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The Ultimate S.U.V.
Max the Merciless writes: "Take one part KITT, one part 007, one part Unimog, throw in a whole lot of high technology and you get the MaxiMog, perhaps the ultimate SUV! The MaxiMog is a go anywhere, do anything 'expedition system'. The vehicle (and trailer) runs a total of 7 separate computers, a high speed network and a google of different communications devices. I enquired as to the operating systems, and apparently "real time and safety related systems control run under QNX, scheduling and communications management under Linux, and there are a few apps that run under OS9/OSX and WinNT (hate the NT stuff, but some of the communications software is yet to be ported to anything else)". However, my favourite feature is the "High Intensity Air horn system - two air horns producing 137dba at 15 feet in front of vehicle. Note -- Due to high sound pressure levels only for use off road when no personnel are nearby!"
There's something weird about driving around in a car that has this many interconnected computers. One bug, and who knows what might happen. Fault tolerance should be zero on this thing
I believe that last year, more trucks/SUVs were sold in the US than cars. Compare that to Australia, where it's about 20:1 cars:trucks.
I think they should add an 802.11b antenna to it. That why I dont have to point my omni out the window in order to get on Mobilestar or Houston Wireless Freenets.
of all the soccer moms?
Where's the turret?
Casual Games/Downloads
I'm disappointed. I kind of hoped that the ultimate SUV wouldn't be so gosh-darn ugly. I have to admit though, that thing has just about everything that I don't need. Maybe for my next African safari.
You jack-mormon fuckpants. slash.geekizoid.com is dead.
You're an ass
The vehicle of course will never see anything rougher then the family's paved mini-mansion driveway where it will of course be painted to contrast nicely with the house and gardens and show up the pricy but effete Mercades-Benz SUV the Joneses across the street dared buy.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.
9.5 MPG!!!!
Anyone stupid enough to drive that should be taken out back and shot, they are just too dangerous to keep in the gene pool.
F
I take it the one part kitt is in fact the cutting edge fashion
Check out The One Humvee to see the real Ultimate SUV!
Fellowship 9/11
Hmm, I don't know... I think if I sneezed at this thing sideways the breeze would tip it over. It seems far to high for its width.
Its FAQ says that:
The MaxiMog(TM) is a Truck not an SUV and requires a driver's license for a heavy (over 12,500lbs) vehicle with air brakes.
So I doubt that we would see these being driven by soccer moms. Although it would be cool for a road trip.
is this thing only for himalaya pro's and maybe army 3c personal? for all those guys that want a smooth car, volkswagen and mercedes benz offer internet kits for their cars that are by far more efficient and less - say - conspicuous
".Sig Stealer" was here
Finally bringing the Beowulf cluster to the redneck/jock clique.
Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
Something tells me that we'll be seeing Dirk Pitt tooling around in one of these in a future NUMA action-adventure novel.
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
Hold on while I masturbate furiously in anticipation ... :-(
This is actually a redesign of a very old "S.U.V." called the UniMog
Unimog info
If this were equipped with 802.11a (not b) networking, could a traffic jam of these things become an ad-hoc Beowulf cluster?
Also, did anyone else notice that the domain's admin contact is Bran Ferren of Disney Imagineering? This may be more imagination than engineering...
I hate to play the grammar nazi, but the word should be googol, not Google (TM). Google is joke word, based loosely on the idea of a lot of data being searched, or a lot of people using the search engine, etc. See Google's corporate info page if you're curious.
Yeah but can it blast some kind of crap hip-hop in every direction for three blocks? You know, for the chicks......
Too bad Christmas passed :)
You stole my joke!
dominionrd.blogspot.com - Restaurants on
Maybe I miseed it in the specs, but I did not see a shovel nor sandplates.
:-)
Did the guys who designed this thing ever look at the Paris-Dacar rally for example?
The first dune they hit this thing is stuck.
PS. I would also like to see a trailer being pulled through sandunes
120 chars is not enough!
Am I the only one who saw this thing and imagined it standing on its rear wheels shouting "transformer" ?
Wardriving
;)
Had to say it.
A Beowulf Cluster of those! Get outta their way!
Well, let's just say that it costs more than a Hummer and Less than a Boeing 777 -- and you can't buy this one
If you have to ask.....
dominionrd.blogspot.com - Restaurants on
So for those of you who want to build your own one of these beasts...
A couple months ago some friends of mine and I bought an old super heavy duty school bus to deck out with gear. GPS, wireless lan, satelite transponders, audio gear, radar (marine radar), HUD, etc... basically anything ridiculously gratuitous that you see on the MAXIMOG vehicle. Our vehicle has 450 horses and weighs about 3.5 tons gutted. We got it from a podunk town that was using it as a fire and rescue support vehicle to haul rescue workers and equipment such as the jaws of life, chemical fire extenguishers, etc. It is a beastly machine.
Anyway for our vehicle systems, the design documents are to be public domain (with author copyrights of course) and support software will be GPL'd or BSD licensed. There are the beginnings of a project on sourceforge and photos. Basically the whole project is focused on building a totally insane techno machine from a bunch of junk on the cheap.
Check it out!
Oh yeah, it's already named Richard, III.
I know quite a few people will complain that this SUV will only be used on city roads and never see off-road service; while this may be true, this vehicle will have very good usage in rugged and remote places like in outback Australia. There are similar (not hight tech though) vehicles made in Australia by OKA Motor Company (see here, not link to OKA sorry) which is exclusivly used where there are absolutely no roads.
I can easily see a market for this (undoubtedly, very expensive, and so, out of reach for the Joneses) SUV within the mining and "exploration" industry in places like Australia, Russia, Canada, Africa and South America. That, I think is the real market for this vehicle.
I'd better start saving for one.
Keep It Simple, Stupid.
Wayyyyy too much stuff to break down in the middle of nowhere.
Still, if you can afford it, you can probably afford to bring a few Land Rovers with you to get you out of trouble when the computer-controlled suspension starts getting jiggy.
Rob
No, this machine isn't excessive. The add-ons are excessive. Jet boat and unmanned aircraft?
I guess the 'James Bond' types will be easy to spot in the near future. He's the guy driving the huge ambulance with a jet boat on the back and spy plane on the roof.
It will be an obvious choice who to kill for the bad guys.
Get your Unix fortune now!
Fault tolerance means that errors are recoverable from and don't cause the system to go down totally. Fault tolerance is a good thing. Fault tolerant computers sell for a lot of money.
And as far as the computer systems on this machine, there is probably a lot of fault tolerance over all, most of the computers are not going to be mission critical in the sense that they need to be there for the car to work. Most cars these days already have multiple interconnected computers running the engine and breaking system, but this adds separate machines for things like communication, GPS, etc. And if those machines go down, well, who cares? Just reboot em while on the road (well, you might want to pull over if you don't have a passenger, but you get the idea). It simply doesn't matter if their up constantly. And it is possible to make computers that don't crash ever, and they seem to be going that rout (using QNX for more critical systems, along with the separate computers and networks that undoubtedly run the engine)
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Of the Future SUV site? It hosts such massive concept vehicles as the Kenworth Pilgrimage, the Grand Dominator, the Eliminator (a new version of last year's Fornicator), and the ever-popular Peterbuilt Crusader All-Sport Denali Outback Eddie Bauer 5.9 Limited.
Dont think about driving this Truck where there are clean air laws cause it probably makes a ton of pollution. Not to mention the insane ammount of fuel needed to run it.
This is an environmentalist's worst nightmare!
I will be glad if America passes laws on the fuel consumption of vehicles. It will keep unneeded trucks like this off the road. This truck will just cause the raising of fuel prices.
What could anyone possibly need with a vehicle like this anyway?
These claims may of course be merely rumour.
dominionrd.blogspot.com - Restaurants on
Well, considering that only like .00002% of even urban america even has WiFi access out in the open I'd say it would be kind of pointless. And if you had the money/need to buy a machine like this you'd probably be able to get the antenna added custom.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
The specs state this thing has a fairly standard 5.7 L Chevy under the hood. That's not much power for moving such a large amount of weight. Dual alternators and other accessories further drag this thing down. Plus, I speak from experience when I state that a 5.7 L chevy, old or new isn't the best for moving something heavy when you want to keep up with the 75MPH speed limit on a moderate hill.
This thing is good for off-road trips. Excess power under the hood in that situation wastes fuel, which is obviously a bad thing. With a highway monster, a good 454 suits me just fine.. and if I don't mind stopping to pick up $50 of gasoline every 2-300 miles or so, I can climb hills at about 75+ MPH.
One future, two choices. Oppose them or let them destroy us.
The clear implication of your comment - that mothers who drive with their kids are dangerous, distracted drivers - is patently false and I suspect based on a subtle anti-woman bias.
Mothers are if anything more conscientious drivers than the public at large - and certainly more conscientious that the young, single men who populate websites like slashdot.
Mothers with kids have fewer accidents, because they are focused on taking care of their children, and protecting them from the hazards of the road (as well as movies, books, etc.). You could look it up.
The vehicle of course will never see anything rougher then the family's paved mini-mansion driveway ...
Again, you are making the highly sexist assumption that mothers don't drive off-road, or drive in the winter (do you have snow where you live?), or go camping with their children. Think again - mothers can do all this and more.
So lose your attitude about SUVs. For some people, mothers included, they are the only vehicle that makes sense.
20721
OS's by law have to be embedded type OS's. It's ilegal to run the controls such as safety and what makes it work with anything else such as windows, macOS,linux (embedded forms would be ok). They have to be embedded to help prevent against a crash. Any bug while driving could result in injury/death. Also since the cars computer controller is never used by things like entertainment systems and such it doesn't have to support much other than a lot of IO and managing things such as fuel maps for the engine. The auto industry does most of their prototyping with Dspace. Production cars use a finalized version of this. Typicaly you have little control over this programing for safety reasons, you can read the codes (as in error code) but not much more. This is not something people shouldn't mess with. I would be surprised if QNX is the real OS controling critical things. 1) because Benz makes the unimog so its' controls would have been made by them. 2) QNX is pretty advanced, for your car you want it as simple as possable to avoid bugs. 3) its pretty big and needs a decent CPU, cars use very lame CPU's in them, and many of them. Anything thats more than a few thousand lines of code would probly be to much.
