Overall,
having a camper body sitting on a Unimog chassis has worked
really well for us. I'm sure this is because the Unimog
is such a formidable vehicle.
Would we recommend the Unimog for an overland camper chassis?
YES and put it at the top of the list of possible vehicles.
But it's not the be all and end all, I think that less capable
vehicles could be more practical for many people. It's very
rare that you encounter terrain that puts the Unimog anywhere
near it's limit, in fact we've gone off looking for tough
ground just to try and trip it up! Most people would benefit
from a vehicle with a little less ability off road and better
road characteristics.
Why did we go for the Unimog? Simple, it's the best!
The
Unimog has so many good points I'm not even going to attempt
to list them. But I will highlight some of the points that
could be bad for some people:
- By
today's standards our Unimog is under powered and inefficient.
As soon as we hit soft ground like sand we have to get
in the low gears and just plough though. To be able to
power over the sand in a vehicle weighing over 7t I expect
you'd need excess of 220-230bhp. I met a guy in Morocco
with a Unimog tuned to over 250bhp just because he liked
off roading in sand. Lacking power also hinders our progress
when climbing steep hills and mountains.
-
With its low gearing we are very slow for highway driving.
This isn't an issue or us because we always take the scenic
routes and are never in a rush or on a timetable. Even
so, crossing vast tracts of land like the Sahara can be
an epic journey for us where as it would be just a few
days drive in a car. For those people who live fast and
drive fast this would be a problem.
- Being
a commercial vehicle you need quality (expensive) tools
and replacement parts are far more expensive than conventional
4x4's.
- Tires
cost a fortune! You could save money by not buying Michelin
but if you want a Unimog, you want to cross the toughest
terrain, so you should have the best boots.
- Width
and height can sometimes hinder progress. Mountain pistes
can get very narrow and it can get scary hanging over
the side of a shear drop. Stay out of the centers of old
towns and cities where things will get very narrow and
low!
Obviously
some of these points effect any large vehicle and if you have
an old vehicle others apply.
Much
of the outcome for vehicle choice comes down to the individuals
budget. Unimogs are bloody expensive. If you do go for a modern
truck with heaps of power and speed you then get into the
complex world of engine management systems and so on. The
beauty of trucks like ours is that they are very easy to work
on and put right if they do happen to go wrong.
If
I was to build myself another overland truck what chassis
would I use? Definitely a 4x4 by either MAN or Mercedes Benz.
My first choice would be a Unimog if I could afford one that's
got enough speed and power.
For
Cally and myself in the real world, our next truck will most
likely be a Mercedes Benz 814 Vario. The reason for this is
firstly, we miss our toys too much. We'd have more fun if
we had surf boards, kitesurfing kit, enduro motorbikes etc.
Coming from Africa to UK we have to wait seven and a half
months for our dogs Rabies vaccination. Our second reason
is that having a road based vehicle with ability to get down
unpaved roads would be enough for us if we had enduro motorbikes.
I think we'd see far more of places with this set up and have
more fun with all the toys!
Most
people want to do their trip and get back home without messing
around to much. We like to mess around far to much!
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