{"id":1836478,"date":"2026-03-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1836478"},"modified":"2026-03-20T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T21:00:00","slug":"hellgeth-unimog-review-basically-a-7-7-litre-modified-sports-lorry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1836478","title":{"rendered":"Hellgeth Unimog review: basically, a 7.7-litre modified sports lorry"},"content":{"rendered":"
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What is it?<\/h3>\n

That is essentially a Unimog U4023. Except it isn\u2019t, because it\u2019s been subject to the tender ministrations of Daimler\/Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks Division, in collaboration with a company called Hellgeth Engineering. That particular Avengers team-up has produced the \u2018most luxurious and powerful Unimog\u2019 ever made, although strictly it\u2019s still a prototype.<\/p>\n

What you\u2019re seeing here is essentially a sports lorry. The hypercar of Unimogs, built as a kind of proof-of-concept for a street-biased \u2018Mog. It\u2019ll be knocking about on the actual road for some real-world testing in the hands of a US-based customer once they can work out the emissions regs and import paperwork, though we can\u2019t tell you who that is. No doubt he\u2019ll be back\u2026 to Germany to collect it once the paperwork is done. *Cough*.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Photography: Alex Tapley [main]\/manufacturer [below]<\/em><\/p>\n

Understood. Possibly. So what\u2019s been changed?<\/h3>\n

Quite a lot. But the standard off-road spec Unimog isn\u2019t exactly lacking as standard. So it still has portal axles that lift the diff crown above the centreline of the wheels and adds a gearset within the hubs for ultimate torque multiplication when driving vertically up the north face of the Eiger and\/or mall-crawling the Arndale Centre. Alternatively, the hubs can be 1:1 and just rely on the gearing from the \u2018Mog gearbox, which includes a super low-range. There are full mechanical differential locks, heavy-duty everything, a frame that flexes in the middle during extreme off-roading, massive tyres and the aero of the blunt edge of Dorset.<\/p>\n

But the concept gets more. So there\u2019s matte grey paintwork over a new set of panels that add a frisson of style to the Unimog\u2019s otherwise resolutely workwear style. More Calvin Klein than Carhartt. A stylish roofrack (although lightly impossible to load-out to, seeing as it\u2019s 12ft in the air), the world\u2019s chunkiest roll-hoop, a big lightbar, LED lights front and rear, digital mirrors from a modern lorry, the skidplates from a battleship.<\/p>\n

Need to air-down the tyres from inside the cab? There\u2019s central tyre inflation so you don\u2019t have to get your hands mucky. Plus there\u2019s a 165-litre fuel tank that can be extended to 235-litres or more, should you so desire. Just the casual \u00a3350 fill-up.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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You\u2019ll need that, because although most Unimogs get large-four-cylinder engines, this one gets one of the rarer straight sixes, tuned and fettled by Hellgeth, making it not-a-U4023. So it\u2019s a variant of Mercedes\u2019 OM936 at 7.7-litres. Yup, that\u2019s just a fraction more than 1.1-litres per cylinder. Power is \u2018only\u2019 300bhp, backed up by 1,033lb ft of torque.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The power-to weight on a vehicle that weighs in excess of ten tonnes is\u2026 uh\u2026 roughly the same as an original Renault 4. But the gearing and general heft means this thing could plough the frozen wastes of Hell if required. This isn\u2019t about speed – it\u2019s about being unstoppable. And possibly being able to tow the Earth off its axis, even off-road.<\/p>\n

What about the inside? It\u2019s supposed to be a luxury vehicle.<\/h3>\n

And it is. Sort of. If you define \u2018luxury\u2019 in comparison to what usually goes on inside a Unimog, it\u2019s luxurious. But I doubt Maybach engineers are currently pitching a fit. Basically, there are now four quilted leather, air-sprung and electrically-operated seats. But they\u2019re the same seats you get in a normal \u2018Mog with extra garnish – comfortable, but not overly complex.<\/p>\n

There are indeed only four seats in a car with a cab the size of a small flat, the middle of the vehicle occupied by a quilted leather coffin of an engine cover. There\u2019s LED lighting and more quilted leather on a pair of panels on the ceiling, but this isn\u2019t a Unimog that\u2019s been re-thought.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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You find that out by addressing the enormous steering wheel, just like you do in the normal version. It\u2019s laid almost flat, pitched towards a utilitarian set of driver\u2019s gauges. The centre console is as-per standard; plastic with many buttons. Buttons for low-range, electric windows, various lights, accessorised by a rotary dial for the three diff locks. It\u2019s all very prosaic and useful, but there\u2019s a distinct lack of knurled anything.<\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s not what this is for, and it might lose some of the charm if it were too posho. It\u2019s big though; you\u2019re sat some way north of any SUV in production and looking HGV drivers directly in the eye.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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What\u2019s it like to drive?<\/h3>\n

Well, the standard \u2018Mog in this configuration isn\u2019t one of the utility variants, so you can\u2019t hang the various attachments off it, or swing the steering wheel from left to right in the field as you could with some of the ultimate work versions. Instead, this concept is more ultimate off-road – and very little has changed dynamically to either compromise that ability or improve the on-road handling.<\/p>\n

The tyres are more road-biased than field \u2018Mogs which help, but essentially you\u2019re still limited by weight, height and soft suspension. The steering is medium-weight and tremendously slow-geared – an advantage in a vehicle like this, where you don\u2019t want to be pitching it in with a mistimed twitch of the wrists. You\u2019ll be spooling the wheel more than you think through roundabouts, excess speed rewarded with big, precipitous lean.<\/p>\n

And yes, there are blindspots upon blindspots. But the digital cameras help; there\u2019s one in the headliner for direct rear view, and the side monitors show both the rear quarter panels and down below your hips, so you can actually check for hidden bicyclists or VW Polos. Around town it is ridiculously amusing – people actually cheer when you drive past. Weird.<\/p>\n

The \u2018box is an eight-speed electro-pneumatic auto with the gear-pause-shift-engage of things that tow multi-tonne trailers. It\u2019s slow and limited to about 56mph, but to be honest, you probably don\u2019t want to be marching around at much more than that. Braking is consistent but needs consideration – you basically drive this with eyes up like an HGV driver, scanning ahead and ready to slow at your own pace, rather than someone else\u2019s. Mind you, not many people pull out in front of it. In fact, if there\u2019s a car that makes other drivers more respectful, we\u2019re yet to find it.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s the deal – can anyone buy one?<\/h3>\n

This Unimog is strictly a \u2018concept\u2019 at the moment. But if there was enough interest, a very limited production run might be considered. Price is a bit in the wind, though; you probably wouldn\u2019t expect much change from three quarters of a million Euros (roughly \u00a3650k). Saying that, Hellgeth can provide the engine anyway, and most of the other stuff could be sourced if you had the funds and the inclination, so it\u2019s not vapourware in the strictest sense.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s one thing we can guarantee though; as a roadcar-slash-sports lorry, this attracts more attention than any blinged-up G-Wagen or Revuelto. Turn up to Casino Square in this, and you\u2019ll take up all the attention. As well as six car parking spaces.<\/p>\n

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\"Hellgeth<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is it? That is essentially a Unimog U4023. Except it isn\u2019t, because it\u2019s been subject to the tender ministrations of Daimler\/Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks Division, in collaboration with a company called Hellgeth Engineering. That particular Avengers team-up has produced the \u2018most luxurious and powerful Unimog\u2019 ever made, although strictly it\u2019s still a prototype. What you\u2019re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,237],"class_list":["post-1836478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-topgear-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1836478"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1836478\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1836478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1836478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1836478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}