BB
No price information is mentioned on the website. Presumably, if you have to ask, you can't afford one.
Who will be using the MaxiMog? Who will be storming the remote regions of the planet in data-gathering expeditions?
Why the rich, of course.
As expensive technology plays a larger and larger role in scientific research, the danger grows that developing countries who lack the funds to train people to understand and utilize new scientific breakthroughs, will fall farther and farther behind.
Technology is a means, not an end. It is a betrayal of the humyn impulse to obtain wisdom if the scientific advances are accessible only to a small fraction of humynity. The tech and knowledge gap resulting from income inequality is one of the central dilemmas of modern society.
If you had this thing, why the hell would you care what the weather was like?
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
"I'm an environmental oxymoron - I buy organic and drive an SUV"
.02
cLive ;-)
-- Trinity in high heels carrying a whip: The donimatrix - there is no spoonerism
Even if you are serious you must realize that the majority of SUV's are never driven off of a paved road. Take a good look around you the next time you drive through town.
If you'll read the site you'll see you'll need a special drivers license just to drive the thing (well, maybe the cops won't know that :P) so I doubt it'll be used by soccer moms.
I have a feeling this is mostly going to be used by people who actually need one.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
http://www.amphibiousvehicle.net/amphi/P/PT-76.jpe g
. jp eg
http://www.amphibiousvehicle.net/amphi/P/Pandur
oops, fix those urls since they got a few spaces added into them due to the lameness filter.
What good is it testing the "ultimate SUV" in Death Valley if you can't even cross a tiny stream. Gotta have something extra to be the ultimate, like amphbious capability. Or at least nice tank treads. Like that Mitsubishi Pajero with 4WD indepent tank treads. I saw a product review that claimed it could get up to 60mph on good pavement with the tank treads. I want one.
I'd rather have a Mercedes M-Class ML55 AMG, thanks
The ultimate SUV is the one that's flipped upside down on the side of the road while the clueless driver struggles to hang up on the cell call that caused them to lose control and jump the median, and find a REAL reason to use that goddamned phone.
Hey Taco! Looks like you're using the "infinite monkeys and typewriters" scheme to generate Ask Slashdots again...
In fact it seems a bit too perfect for the job... I knew there's a Holywood job description of "find the next James Bond wild transport" - after all, someone there has found the para-ski for the world is not enough. But given how well this beast fits the bill, it seems they've upgraded the job description to "go build us one" and added a few 1M$ to the budget. That's one really nice job (if you can get it). And it seems the money was well spent too.
So expect it to be "coming soon to a theater near you" - not in the parking lot, that is. Speaking of which, I wouldn't suggest parking anywhere near this beast, radar or no radar :-)
i want to agree, but i'm not sure if i can. china tends to have more people working close to where they live, i believe. i commute an hour to work at 60 MPH. this would take a day or two on bike.
america is just obsessed with going great distances to do pedantic things, like go shopping. this is somwhere between cause an effect as to the death of the corner drugstore. there's a tremendous essay here, there really is.
fFor now we'll just say: people will buy this thing, not because they need a monser truck to get to work, but because they want a cool toy. i predict these will sell very well in rural areas where people have lots of room to roll around the "backyard", and in the academic and celebrity circles of people who use machine-guns to go hunting - because they can.
this thing represents at once everything that makes america great, and everything that makes america a fFoul shithole.
You know they should put one of these in a movie. Then they could go to some island and get eaten by Dinosaurs.
Seems like a lot of really cool ideas from movies are being taken on as projects and being made into reality. This is making for some really fun new toys that we've always wished we could have. C'mon Hollywood, keep 'em coming!
You are all sheep!
thank you.
But where are the machine gun mounts, CS Gas Launcher etc etc?
All these computers, and no MP3 player!
Creature Comforts
* 5.1. Self leveling leather upholstered air suspension seats with five way adjustments, lumbar air bags, heat, and on/off road modes)
* 5.2. Inertia reel seatbelts with off-road lock
* 5.3. Refrigerator/food warmer/coffee maker
* 5.4. Heated and cooled drink holders.
* 12 disc CD changer (connected to entertainment AM/FM/CD player)
* 5.6. Retractable (air powered) entry steps (one on each side), provide access step for front and rear doors.
from this page
Fellowship 9/11
Why is it people are making comments about this thing making VERY clear that they did not read the site's FAQ or even visited the site?
The vehicle is not for sale, another one could be build if you have enough money. But i bet that there won't be alot of these things sold.. if people just look at the site they would have found out that this truck, bike, UAV, powerboat etc, was entirely build for EXPEDITIONS ! It isn't meant to be used as a recreational vehicle.
Its so you can fly it around looking for a gas station... Does anyone remember the movie "stripes"? I expect to see Bill Murray driving this thing around any day now...
Does this remind anybody else of the Canyonero from The Simpsons? This thing seems even more overdone than the cartoon satire.
it is a 1st world country with a 3rd world agricultural/mining economy.
Cos his dick is too small!
Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII
Would you really want a SUV like that? You'd also need some good security to make sure some one doesn't take it for a joy ride, or worse strip it for parts.
Not that I'm not drooling over all the advanced features and possibilities, like pulling a monster truck move during really bad traffic. I just don't see the benefits out weighing the costs.
yeah it does, with the subject of post
were obviously written by a committee of texaco, ford, general motors and enron...
"Hmm, how can we make customers waste more gas..."
"I know, let's make it illegal to build a shop or a school within 10 miles of houses!"
"While we're at it, let's make it legal to run a red light if you're turning right. That should kill any pedestrians who think it's safe to cross the road when the sign says "Walk""
"OK, and let's buy up the transport systems of Los Angeles and other cities, and then destroy them, so that people have to use our products" (see Who Framed Roger Rabbit).
i have a friend of a friend who "claims" to have seen one in an off-road situation.
You must be joking right?
The average SUV driver would be so scared of scratching the metallic paint on there all terain vercle, they will never dare take it off road!
Anyone quoted by a reporter knows how little they understand
Don't believe what you read is the truth.
One extra feature not noted on the website is the row of full jerrycans in the bumper which help incinerate the evidence ( should you accidentally smash into a sub-compact at the mall ):
http://www.maximog.com/bumper.html
Well, the website survived just fine, but the 'MogCam' is down. Guess 'slashdotted' wasn't one of the 'extreme conditions' the vehicle was designed for :)
...and we'll see some cretin driving one of these down 101. Fucking americans; pretty soon we'll all be gagging on the exhaust of your "progress".
So, other than hunting & killing aliens on mars, or surviving a post-apoctalyptic wasteland version of Earth, what can I use this thing for, exactly?
Care about electronic freedom? Consider donating to the EFF!
Funny, it uses the LS-1 360HP engine, the same as the GM Corvette. So there should be tons of stuff to "overclock" to more HP's :)
I saw this website months and months ago. Is Slashdot really 'news for nerds' or is it just 'links from people who didnt see this stuff ages ago'?
The vehicle itself seems to just be a promotional vehicle for www.unicat.net, a company that seem to make custom Unimogs. The various modules for the Maximog - plane, boat, time-machine, are as much vapourware as a 100:1 lossless compression program.
From their FAQ, IS IT LEGAL TO DRIVE IN THE USA?
Yes, once certified and licensed it is fully legal to drive on any road that is rated for it?s weight (all major roads and highways) and height (10?6?).
The design of MaxiMog is just absurd. The company claims that it is a EXPEDITION vehicle. For a loaded weight (vehicle+trailer) of about 30,000, you can go nowhere. Do they consider a trip from say LA to SF an expedition????
Fifty bucks says all of them roll over their first week on the road.
Oh great now I need a new keyboard, this one shorted from drule. Thanks again Slashdot.
How a truly open minded and supposedly intelligent arbiter of technology news managed to work an anti microsoft dig into a story about a fucking car ?
God Damn im impressed.
Thank god its not about tampons, i shudder to think of the smarmy, smart arsed comment you would come up with then!
Meanwhile back in the real world im going back to watching a DVD on my Windows computer, something that required 20 seconds of setup and not one console command to achieve.
Linux
-the operating system of the past
-Will remind you of how great punch cards used to be
-Its not meant to be easy
-Redefining pointless yet again
-Who needs things like simple installs, multimedia or games - i got root
This is a just a lifestyle vehicle that appeals to the same sort of people who'd buy a Hummer.
Why? Because if it was a serious off roader it would have a diesel engine for reliabilty, torgue and fuel economy reasons, not some gas guzzling V8.
My MaxiMod was hacked and defaced by some Hummer activists!
Danny and I just had a kid, and of course we needed a bigger SUV. It's so big, last week we lost little Joey in the back and couldn't find him for an hour. Now on those trips to soccer practice, or during my trecks across the mall parking lot, I know my family is safe. Who cares if it only gets 3 miles to the gallon, I'm a mom, not a conservationist.
To ride in style, you need a stretch limo SUV.
Wonder if it is an autobot or decepticon.
Whatever it is its ugly as sin.
--"Karma is justice without the satisfaction"
You're only used to such low mileages. Come to Europe and experience how high fuel prices have made high-mileage cars available and lowered the average fuel consumption about 30 % within ten years.
9.5 mpg is about 25 l / 100 km. The average in Europe is about 7 l / 100 km ^= 33 mpg, in the US 12 l / 100 km ^= 20 mpg. (As a rule of thumb, l/100km = 2.375 * 100 / mpg.)
In Germany a liter of diesel costs about 0.81 €, a liter of 95 octane gas about 1.00 €. Hence fuel for a monster like this one will cost about 0.25 € per km. A good diesel car like a Audi A6 1.9 TDI (130 hp 310 Nm) which is not really small, neither slow (220 km/h), takes about 6 l / 100 km ^= 40 mpg which costs about 0.05 € per km. You could go five (!) times as far for paying the same for fuel, with the A6 driving circles around the Maximog.
