drive train. Minimum suspension upgrading. Find the truck with the best stock suspension and leave it alone. This leaves one to up grade to a one-ton, even with a lightweight camper. I keep tweaking my own suspension and it really does not get much better, only less reliable. A stock set up is the most reliable.
3. A truck camper that is only enough to meet your needs and no more. Size and weight are the enemy when you are driving down some lonely dirt road to the hot springs. Just enough camper for a modicum of comfort is the key to success.
4. This last admonition is what not to take. If there is ANY question as to whether you should take any particular thing....leave it at home. Less is more here.
5. Everything you take or install must have good value per weight. This is VERY subjective, as I have a penchant for taking too much recovery gear: 30K pound tow strap, short piece of 7/16's" cable with big hooks, a cat choker, a tree saver, 4 'D' rings of various size, a 6 ton capy snatch block, a 15K pound Warn winch. Yes, I have used every piece of that over time, but not every time.
enough for now. Back to your favorite TC at OE.
regards, as always, jefe

I have absolutely zero use for that thing -- for many of the reasons mentioned by other doubters.

valhalla360 wrote:
It's something a 12yr old would dream up as the perfect RV.

In the real world not so much. I'm following a blog of a couple using one for the pan-american highway trip.
- They found a deal on tires: $800 each and they are running thru tires every 15-20k miles.
- Fuel economy is measured in gallons per mile.
- Top speed on level paved road = 50mph.
- Another blog with a family in an old VW doing the same trip show up in all the same places with no 4x4.

Late at night when no ones watching...I still want one.

You are full of crap.
I can get tires for $400 each and they last 60,000mi
I get 9mpg, about the same as a POS Class C
Top speed is 70mph.

Charlie
(Unimog U500/Unicat)