We review the Mercedes Unimog from price to economy and all its features
THICK mud blasts over my windscreen like a tidal wave of chocolate milkshake as I plough through 12 FEET of watery muck.
This is no ordinary vehicle I’m driving. This is the off-roader that would eat a school run 4x4 Chelsea Tractor for BREAKFAST.
Superhero ... Mercedes Unimog saves lives
The Unimog has just celebrated its 60th birthday. But it’s not ready to ask for a bus pass just yet.
It’s Mercedes’ ultimate 4x4 — one that really will go anywhere and do anything. Only around 80 are sold in the UK every year, but they are arguably the most important vehicles purchased.
Utility companies buy about 50 per cent and the rest are snapped up by fire rescue and local authorities. The Unimog saves lives and I’m not surprised.
It’s ugly but it does the good and the bad with equal ease. I gave a fire rescue U4000 version the ultimate test at Millbrook Testing Ground’s extremely tough 4x4 circuit. It’s like a schoolboy’s dream, playing at being a fireman for a day in a Tonka Truck. The Unimog made the 12 feet of muddy water look like a puddle as it raced through, squirting water out of a vent on the bonnet like a dolphin coming up for air.
The next minute it defied gravity by lurching down a 70 PER CENT mountain-like descent.
This is a superhero on four wheels. Uperman.
I love the fact that it looks like it’s just driven right out of a comic strip. It’s old-school with everything apart from the wheels squared off.
Inside, it’s much the same. There’s nothing here for show, it’s all for go, go, go. When you get moving it’s pure drama.
Visibility is superb, crunching through trees and ruts, and all the controls are easy to use. This is all about getting to any destination, when simply no other vehicle on earth will get there.
Behind the wheel there’s a feeling of immortality, the Unimog takes whatever you can throw at it.
Under the colossal bonnet is a 4.8litre turbodiesel with an intercooler, working perfectly with the choice of eight forward and six reverse gears with four-wheel-drive.
It’s not quick — the Unimog’s talents are all done at the pace it wants. But it will still hit 56mph on the road.
What’s surprising is how easy it is to drive. The steering is light, the gearshifts slip though seamlessly and the brakes are strong, which is useful when you’re trying to stop it on a 70 per cent downhill stretch. It’s not cheap — prices starting at £75,000 before tax — but this is a vehicle that can plough fields, put out fires, rescue, grit and plough snow and so much more.
No wonder German towns and cities, who look after their own local infrastructure, buy a Unimog.
The biggest problem Mercedes have is that the Unimog is simply too durable. It’s built so well that they regularly see 30-year-old-plus vehicles working on a daily basis because it simply doesn’t wear out.
Mind you, 13 litres per hour fuel consumption makes a Porsche Cayenne turbo look like an eco car.
And the Unimog’s ability also works its way into the more conventional Mercedes commercial division. I drove Sprinters on skidpans and through tough 4x4 conditions and they made light work of it.
The variety and ability of Mercedes commercial vehicles, even including ice cream vans, is clearly widely admired judging by their recent extraordinary sales success. However, the 60-year-old Unimog is the daddy. But it’s more OMG than OAP.