Gas guzzling petrol engine?
Just how far do you think it will get?
You need a real truck - a Tatra 816 8×8.
You can see similar vehicles and Unimogs in action in the Europa Truck Trial.
Yeah, it's not a SUV, but neither is the MaxiMog.
It's never too late to have a happy childhood.
The prices aren't higher in Europe; the taxes are much, much higher. The base price of the fuel is roughly equivalent.
yes. in addition, we should ban cars:
- They also waste large amounts of gas
- If they slam into a pedistrian or a biker, they have a very high chance of killing them
- If you are not careful, you can flip one, or crush it, or cause it to explode
Personally, I think that cars should not be allowed on the road, and anyone who buys them is a doofus. Of course, bikes are dangerous to pedistrians. So they should be banned. And rollerblades. And in addition, I think that rap music is annoying, so lets just ban that too. In fact, to make the world a better place, lets just ban everything we dont like. That will solve everything.
They could minimum double the MPG if they would make it a diesel. And just think of all the extra torque :)
I was wondering if it would replace the Hummer in all those damn rap videos...
It doesn't mean much now, it's built for the future.
This thing looks like it's going to roll over like a Samurai.
Am I missing something here or is this just a giant waste of resources?
the air horn for my car.
And I want it to play both "Dixi" and "La Cucaracha"
III.IIVIVIXIIVIVIIIVVIIIIXVIIIXIIIIIIIIVIIIIVVIII
It's the same cabin height as the original chassis. It's not top heavy, according to the designers, because heavy things like fuel tanks, generators, batteries, etc. etc. have been mounted down low. It's also got an adjustable suspension so I would assume that high angles of attack could be compensated for.
You'll also find, when you read the FAQ, that this isn't an SUV for climbing hills and trails - it's for "exploring". It's supposed to be capable of some challenging offroad but it wasn't built for the "let's see what it can do" mentality. I also doubt it's meant to be driven very fast on the highway. It requires a trucker's license for vehicles equipped with "air brakes" so I don't think they were shooting for "sports car" handling. Hell, the tires weight as much as 400lbs depending on what set it's got loaded. This thing is a beast.
It's big, probably slow as heck, and not something I'd want to encounter in rush hour. Hell, if he hit the horn would I lose my hearing AND my window glass?!
Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
That thing would sink so fast in mud and could never rock crawl. A Jeep could kick its ass in a real off-road conditions. Check out my photos at http://www.jeeping.net I'm not an extream off-road but i doubt that thing could go most places I go
I have a friend who has an older UNi-Mog. I gotta tell ya, that thing is damn fun to go for rides in. I haven't done any off roading with him, but my first ride in the thing was in a mild hurricane. That was weird...
Needless to say I've done a fair amount of looking into these things, and have found a few things out there that may be of intrest to someone who may want to know more about these things. Sweet machines, they are.
I'm not a prophet or a stone-age man,
I'm just a mortal with potential of a super man.
A few notes on the specs:
Is any of this stuff EMP hardened?
Will a cop pull me over and ask which gizmo is the radar detector?
"Trailer: Item 27.1 - Incinerating toilet (retractable)" --- wtf??? Guess I'd wanna leave the lid down on that one.
I'd have a personalized plate on my car, but "toxic bachelor" won't fit into 7 letters.
This wasn't meant to be bought by Joe Consumer. It's custom built from scratch on top of a Mercedes chassis. It costs "more than a Hummer less than a Boeing". I cannot imagine a celebrity taking the time to go get a trucker's license to drive one either.
It weighs like 20Klbs and can't be terribly "fast". What would the possible attraction be, even for folks like Arnold. This is a true expeditionary vehicle, I cannot imagine owning it myself as the maintenance alone would kill me. Water warmed fuel tanks?! Ouch this thing is built like a tank!
Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
... mine's bigger!
Try reading the FAQ dumbass. It's a diesel though so it probably pollutes more than an LEV gas vehicle but it's not the SMOG monster you thought it was.
Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
I do understand this very weird/unique vehicle has been made to do actual driving over tough terrain, but can you imagine the gas mileage? I haven't heard whether it uses strait gas or a gas/electric combo but I sure hope it either has a massive fuel tank (maybe that's what the trailer is) or there are gas stations in the amazon.
Seeing as how the Maximog site didn't have much info on the UAV (Unmanned Air Vehicle) I did a little digging and found on online review of what they must be using. WattAge Hawk
... bad (sunday) drivers ...
:)
At least you can get their attention to move to the right
12.1.7. Front and rear facing emergency warning strobes.
and
7.1. High Intensity Air horn system - two air horns producing 137dba at 15 feet in front of vehicle. Note -- Due to high sound pressure levels only for use off road when no personnel are nearby.
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
The basis for this vehicle is (as the say) a Mercedes-built Unimog (see http://www.mercedes-benz.com/e/ecars/unimog/defaul t.htm for details), which has been modified.
:-)
These are heavy-duty trucks (can't drive them with a normal driving licence, so no soccer moms in this one) for use by the military, rescue and emergency services and for world travellers local authorities, builders, even farmers etc. who would need an ultra-tough vehicle. At the Mercedes plant near Sindelfingen, they use Unimogs with additional retractable steel wheels to haul trains loaded with new Mercedes cars
Unlike the US, Mercedes-Benz sells commercial vehicles under its own name in most of the world.
Why they would want a relatively weak GM-engine instead of the Mercedes engines I do not know. The strongest engine available in a stock Unimog is a 240 HP diesel engine.
Also, even from the FAQ it is not really clear what they want to prove. Basically it's cool, but... Just adding features to a vehicle doesn't make it better... Hm. My 0.02$
M
Is this an example of brand popularity affecting language? Or am I wrong and are there two proper spellings? The dictionary I referenced (gdict) didn't mention "google" at all.
ok, redundant maybe, but its not fair to call mplex a troll now
May you be touched by His Noodly Appendage. RAmen.
I would guess there's a _lot_ of mass in the bottom 1/3 of the height though, so the center of gravity is probably low enough to avoid tipping during "normal" off-road driving (ie. no driving laterally along steep slopes). It needs the height for capacity, but can't be too wide to be street legal (or to negotiate narrow 1-lane roads in developing areas).
Note that this thing can supposedly "climb a 45 degree slope" - just don't turn sideways while doing it or your expedition will come to a rapid, messy end.
Freedom: "I won't!"
I used to have a Mercedes Jeep. Origionally designed as Mercedes bid for supplying UN vehicles. It looked about like this thing, except it has a convertable soft top. The body is made by Mercedes truck division and the drivetrain by the car division. It had nifty featrues like a special lever to lock the universal joints in the drivetrain so sou can rock a stuck vehicle without damaging the universals.
I owned the Jeep for two years in the Mid-East. I spent many a day two-tracking though the desert. I slammed it into rocks. I drove it through sandpits. I even jumped it quite a distance. The skidplate underthe motor was like 1/4 inch thick. The only proble I ever had with it was the throttle cable coming off after jumping it about 15 feet. I'd love to own one again.
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
Doesn't this vehicle look like the vehicles in the second Jurassic Park movie the "bad" guys had?
-- 4 8 15 16 23 42
After all, I have been thinking of buying a home recently. I think it would do OK; the temperature where I live does stay between -70F and +130F, and there's generally less than 5 feet of water on the ground around here.
Do you think that the owner of this thing might be compensating for something?
You'd have to have an electron microscope to find that teeny weenie.
This was shown at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC as part of a show on the Office of the Future.
The intended use is to do a year long survey of rain forest ecosystems. The build quality is fantastic.
Yet, after looking at it for a while, I thought it looked like a command car for the Beverly Hills Army.
After more reflection I thought: too much money and not enough girlfriend. I expect one to appear in Steve Balmer's driveway.
Yeah, I definitely agree with maggard and the AC. However, I don't have a problem with people driving all SUVs to the mall, Starbucks, and back home. Specifically, the car-based ones generally offer much better fuel economy and provide less of a threat to other motorists. These include (but aren't limited to) models like the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, and Ford Escape/Mazda Tribute. Even better than these are the Subarus...pretty much any of them. AWD, good design, and a lower center of gravity make these much safer vehicles.
As far as the wireless phone and screaming kids...well, don't associate all these attributes with SUVs. Wasting fossil fuels, obstructing view, and endangering other motorists by unnecessarily driving an SUV is a symptom of other larger problems. The most pronounced, I would guess, is a dearth of consideration for others.
My wife and I just stick with our Hondas, as well. I drive a slightly modified Civic; she drives an Odyssey minivan. And let me tell you, that minivan will stomp most SUVs in handling, acceleration, and certainly cargo room.
One of the reasons that I became a lawyer was to avoid ever having to hire one. -SPYvSPY
This vehicle looks pretty, but it is also higher than large with a very weak center of gravity. I wonder how this thing would behave under heavy winds.
... modern work of art. Modern arts usually degrade faster than ancient ones ;)
One of the most stable and all road vehicle is renown to be the Hummer. As I recall it, this vehicle is also very large compared to its height, thus making its center of gravity very strong and providing the vehicle extreme stability in all conditions.
This one looks like a
[insert sig here]
It's quite nice. {{wispers}} I told him we already got one. {{hushed snickers}}
The vehicle is not for sale... if people just look at the site they would have found out that this... was entirely build for EXPEDITIONS! It isn't meant to be used as a recreational vehicle.
SUV's in general (Jeep, Range Rover) were originally meant for expeditions and military use - not recreational or personal use. But they are now a menace to drivers everywhere. So... uh, what was your point again?
By publicizing yet another outsized vehicle, they are doing their part (even if it's only a small one) to accelerate the disturbing trend of using these wasteful and dangerous "cars" as family vehicles. Even if this vehicle isn't for sale, there's little doubt that it will stimilate a few Unimog sales at least. Publicity works.
