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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!"
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.
Ugly? That depends on your point of view. I happen to find the Benz / LR Defender / OLD Toyota Land Cruiser Boxy look kind of cool. Much better than things like the Vehicross.
Don't forget, we now live in a society (US I mean) where SUVs are everywhere, none are off road capable, and most are areodynamic, which is pointless considering how crappy their gas milage is AND that they are not designed for speed.
-RonB
It is human nature to take shortcuts in thinking.
I think calling the UniMogs SUVs is a bit wrong.
They are UVs perhaps.
They are not exactly know for their extreme speed.
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.
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.
"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
NOt very practical for expeditions really. The last thing you want on an serious expedition is
a large petrol engine, a diesel is a must. Why?
A) It is more fuel efficient
B) They are more reliable
C) They have about 50% more torque for the same engine capacity
Also this vehicle doesn't appear to have a manual gearbox option. So basically its for posers.
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"!!
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
I'm sure these folks could install one for them. Check it out, a joystick controlled .50 caliber machine gun (or optionally a 40 mm grenade launcher) that is stealthed inside your vehicle and deploys in less than 10 seconds. Slope too steep for even your expedition vehicle? Blast it flat like any true explorer.