This Luxurious Mercedes Off-Roader Makes Your G-Wagon Look Like A Soft-Roader

Mercedes-Benz, a pioneer in the segment with the G-Class and its more wild spin-offs such as the AMG 6x6, may have created the perfect weapon: a fancy, powerful Unimog.

The Engine Is Massive
The Unimog is a long-running nameplate for the also long-running Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks division, which celebrates 80 years next year. The division builds commercial trucks for agriculture, construction, and other heavy-duty purposes, and the Unimog is probably its best-known model, especially for its off-road capability. So, it made sense for it to build a special Unimog for the anniversary.

The company, along with an upfitter called Hellgeth Engineering, started with the boxier and more angular all-terrain variant (specifically the U 4023), rather than the more rounded and futuristic-looking implement carrier version. From there, it aimed to make it more powerful and more pleasant for the driver by swapping the engine, adding new bodywork, and upgrading the interior.

The engine swap is arguably the most interesting aspect of the luxury Unimog. A standard U 4023 already comes with a big lump of an engine: a turbocharged 5.2-liter diesel four-cylinder. Power is modest at 228 horses, but it also produces 664 pound-feet of torque. Mercedes-Benz Special Trucks replaced that four-cylinder with an even bigger six-cylinder. The new engine is also a turbodiesel, but it displaces 7.7 liters and brings output up to 295 hp and 885 lb-ft of torque. That power still goes through an automatic transmission, a selectable four-wheel-drive system with front, center, and rear differential locks, and portal axles.

It Looks Wild, Despite A Modest Name
To back up the bigger engine, Mercedes and Hellgeth spruced up the basic box of the U 4023's body. Big blocky end caps have been fitted to the front bumper to make it look bigger and better integrated with the rest of the truck. Rocker panels match those end caps and feature built-in steps to aid entry. The truck bed has a large fairing looping around the back of the four-door cab, and the bed sides are slightly slanted toward the tail. Some of the panels have additional triangular cutouts to add a bit more visual flair.

As for the interior, Mercedes added plenty of quilted leather for the upholstery, roof liner, and other panels. Ambient lighting makes an appearance, too. It's from this interior that the driver can enjoy the digital cameras and montiors that have replaced the typical exterior mirrors. They clean up the exterior design while also offering potentially better views around the truck.

For as boisterous as this Unimog is, it's quite amusing how understated this truck's name is. It doesn't actually have a specific name. Mercedes-Benz simply calls it the "luxury Unimog." When so many big trucks are named after dinosaurs, natural disasters, and other dangerous things, it's a bit refreshing to hear Mercedes-Benz's naming modesty.