This is seriously old news, i saw that at the NY MoMA last february, the editor who posted this should be maimed (cutting off his hands sounds about right) and then be made to suffer a horrible death.
Delay from news to slashdot=1 year??? come on.
Everybody has a purpose in life, maybe mine is to lurk in slashdot.
The NT comment in this story is the last straw. As a LINUX user, I'm embarrassed to be part of the LINUX community anymore. You all are WORSE than that SNL parody of the "Computer Guy". You are worse because you are serious.
/. to see more of the community, and he emailed me back "This place is full of people that would get beat up at a Geek convention". How pathetic.
You all have stopped thinking, and the world is laughing. I told a non-Linux user to check out
You don't think for yourselves. You attack ANYTHING MS without even thinking about it. LINUX isn't the answer to EVERY question! It's like you all try to shoehorn LINUX into being the be-all end-all! I have a LINUX server farm and it's a GOOD Server O/S. I also have WIN2K servers and they are a GOOD too. BOTH have had the same reliability.
Any IT person who doesn't use the RIGHT tool for each job is in IDIOT. ANYONE who thinks that LINUX is the right tool for EVERY job is an IDIOT.
When you all suggested that LINUX should be used as the DESKTOP OS for HOME USERS, I laughed my ass off!!! Let's see, not very user-friendly and cannot run 90% of the software on the store shelves, YUP sounds like a GREAT OS for my KIDS!!
I'm embarassed to use LINUX anymore, you all are simply giving it a bad name. Just like Bin Laden twisted Islam and tainted its image, you all are doing Linux a grave disservice through your fanaticism.
Armand28
"-LINUX was a good OS, before it became a religion."
Anyone remember the movie Damnation Alley? THAT was an SUV.n dm aster.htm
http://www.geocities.com/Baja/Desert/7445/thela
All you need to picture is George Peppard popping through the hatch with a cigar and a grin:
"I love when a plan comes together"!!
There's more like you at Changing the Climate.
If you fall off a building, go real limp, because maybe you'll look like a dummy and people will be like hey, free dummy
Looks like someone is envious of the Truck class in the Dakar Rally which ended yesterday. Check out Dakar 2002.
For those non-Rallye types, it spends most of the Paris-Dakar route in West Africa. Two weeks long, has car, motorcycle & truck classes, lots and lots of sand. Last year had a one week detour while they were airlifted over a country whose guerrilas threatened to kidnap the drivers. Makes the Baja look like drive to the beach.
The SUV is too high to actuall be legal on the roads, but I doubt that will be enforce considering the of people that get away with it now. The horn? BAD idea. We all know it WILL be used in the city and anoy the crap out of people! All together, a complete waste of money!
Good Idea: Having spare gas tanks on your ultimate SUV.
Bad Idea: Putting the spare gas tanks on top of your front bumper.
and we couldn't find him for an hour!
The Miabatsui Monstrosity... "Mine's Bigger".
;)
=tkk
Bill Gates - Creationist?!?
To only be purchased by someone with an extremly small penis.
WikiAfterDark.com It's a sex wiki, go now!
It's not a frigging SUV, it's a Mog.
There are a number of interesting projects out there with a similar mindset. Technomadism implies that you design a vehicle or a mode of continual, nomadic travel that renders you capable of utilizing various kinds of technology, from amateur radio to beowulf clusters. Many technomads spend years fabricating, scheming, and developing their custom vehicles.
One famous technomad, the father of it all, Steve Roberts has developed a number of vehicles in conjunction with folks over the years. Many technomads design modes of travel that are not dependant on fossil fuels and/or make extensive use of various renewable energy tecnologies. Steve's boats use human power along with solar power.
Myself and a friend have begun a technomad projet within the past year as well. Our project uses a Dodge RAM 250 as the base. It gets about 20 miles to the gallon, but since we returned home, has gone into disuse for local driving tasks. We're hoping to do an alternative fuel conversion in the future.
-- chaos
Am I the only one who thought of the "Canyonero" song from the Simpsons?
Can you name the truck with four wheel drive,
Smells like a steak, and seats thirty five?
Canyonero! Canyonero!
Well, it goes real slow with the hammer down
It's the country-fried truck endorsed by a clown
Canyonero! Canyonero!
Hey, hey!
Twelve yards long, two lanes wide,
Sixty five tons of American pride!
Canyonero! Canyonero!
Top of the line in utility sports,
Unexplained fires are a matter for the courts!
Canyonero! Canyonero!
She blinds everybody with her super high beams
She's a squirrel-squashin', deer-smackin' drivin' machine
Canyonero! Canyonero! Canyonero!
Whoa, Canyonero! Whoa!
Experts agree: everything is fine.
Did you read the specs page? It's got redundant GPS mapping with tiebreaking dead-reconing and aviation nav systems, marine radar, satellite internet, tv, phone, computer-powered everything (some running QNX), xenon headlights, worklights, joystick-adjustable search lights, front-, side-, and rear-mounted remote pan/tilt/zoom/focus-able cameras, a power-driven mast on which you can raise all kinds of communication antennas, a remote-controlled camera dome, or a chair, displays in the cabin will tell you the distance between your bumpers and the nearest solid object, it's got a coffee maker, a fridge, a bathroom in the trailer (which has a command center accessible via what appears to be a Mac with dual 17" LCD monitors), if you want to see over a hilltop or something you can launch an electric recon plane and watch realtime wireless video with a 30-mile flight range, you can set up the zero-to-sixty-in-four-seconds jet boat and go up against four-foot white water rapids with, of course, full GPS navigation and forward-looking night-vision with GPS waypoint overlay, and if you get bored with this you can take the Beamer cycle off the back and go zipping through the countryside with high-resolution GPS and a sat-phone, packet modem, etc...
It's just freaking inspiring that someone with the resources to pull this thing off is going to get to go on adventures with it all over the world, which is obviously his life-long dream which, judging by the fact that he says the whole thing costs a bit less than a Boeing 777, is probably a well- deserved vacation from all the wealth-building he's been doing up until now to be able to afford not only the lifestyle of a free-roaming expeditionist, but a free-roaming expeditionist with the ultimate custom-built geek adventure vehicle of all freaking time.
It almost brings a tear to your eye...::sniff::
"Sweet creeping zombie Jesus!"
-The Professor, Futurama
If you really want to go exploring you will realize very shortly that the MaxiMog, however cool it is, is a rather bad joke for an exploration vehicle, more suitable for base camp bound exploring or lazy afternoon explorations of your private estate before 5 o'clock tea.
If you want a serious exploration vehicle, go to www.unicat.net or to see one of these vehicles in actual use for many years and still going strong www.globetrotters.ch .
The MaxiMog is a very nice concept study, but in any exploration trip longer than one night the comfort of the crew soon becomes paramount. Maybe the optimum would be to get a Unicat vehicle and have it outfitted with the MaxiMog guys, provided that all that high tech gear is really necessary.
Did anyone notice that the motorbike comes with an "Anti-Theft alarm and transponder"? I guess that you have to be careful about bike thieves penetrating your UAV-perimeter while on expedition...
http://www.maximog.com/bike_tech.html#THEFT
If you live in snow country like I do, you at least want front-wheel drive, or preferably 4-wheel drive. And forget about electric vehicles around here - it's hard enough starting a gasoline-powered car when the cold has drained your battery. I'm trying to get by with rear-wheel, but having to weigh down the trunk with hundreds of pounds of sand puts me at a bit of a disadvantage. at least the sand can be used for traction when I skid off the road :).
...about the Unimog. This vehicle, dubbed to be one of the best All-terrain vehicles in the world (with exception to the recent Humvees maybe), was one of the first Mercedes-Benz products after WWII was over. As Germanys industry was was under control of the allieds everything they built needed prior permission. As it seems the allieds took the vehicle for what it was advertised a powerful tractor/transporter for agricultural and civilian construction uses (it was perfect for building roads as the vehicles had cruise control from day one, allowing them to go with very constant 2mph).
...) already have bought one. And it runs. It is not uncommon to see 1960s models in the streets doing their work. So why buy a new one ?
Ironically, after the Germans were allowed to establish a military force again they ordered Unimogs and rated them as "military vehicle class A" which means that it is "able to follow a heavy combat tank through heavy terrain with medium speed under all conditions". Created for civilian use it received its well-deserved military honors. Even the US army uses some of them. (Among many many others).
You can check out the vehicle history at the link below, along with some pictures. You can also take a look at the new U400 which looks way ugly in comparison to the older models. Maybe I just like them better because I have driven one of 'em for so many miles.
Unimog History
Ironically for Mercedes-Benz, the sales are going very bad in the last years, that was part of the reason for the facelifted U400 but it is not the competition that's digging MB. Everyon who could possibly use one (military, agricultural, construction,
+++ath0
The MaxiMog(TM) Expedition System is a modular high mobility vehicle designed for exploring this (or similar) planets.
There are no planets 'similar' to our own in this solar system.. so aren't these guys getting a little ahead of themselves?
mogorific carpentry experiments
No, no, NO! Just go when it's your fucking turn! If EVERYBODY did that, we'd all be fine!
it's a rental :)
OK, finally got enough of the main page to see the FAQ link -- and it downloads instantly. (See how much better text works?)
WHY WAS IT BUILT?
The MaxiMog(TM) vehicle and trailer was built because it's owner plans to drive around the world to remote and hard to get to places doing both photography and scientific exploration. Contrary to what many people believe, most of our planet is still relatively unexplored. After a year of research, he determined that a custom vehicle would have to be built to meet his requirements. The MaxiMog(TM) is the first pass at that solution and is a work in progress.
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WHY A VEHICLE, TRAILER AND MOTORBIKE?
To provide the most flexibly. The hybrid system allows the vehicle or motorbike to go off exploring while the trailer remains behind as a base camp. The MaxiMog(TM) vehicle alone can be used by itself for small expeditions that don't require sleeping, kitchen or toilet facilities.
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WHY IS IT CALLED AN EXPEDITION SYSTEM?
Because the various components including the vehicle, trailer, motorbike, underwater submersible (ROV), remote surveillance aircraft (UAV), Jet Boat, and modular electronics systems are designed to be easily interchangeable, and work together as a coordinated whole.
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WHAT WAS IT BASED ON?
The MaxiMog(TM) vehicle is based upon a highly modified Mercedes Benz Unimog U90 chassis. At this point about 30% is original. The MaxiMog(TM) trailer was designed and built from scratch.
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WHAT'S ITS DRIVING RANGE?
The vehicle has a design driving cruise range of about 1200 miles without refueling. Obviously this MPG rating is affected up or down based upon speed and terrain.
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HOW MUCH DOES IT WEIGH?
The vehicle weights approximately 16,500 pounds loaded, and the trailer weighs about 14,000 pounds.
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FROM THE PICTURES, IT LOOKS TOP HEAVY.
While the vehicle has a high profile to provide adequate internal headroom (BTW - It's the same height as the original Unimog U90 chassis on which it was based.), the center of gravity is quite low due to the placement of heavy items such as the Engine, Generator, Batteries and Fuel Tanks. Additionally, the vehicle has front and rear antisway bars and an auto leveling air suspension system to assist in dynamic stability.
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DON'T THOSE NERF BARS HURT GROUND CLEARANCE?
The Nerf Bars (side steps) are shown extended in the pictures on the site. When driving, they are pneumatically retracted.
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WHY SO MUCH CHROME!?
There is actually no chrome anywhere on the Maximog(TM). Everything you see that looks like chrome (including the 4 front bumper mounted 5 gallon water tanks) is solid 316 stainless steel alloy with a natural polished finish. Beyond corrosion resistance and appearance, the polished finish minimizes adhesion of snow, ice and mud.
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DOES THE TRAILER HAVE TO BE CONNECTED TO THE MAXIMOG(TM) VEHICLE TO GET POWER AND COMMUNICATIONS?
While the trailer can be connected to the trailer for power, communications and data, it does not need to. It has it's own water cooled quiet 25KW generator which can supply power, air conditioning or heat, or hydraulic power to operate the wheel motors at low speeds (Both 4 wheel drive and steering) for campsite positioning or power assist for off road mobility.
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CAN IT STAY IN COMMUNICATION AND CONNECT TO THE INTERNET IN VERY REMOTE AREAS?
Yes. It has multiple long range communications systems for plain or secure message traffic in addition to short range VHF and UHF transceivers for short and medium range use. The principally long range (non-emergency) communications systems are Inmarsat-B/C/Mini-M, Globalstar LEO, and a HF/ALE (High Frequency/Automatic Link Establishment) transceiver for low bandwidth communications in areas where there is no satellite visibility. Asymmetrical data-only internet connectivity for wideband downloads can be accomplished via a tracking DSS satellite dish if within the satellite footprint. When wideband video Uplink capability is required an independent satellite system is carried on board the Vehicle or trailer.
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WHAT IF IT BREAKS DOWN?
The MaxiMog(TM) carries a significant compliment of spare parts and tools to effect field repairs. It is also designed so that critical systems have backups and automatic systems can be isolated and operated manually if needed. However in the event of a serious component failure such as a broken drive-line component, the approach is to take the BMW R1150GS bike and get help, or use the global communications system to get parts and tools driven or flown in.
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HOW GOOD IS IT FOR ROCK CRAWLING AND EXTREME OFF ROADING?
Simply stated, it's an expedition vehicle, not a recreational vehicle. While it is designed for severe off road conditions whenever encountered, this is a vehicle that is intended for long duration expeditions, not "seeing what it can do" by traversing technical trails created by off road enthusiasts. However, the Maximog(TM) chassis provides 20+" of suspension travel, 25" inches of ground clearance (worst case, under the differential housings), positive locking differentials, CTIS, variable ride height, adjustable shock absorber compliance, and air shifted transfer case for low range operation. This makes it quite capable in a broad variety of off road conditions.
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BUT WON'T IT GET STUCK OFF ROAD IF TOWING THE TRAILER?
The Maximog(TM) trailer is designed for the same off-road operation conditions as the Maximog(TM) vehicle. It has a ruggedized chassis, the same 25" ground clearance, and the same air suspension and adjustable shock which are coordinated in operation with the tow vehicle. Additionally, the trailer is a fully powered 4X4 using computer controlled hydraulic wheel motors so the combined MaxiMog(TM) + Trailer functions as an 8X8 with coordinated drive, suspension ride height and compliance, and CTIS operation. The front wheels are steered so the vehicle and trailer combined has the same turn radius as the vehicle alone.
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HOW DO YOU CHANGE A TIRE AND WHAT DO THEY WEIGH?
Fortunately, this size of heavy duty Michelin tire doesn't get a lot of punctures and if it's a slow leak the Central Tire Inflation System (CTIS) can often keep up with it. When you do need to change a tire, the vehicle has a tire lowering winch built into the swing away spare tire holder that easily lowers it to the ground or raises it into the storage position. Depending upon which tire size and tread pattern (highway, off-road or combination) is fitted, the weight is between 325 and 400 pounds each.
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WHY THE BIG TELESCOPIC MAST?
The mast has a variety of uses. It can elevate an electro optics package for long range observation and rangefinding (day or night). It is also used to mount communications antennas to increase point-to-point communications range. This is especially useful for flying the UAV (Unmanned Air Vehicle) at long range, and to increase the service area of portable communications devices like walkie talkies (using the onboard VHF and UHF repeaters). A chair can also be fitted to the mast to elevate a person for direct observation. The mast has a tilt-down facility which facilitates loading heavy items on top from ground level. It has a static payload capacity of 350 pounds.
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WHAT IF IT GETS STUCK?
It has 20,000lb capacity (continuous duty) front and rear hydraulic winches with 150' stainless steel cables. The winches are dual speed units and may be controlled locally from the drivers cab, or remotely via a safety interlocked radio remote control system. The vehicle also carries a variety of hydraulically powered accessory tools including an submersible chain saw, impact wrench, bolt/cable cutter, grinder, and multi-purpose push-pull jacks.
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IS IT LEGAL TO DRIVE IN THE USA?
Yes, once certified and licensed it is fully legal to drive on any road that is rated for it's weight (all major roads and highways) and height (10'6"). It meets California emissions standards and all applicable DOT/FMVSS/EPA regulations. The MaxiMog(TM) is a Truck not an SUV and requires a driver's license for a heavy (over 12,500lbs) vehicle with air brakes.
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HOW IS THE TRAILER CONSTRUCTED?
It is a composite panel structure using a sandwich of fiberglass reinforced plastic, thermal insulating foam, and electrical shielding to provide lightning protection. These custom panels are fabricated with internal metal tubes and fittings to provide reinforcement where needed. Unicat in Germany is expert at this construction technique which yields an excellent strength to weight ratio and superior thermal insulation for extreme heat or cold.
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HOW DOES THE TRAILER FOLD AND UNFOLD?
The trailer uses a new system which combines a lifting roof with two interchangeable side mounted Swingout® modules (patent pending). These modules are electrically operated with a microprocessor based motion control and safety system doing the motion control coordination. It takes approximately 5 minutes to complete its fold/unfold cycle (limited to this speed for safety). When in its folded state the trailer is fully protected (all glass covered) and the overall size as the MaxiMog(TM) vehicle. When it unfolds, there is approximately double the internal volume. There are seven steps to the fold/unfold process.
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DOES IT HAVE A TV AND AM/FM?
Yes to both with DSS satellite TV capability.
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DOES IT FLY?
Not intentionally...
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WHO DESIGNED IT?
The vehicle was designed by Bran Ferren of Applied Minds Inc in collaboration with Thomas Ritter of Unicat. He can be reached at bran@AppliedMinds.net.
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WHO BUILT IT?
Thomas Ritter at his company Unicat based in Hambrücken Germany was selected as the best and most experienced manufacturer to build the vehicle he designed, and the staff at Applied Minds in Glendale California did the technology systems design and integration.
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WHAT DOES IT COST AND CAN I BUY ONE?
Well, let's just say that it costs more than a Hummer and Less than a Boeing 777 -- and you can't buy this one. However, you can have one built just like it, or to your precise specifications by the same company, Unicat. For more information please contact Thomas Ritter
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This cartoon is a great one to print out & tape on SUV windows to cleary show the driver one of the problems with them...
http://www.miami.com/herald/special/opinion/car
The Miami Herald's Jim Morin
10-28-2001
"That's a touching display of patriotism you've got there.." - man pointing to flag displayed on SUV while pig driver is filling up gas & the money is going to the Saudis, who are handing bags of $$ to Bin Laden.
you can find information on Unimogs at
- http://www.mercedes-benz.com/e/ecars/unimog/
. Notice that this maximog is built using the old type of Unimog that won't be built after July 2002 (when production is transferred from Gaggenau to Woehr). After that, only the new line (U300 - U500) will be sold; in the US using the Freightliner and AmericanLaFrance brands.Mogster!
...technobus!
;-)
indeed...like many ppl who like tech: computers + vehicles, stripping a bus was fun. network all around, etc. gutted and fitted with lots of good stuff, pretty much like the this beast. the only thing that was different was the diversity *cough* of operating systems. nothing extremely new tho. how much does it go for?
QED
BSD is for people who love UNIX. Linux is for those who hate Microsoft.
I suggest only a few modifications:
Oh, and if we there are no more buyers in Afgahnistan, no problem! Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, manhole-in-the-desert-stan, plenty of places that will appreciate the next level in guerrilla transportation.
-- look, cheese ahoy!
Believe it or not, those "evil" SUVs are relatively clean compared to motorcycles. Yes, that's right. If you want to emit less pollution, a LOT less, get rid of your Honda motorcycle and get into an Explorer. Admittedly, SUVs will still output more carbon dioxide, but I'd rather have more inert gas than more pollution.
Mr. Ska
Quote from the site:
FEATURES:
Fits under MOST bridge underpasses.
The first SUV to be rated in Gallons per Mile by the EPA
Meet interesting people while waiting in line at Interstate Weight Stations.
When kids do the arm signal, you get to honk that really cool air horn!
Get a big rush when your Firestone tires blow out.
Lots of road-hugging weight for occupant protection, the ULTIMATE in safety.
Can seat 20. Go ahead, take the WHOLE soccer team.
Can tow your camper, yacht, a trailer-load of frozen pizzas, or even your house!
Yours for under $200,000 ($100,000 for truck chassis + $100,000 standard SUV markup)
"The first SUV to be rated in Gallons per Mile by the EPA" Gals/Mile??? Heeheheheheeh... that is a first!
http://www.umlagefinanzierung.de/funmog/impression en/funmog.html
he had a '69 (Swiss) 404 UniMog, and GOd DAMN was he a world-class ASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSHOLE
I will just stick my average ford festiva cause the technology is cool and everything its just that it seems like the car is more powerful than you and it is driving you not you driving it.
Does it require its own street address when parked?
We are always looking for a bigger and better product to improve our lives. Which don't get me wrong, personally I believe stimulates creativity and is ultimately a good thing. But who honestly needs a MaxiMog to drive to the super market. This vehicle could probably work great for military/or field research use. But as far as general production, ehh I dunno. Looks cool though.
You forgot:
At least one of the kids will be dressed in a soccer uniform
The mother will have just-above-shoulder-length blond hair
She will emerge from the grocery store with three baskets of groceries having just charged over $800 to her platinum card and not even blinking
She works at a desk covered with picture frames and stuffed animals, has never been laid off, and has no real job responsibilities except to make copies of holiday party announcements on colored paper.
Her husband has even fewer job responsibilities, but works at a desk that cost more than the car and spends all of his time in meetings or talking to "Bob" and makes about $3/minute.
...it's spotless and none of the pictures show it even touching dirt.
>> high speed network and a google of different communications devices. I enquired as
The word is googol not google.
danec. http://www.carlsoncarlson.com/dane/
Well if i had the money for the maximog than yes it would be cool but who knows how much it will cost. But they didnt make for everyone so they dont care. The article said that it had a mercedes undercarriage so if they used mostly mecedes parts then it is a very good vehicle because German engineering is some of the best especially when it comes to automotive.
Its not a bad looking mobile but what about price? How about the climbing with the trailer is that possible?
Sheesh, typical jealousy and envy of successful, happy people. Yeah, they should be ashamed of themselves for having a good life.
You might want to consider that this is why you have a miserable life. I take it you are not married, with no real prospects. Well, your ugly personality is why.
my favorite bit on this site is right on the front page, down towards the bottom: it's on display at a modern art museum! that's just wonderful. i like.
well, that and the intent of exploring this "or similar" planets...
i speak for myself and those who like what i say.
Here are two links to start you own search for such a beast.
I know most of you think I'm nuts but I just would love to own this one.
> A googolplex is 10^google.
What started this thread? A googolplex is 10^googol, not google.
Geez.
Virg
I can't really comment on the 'mog, although to me it really seems like it doesn't do much more than a tricked-out Ford F-350 4x4, as used for pipeline inspections, etc. I also think that petroleum exploration uses custom vehicles like the 'mog, but without the supposed cachet of the Mercedes-Benz base.
However...I can comment on the motorcycle accessory..."overpriced poser" comes to mind. The R1150GS is a good moto, but it's designed as an "adventure tourer" for old fogies like myself. NOT what you would take for any serious off-road expeditions. (I have a Triumph Tiger, similar in intent, and wouldn't use it in this context either. And there's a host of poser bikes coming with even less capability in this area from Aprilla, Ducati, and Suzuki.)
A much better and cheaper choice would be a Kawasaki KLR650, as used by the USMC; Honda XR650, better in the dirt; possibly a Husaberg, KTM, or other dedicated dirt bike; or even the BMW 650, if they *have* to have the logo (Bring Money, Wilhelm). One of the characteristics of a dirt bike is that you have to be able to pick it up when, not if you drop it...you really need a winch for this with the adventure tourers!
If the rest of the design decisions were made like this, it really will be used for expeditions to Starbucks.
As for the CPUs, my Tiger has a Motorola 68000-based Sagem engine control system, while the F-350 gets by with an 8096 (or used to, anyway). Don't know the CPU in the BMW R1150GS EFI system. We aren't dead if they go, the EFI has a limp-home fallback mode, but it is a risk, and several high-profile motorcycle adventurers have selected/stuck with the older BMW R80GS or pre-99 Tiger because it's simpler and doesn't risk electronic failure in the Cordillera Del Condor, for example.
90% of Stupid Urban Vehicle owners are office workers that will never see an unpaved road. They buy these moster machines because they have been taught to fear their neighbors. In reality, the world has them to fear as the stupid things are difficult to handle and much less stable than the simple 4 door sedan that would fill all of their automotive needs.
The flicker in my eye is a reflection of burning karma.
DMCA, Hollings, Palladium. What might have sounded like paranoia is now common sense.
During the snowy winter months, Unimogs are just about the only way for researchers and astronomers to access the Meyer-Womble Observatory atop Mount Evans, Colorado. 14,148 feet above sea level.
An image of the Halloween '99 DU Astronomy Unimog expedition is here.
Full size Ford vans can be ordered in four wheel drive format.
My parents have one, just a little higher than the normal econoline(sp?), extremely practical for a family living in/near the mountains, frequently taking the children and their friends on ski trips. A lot more storage space and leg/head room than any SUV.
And excursions are just plain scary. If you need that much room, get a van.
I don't agree, RAV4 (especially pre 2001 models) is a SUV done right.
Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is the War Room!
That we stop referring to these vehicles as SUVs. Only a small minority of the owners actually use then for off road sporting type functions or use them to haul lots of equipment that would classify them as being a utility vehicle. Face it, 80-90% of them are used for commuting, running down to the store to pick up a bag of groceries and the ever popular picking up kids at school. How about these choices:
If anyone can think of any more, I'd like to hear them....Looks like I need to change my sig again. Damn
the good ground has been paved over by suicidal maniacs
My in-laws have a Mercedes ML320 SUV they bought used for towing a small boat trailer. As much as I detest SUVs, it is one of the few SUVs I've driven that have decent handling. I find most SUVs frightening to drive -- their suspensions are tuned to give absolutely no road feedback to the driver. Personally, I like to know if the car I'm driving is about to lose traction or roll over. The M class is comfortable, and handles very well for a truck. It isn't stratospheically expensive either, it's low end pricing just above the upper end of the Ford Explorer's range, for a much nicer car.
It is, I agree, a silly vehicle. I can't imagine taking it off road, and any truck you can't carry a sheet of plywood in is, in my view, and abomination. However, I don't think it is an absurdly overpriced abomination like most of its SUV brethren.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
What do the new models run (price range)? Is it one of those "if you have to ask, you can't afford it" deals? What is the used market like?
I was under the impression that the unimogs weren't in production anymore, and it was one of those "WWII relic" items, requiring not a lot of money to get one, but a lot to get one back into running condition (ie, parts not made anymore, need to get custom parts crafted, etc). Thanks for enlightening me.
I would love to own one of these trucks, but my budget isn't huge - however, it looks like this dealer (Unimog USA) is near me (relatively) in Goodyear, AZ - so I might have to check them out!
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
You are such a sexist pig.
As for worse gas mileage...well, that may be true in some cases, but I know the CR-V, for example, drives only the front wheels until it senses a loss of traction. It's still better than hauling 3 tons of steel around.
Witness:
Car-based...
- Honda CR-V: 22/26 mpg, 3287 lbs.
- Toyota RAV4: 23/27 mpg, 2943 lbs.
- Ford Escape (I4, MT): 22/25 mpg, 3238 lbs.
- Ford Escape (V6): 18/23 mpg, 3458 lbs.
- Subaru Impreza wagon: 22/27 mpg, 3100 lbs.
Truck-based...- Nissan XTerra SE: 15/18 mpg, 4229 lbs.
- GMC Envoy XLT: 15/21 mpg, 4600 lbs.
- GMC Yukon Denali: 12/15 mpg, 5609 lbs.
- Dodge Durango SLT: 13/18 mpg, 4629 lbs.
- Ford Excursion: ~12 mpg (mixed)*, 7190 lbs.
(Automatic transmission figures used unless otherwise noted)* Apparently, the Excursion doesn't even qualify as a "light duty" vehicle, so it's exempt from EPA tests. Ford's internal testing reportedly shows the following: 12-15 for the V8, 10-13 (!) for the V10.
It's a sick, sick world we live in. Anyone purchasing a Ford Excursion for non-commercial use should be subject to a hefty "enemy of the environment" tax, as well as a severe tongue lashing.
One of the reasons that I became a lawyer was to avoid ever having to hire one. -SPYvSPY
> it's like trying to type the word "passed" after working in UNIX for a while.
What's the passe daemon do?
Sorry, couldn't resist.
Virg
Stupid Urban Vehicle
Infuriate left and right
t_t_b
I'm on PJ's "enemies" list! Are you?
a high speed network and a google of different communications devices.
;-)
I think you mean a googol, not a google. See also Google's explanation. Please keep you're words straight.
(Oh, it's also available at MathWorld - great to have it back!)
I doubt, therefore I may be.
what does it get 3 miles to the gallon???
Behold the Kenworth Pilgrimage! http://poseur.4x4.org/futuresuv.html
-- "At Microsoft, quality is job 1.1" -- PC Magazine, Nov. 1994
At first glance this looks worthy of a mod down,
but really, it isn't that far from the truth.
I know of many people with high paying jobs who seem to have two or three Benzes in the driveway,
(one of them an ML Class)and spend every day on
the golf course. The only real work they do is make decisions in meetings, boss those around
under them, and talk on the cell phone with business associates.
Many of them actually do make around $500,000 a year or more... roughly $3 a minute!!
Their wives pretty much haul the kids around in the
ML Class all day to sports, music lessons, etc.
They could care less about the fact that the cars
they drive are hazardous to the environment.
They charge insane amounts on their cards, since
their husbands make over $1000 in one day,
it doesn't really matter that much.
This is a fairly accurate picture of the family
of an upper level executive, believe it or not.
I know quite a few through association with
none other than my parents. My parents were
able to move into a more affluent neighborhood
after years of my dad working his tail off.
Though he built his worth from nothing to over $2 Million over the years, he is still a pauper compared to some of these people.
The thing is that I don't think it'd make me any
happier to live like my parents or their new
super wealthy neighbors. There comes a point
when you really don't _need_ more money.
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
"Obsessed?" How about "just huge and spread out?" In most parts of the world, you can travel through entire countries in less time than it would take to get across just one state here. I'm in one of the more densely-populated cities, yet going anywhere other than the grocery store a mile downhill from me involves a trip of at least five miles. I'm on the outskirts, but it's better than living in a more central area (which I've also done...close proximity to everything is outweighed by the crime, the bums, and other nastiness that comes with most urban areas).
20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
Just because some other morons can't control their 8 ton tractor trailer while getting a blowjob and snorting a few lines doesn't mean that I can't do it.
PBBBBTTT!
It's obviously relative. But if you're trying to drive while changing a cd and you spill your coffee on your crotch which causes you to yell and the greasy Egg McMuffin you're gobbling down splurts out and gets between your shoe and the brake pedal and you rear end me - you have clearly messed up. Nobody is 'capable' of doing this. Some people are better than others, but multi-tasking always involves some switching costs, and even a minimal delay in focusing on changing road conditions can be disastrous.
Which isn't to say you shouldn't use your cell phone. Just realize that if you have an accident while doing so, regardless of who is actually to blame, you will probably end up being blamed.
Dont think because you have distance between cities you need one of these puppies. You have actual hightways been cities, unlike other countries that dont. sure this SUV they are great
You dont have to justify your countrys energy addiction. Not like its your fault, or you even have to take responsibility.
Stupidity Reigns supreme.. tell me again why i posted ?
Utter nonsense. Americans do not drive farther distances than anyone else - the vast majority of driving is the same sort of mostly-local commuting/shopping/errands sort of thing that people do all over the world. Europeans drive as much as Americans do, the go into the mountains to ski, and so forth. The reasons for the popularity of SUV's is far and away the marketting of them as status symbols, as well as the car-size inflation that occurs when everyone else has one and the consequent sense of insecurity.
SUV owners are cowards who hide behind an illusion of power and strength, when in fact they have neither. When an SUV company talks about its "280 horsepower" engine, they don't tell you the other half of the story .. that the vehicle is so damned heavy and byzantine that it takes at least that much horsepower to even get it to move. I've blown the doors off of a V8 Ford Explorer in a Geo Metro, for crying out loud. Most SUV drivers are fragile women like yourself who, when challenged, would probably break down into tears, crumble, and require weeks of therapy to recover.
Does this sound familiar? It should. The Soviet Union, a nation of Communist butchers, was a lot like this. Every May Day they would parade their ICBMs around Red Square like the Mongoloid savages that they were, flexing their muscles for the world. Everybody thought that they were so threatening, so powerful, so intimidating. Well, do you read the history books? Do you know what happened? President Reagan met those Marxist bastards head on, and they crumbled. The silly and sick illusion of Soviet power was dispelled once and for all, and they were revealed as a laughable paper tiger. Just like SUVs.
SUVs don't impress anybody anymore. The people that drive them are Communists. It's a good thing that President Reagan isn't seeing what has happened to the world since he (almost) liberated it from Communism. It would break his heart. As far as I'm concerned, people who own SUVs should just drive them down to Cuba where they belong. And stay there. And take your stupid "my son is an honor student" bumper sticker with you.
--
George Beauregard Donnelly
I can go almost anywhere with a backpack. What would hold me away from remote regions (aside Canada, Greenland and Antarctica maybe) are nasty people, not road conditions
Yes, Google isn't the 'official' spelling, but this was a pun for all you geek types! Obviously some of your are too geeky for your own good!
besides, everyone knew what I meant.
* * Always question "the National Interest" - 9 times out of 10 it is a cover for evil
My Uncle's got the Dutch military version of the Mog. We got it stuck in a swamp one time.
He just put it in the lowest gear and we left for lunch. Came back an hour and a half later and it was just crawling out the other side.
Only thing that sucks is parts. That series isn't made any more and if something breaks it has to be custom fab'd at a local machine shop.
All these features are not desirable in an expedition truck (as this is clearly not an SUV). If you don't plan on driving more than 50 miles away from an electronics store, then fine. An expedition truck should be as simple as possible, with as little electronics as possible. Any backyard mechanic from some African village should be able to fix it with a few wrenches and an oxy-acetylen torch. Forget electronic suspensions, electronic anything! If it can't be replaced on the field with scrap materials, it's not good. Look at all the current SUVs, most couldn't even cross a small ditch. This trend towards complicated systems is very regretable. Toyota stopped producing the FJ40, Land Rover dropped the Defender line, what's left? Jeep? I don't think so. Today, either you buy and older 4x4 or you are rich enough to get a Hummer or a Unimog (without all the bells and wistles). I wish there was a real affordable 4x4 available today on the U.S. market, there isn't.
PGP public key at: http://keskydee.com/gil.asc
I found its one flaw:
"Additionally a local AppleTalk wireless datalink provides wireless connectivity to compatible portable computers used in or within about 100 feet of the crew cab."
Why appletalk?
-ted
That the name of the car almost sounds like a feminine hygeine device?
MaxiMog -- For that ultimate in freshness during that 'special' time of the month...
Witty quotes suck.
Ok, i get the concept of a versatile, very high tech vehicle, but i cannot understand why one would prefer a GM gasoline V8, that is inherently less adecuate for remote off-road travel, to an MB diesel of the OM 352 or OM 366 family (The original engines).
The "small" MB diesels are strong and very, very reliable, and can be serviced almost anywhere, as MB light trucks are ubiquious all over the world, exept perhaps in the US. The owner, if he actually travels with this vehicle outside the US, will undoubtedly regret having changed the engine.
Besides having the advantage of OEM engineering, diesel fuel is much less fire prone, and, the MB diesel in OM366LA guise, will give you 240Bhp and lots of torque in a "plug-in" package.
Roberto de Iriarte
Santiago, Chile.
I'd actually expect that to be OS9 as in OS9/9000. Is this Mac OS 9?
I wonder what possessed them to put the LS1 V8 in there. Maybe the guy likes Corvettes, but that engine is totally unsuited to powering a truck.
It also gets crappy mileage and probably won't last more than a few hundred thousand miles.
Well screw you too.
it's the way I feel. I don't like women drivers. Not all women are bad drivers, but all bad drivers are women, it seems to me.
Oh yeah? What about the MAN who threw that sweet little dog Leo into traffic and snuffed his life out, just because he couldn't look in the fucking mirror when hitting the brakes? Was he one of your brilliant drivers-with-a-penis?
20721
Does it come in red? and standard transmission? :)
PIRANHA
Sheesh, typical jealousy and envy of successful, happy people. Yeah, they should be ashamed of themselves for having a good life.
Much as I probably shouldn't, I'm going to reply anyway.
I'm not jealous at all. I don't mind working hard and trying to achieve better things, but I am constrained to point out that many of these people are totally and utterly incompetent to do *anything* worthy of the rock-solid, uninterrupted salaries they are given. They almost never appear to have earned their "good life" either, because they never seem to know much of anything except how to set up the Monday donut list and call meetings.
They then presume to dictate to people who have spent *years* learning to program computers properly the precise wrong way to do something, then start figuring out ways to "downsize" your salary when you don't say "oh, yes, Mr. Expensive Desk, you're obviously right" while wondering what the #%&#*(% they need you for, since it obviously isn't for your knowledge.
I've walked past these "soccer-mom-desks" after being condescendingly told that I'm back in the job market by the guy at the expensive desk, and I'm always amazed that these people are so serene and calm in the face of layoffs. They are that way because they've BEEN THERE FOR FIFTEEN YEARS, EARNING A STEADY PAYCHECK WHICH IS WHY THEY CAN AFFORD A $40,000 CAR WHILE THE PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY BUILD THE THINGS THEY SELL ARE BACK LOOKING FOR WORK, AGAIN.
You might want to consider that this is why you have a miserable life.
I don't have a miserable life. I can say that life would be far more miserable if all I did all day was sit in meetings with "Bob."
I take it you are not married, with no real prospects. Well, your ugly personality is why.
No. I'm not married because I can't afford it. I can't afford it because programmers are the first out the door when managers decide it's time to "reevaluate the strategic direction of the corporate restructuring initiatives." I put in seven years learning how to be a good programmer only to find that management isn't interested in good programmers. They just want someone to agree with them when they are wrong, and nod in meetings.
Note the managers are all married (because they are never laid off) and the soccer-mom-stuffed-animal-coffee-mug
-and-picture-frame-desk people are all married, because they've likely been employed for decades and know factually they will never be laid off.
See, these people can plan for the future because they know they can rely on their jobs. Those of us who actually build things for a living can't rely on any stability at all from the average company from one day to the next, much less years down the line. I would never subject my family to the kind of instability I've seen in the past few years, ever.
Of course, nobody will see this comment, so I suppose it's academic.
Cars suck because of all of the obstacles I have to deal with on a daily basis during my one hour commute. Potholes, boxes, broken beer bottles, rusty car parts, large animal carasses, rough gravel, medians, curbs, parking blocks, ditches, lawns, toys intentionally placed or accidentally left by children, debris falling from other vehichles, natural debris including fallen trees, mud, snow, deep water... and thats just the short list.
Trucks suck because they are hard to drive through narrow lanes, getting by parked cars, parallel parking, etc. whereas a smaller SUV can cut through the mess as well as squeeze through it. Though it may not be fuel efficient I don't design the crap, and I have needs that are met by my ride, so all the jealous people who drive meep meep cars, and all the tree humpers can wipe the drool from their chin and shut up.
And regarding the nonsense about jeeplike SUV's tipping over... you can make any car flip if you are a big enough dumbass and can't drive. Jeeps and similar may have had more accidents like that because morons try to drive them like they are behind the wheel of a ferarri.
And for the record, I don't blast hip hop at a billion decibels, I blast punk rock. Well, I did until my stereo got stolen by 6 white kids.
It does say that they're using two pencil-beam lenses, and two medium (aka Euro or Driving) beam lenses.
Actually...I once read a study in uni. (unfortunately I can't provide references) that indicated that women DO have more accidents but they are usually fender benders and attributed to more women driving at lower speeds (i.e. local). The study also stated that although men have fewer accidents, they have a higher incident of fatal accidents and/or greater damage due to higher rates of speed, as it seems men do more driving on the highways than women.
"The difference between meat and fish is that if you beat your fish it dies"
This is the SUV of the future!!!!!!!!! Yea right who is going to be able to afford that. That thing is more decked out than Bill Gates house.
...deserve all of my funny mod points for this.
Virg
Of course, nobody will see this comment, so I suppose it's academic.
I saw it. There is so much wrong in this post I feel compelled to try and set you straight. Don't know if it will work, but what the hell.
They then presume to dictate to people who have spent *years* learning to program computers properly the precise wrong way to do something,
Let me speak of managers: not yours in particular (who might really be incompetent), but managers in general. And you're not going to like it.
They are more valuable than you. That's why they're paid more.
If you're just a programmer, you are just a replaceable part. On the other hand, good managers are worth gold. You seem to think that the people who "actually build the things they sell" are the most valuable, but you're wrong. Look at how many "engineer run" companies go bankrupt. The vast majority of them do. You can have the most brilliant people in the world, but if all the work is just undirected, then nothing important gets done.
Management is FAR more important than the workers, because the workers are the most easily replaceable. Need proof? How many bad managers do you know? A lot, right? That's because they are extremely difficult to find.
Now, I don't know about your managers. But I have been down this road with prima donna engineers who think they know it all, who think the engineering priority is the only priority. You might have bad managers, but I would bet that you simply have no understanding of marketing and business decisisions, and are frustrated because you are unwilling and/or unable to see the bigger picture.
And by the way, I'm speaking as someone is, quite humbly, a brilliant programmer but who also has been very successful in management. Most engineers simply don't "get it".
No. I'm not married because I can't afford it.
"Afford it"? What are you talking about? Do poor people never get married? How is getting married an economic decision, particularly when you pool resources?
They just want someone to agree with them when they are wrong, and nod in meetings.
To be honest with you, based on just that statement, I can almost guarantee you that the problem is with your prima donna attitude, and not the managers.
I would never subject my family to the kind of instability I've seen in the past few years, ever.
Quite frankly: Grow up. No one owes you a damn thing. People live with instability every day, yes, even these mythical people you see who you think "do nothing". Based on the above statement, it sounds like you live in the Bay Area or some other engineer-saturated area. If you want better stability, then stop whining and move or change industries. But stop blaming everyone else and take control of your own life.
Finally: I guarantee that if you get a better attitude, you will find that you have much better job security.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
I believe that last year, more trucks/SUVs were sold in the US than cars. Compare that to Australia, where it's about 20:1 cars:trucks.
Here's where I think it comes from.
Americans have always loved a kind of car that exists nowhere else in the world - the full-size, full-frame rear-wheel-drive land yacht. You know, the Ford LTD and the Chevy Caprice Classics.
And, being that I'm 6'3", I don't fit very comfortably into anything smaller, so I can understand the special appeal of these cars.
Unfortunately, instead of letting the free market decide what size Americans want their cars, Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) laws were imposed on the automakers, and the land yachts were discontinued.
Interestingly enough, as the land yachts were phased out, sales of SUVs increased. And I don't mean the silly little Japanese tinfoil SUVs like Sidekicks, CR-Vs and Toyota Rectal Assault Vehicles; I mean the real ones - Grand Cherokee, Ford Exploder, and the granddaddy of 'em all, the Suburban - so named because it's as big as a Wal*Mart parking lot.
Since trucks are exempt from CAFE laws, you can give the buying public what they want very easily: stick a station wagon body onto a pickup truck frame, sell it on image, and the Crown Victorias and Caprice Estate wagons of yesteryear really haven't gone anywhere... though they may be a little taller (less aerodynamic) and have more weight and drag from carrying around a transfer case and front differential...
If things had been left alone, the millions of barrels of oil being wasted to the poorer aerodynamics and the greater weight of an SUV would still be awaiting their turn at the refinery. Accountants wouldn't be feeling foolishly invulnerable as they turn on the four wheel drive because of three inches of snow on the ground.
CAFE is now or soon to be applied to trucks. It'll be interesting to see how the free market works its way around this next round of government interference, how it will backfire.
Don't laugh, either. If the tree-hugging energy zealots knew how much energy your Athlon "wasted", they'd be trying to ban that, too.
Fire and Meat. Yummy.
They are more valuable than you. That's why they're paid more.
If you're just a programmer, you are just a replaceable part.
The standpoint of thousands of managers who can't seem to understand why their projects never ship, even though the Gantt chart says today is the due date.
There are some programmers who are *not* replaceable parts. Believe it or not, there are actually programmers who know what they are doing, and don't need to be told in excruciating detail how to do something. If managers are there to describe the goal, that's fine, but they fail by then drifting into insisting that a particular technical approach be taken, even if they are incompetent to make such a recommendation.
This happens far too often, and it is one of the primary reasons IT projects, by and large, fail.
who think the engineering priority is the only priority.
I said nothing about priorities. I said that there are certain areas of expertise. Engineers are qualified in areas that managers are not. Managers disagree, believing that being a manager somehow qualifies them to make technical judgements, and they are wrong. I can ask any 10 managers a series of technical questions that they will not be able to answer accurately.
You might have bad managers, but I would bet that you simply have no understanding of marketing and business decisisions, and are frustrated because you are unwilling and/or unable to see the bigger picture.
I see the bigger picture. What I see are managers who will not simply explain what they want built. I have not once, EVER, been told "this is what we want built" and been allowed to go build it. Myself, and numerous others who are far more qualified than I, have always been forced to justify decisions we were HIRED TO MAKE to managers who don't understand a word we are saying. This process often takes weeks and sometimes months, delays the project unnecessarily, and usually causes it to fail, followed by layoffs of all the engineers while the manager moves on to another project, picking up a bonus check along the way.
Sorry, I don't buy the "management is more important" argument. Perhaps engineers would be "team players" more often if managers weren't quite so concerned with their own importance.
How is getting married an economic decision...?
You're kidding, right?
Kids, house, cars, insurance, taxes, investments, weddings, honeymoons, rings, receptions... I could continue for several paragraphs. Getting married is by far the most profound economic decision a person ever makes.
And given the state of business these days, where companies casually fire people whenever they feel like it, while making the hiring process into the grandest production since Cecil B. DeMille, where is the wisdom in starting a family? How can someone sign a 30-year mortgage knowing their current project is only going to last three months? Does that make sense? It doesn't to me.
Quite frankly: Grow up. No one owes you a damn thing.
You know what? Maybe they do. Maybe there should be just a little consideration above and beyond the heavily-taxed paycheck. If these companies REALLY want "permanent employees" then maybe they should act like it. But they don't. They'll fire anyone they feel like firing for no reason at all anytime they want, and they do.
Now I owe a lot, just like everyone else. I owe rent. I owe insurance. I owe for the kids braces. I owe for the car payment. But no matter how good I am at my job, no matter how many years I've put in, and no matter how qualified I am, my employer owes me nothing except this hours' salary. It would be fine if I could just walk away from my mortgage like employers can walk away from their employees, but I can't. That's the inequity.
People live with instability every day, yes, even these mythical people you see who you think "do nothing".
They aren't concerned for their jobs on a constant basis.
Based on the above statement, it sounds like you live in the Bay Area or some other engineer-saturated area. If you want better stability, then stop whining and move or change industries. But stop blaming everyone else and take control of your own life.
I don't live anywhere near the Bay Area, and I'm not whining. See, instead of facing the problem, all these engineers are just whining. The fact that companies are spending hundreds of millions to churn their staff every six months doesn't matter, right?
The best advice I can give managers (because I have managed projects before too) is to let your people do their job. Give them a goal, and then GO AWAY!!! Your job as manager is to remove obstacles, not create them. A lot of managers take great delight in obstructing their engineers, and that's why their projects never ship.
Finally: I guarantee that if you get a better attitude, you will find that you have much better job security.
Better attitude == "Team Player" In other words, agree with everyone, even when they are wrong.
How about being better qualified? How about knowing the material? How about a job history of successful projects? Why doesn't THAT accrue to "job security?"
No, this isn't blaming the victim - it's pointing out the facts of life to a whining bozo who thinks his position is the most important in the world. Guess what: the Admin Assistants think theirs is, the mailroom folks, the accountants and the marketing weasels, all theirs too, etc. You couldn't make schedules / get packages / have paychecks issued / get the darn product sold if it weren't for those folks, not would they have product without coders. It's not all about you.
Those phone calls and meetings and networking things are productive. No they're not writing lines of code but they keep the place running. Yeah - that 10 minute call may have done more for the company then your 8 hours of keyboarding. Those folks making the calls - their work and their skills may be more important and more irreplacable to the company then yours (oh yeah, apparently they were.)
As to other life decisions: yeah, folks who don't make 90k+ a year don't do any of them. Keep telling yourself that when you sit at home alone night after night. This would have nothing to do with your own qualities or lack thereof...
Get to a therapist and get to a career counselor. You need an attitude adjustment as well as a good dose of work-reality.
I don't read ACs: If a post isn't worth so much as a nom de plume to its author then I wont bother either.