This Massive Unimog U500 Is the Ultimate Insane Mercedes Pickup Truck 

Unimogs aren't slow pickups, they're fast tractors.

If by "Pickup Truck" you mean "it can pickup a truck" then yes, this is the ultimate Pickup Truck.

As a german i can help you with the buttons: 1. ABS Button = it's the antiblocking system (while offroading you didn't want the system to intervent). 2. the warning light (as you said, in germany they are mostly working vehicles, most of them have warning lights). 3. heated side mirrors btw: In germany i have never seen an unimog with automatic transmission, normaly they have at least 2 manual transmissions with at least 12 gears.

As a Unimog owner... they are not "pretty capable offroad". They are amazingly unstoppable.

Calling this a "pickup truck" is the most American thing ever

“Outlets in the back” is actually hydraulic connectors for hydraulics on farm equipment

After driving MTVs in the Army, I can only imagine how fun it must be to have a truck this size for personal use. I always loved being able to see literally everything all around me, and the air brakes were so responsive compared to other vehicles with air brakes I had driven, and given the unimog's reputation I have no doubt that it's anything but better.

I've been watching a few videos of people modifying Unimogs into RVs, turning them into all-terrain mobile homes. There's something so damn appealing about that idea. Imagine being able to bring your home anywhere on planet earth.

“The tire on the pole” are the heated side mirrors, the other one you pressed and did nothing is the emergency light on top.

I watched a documentary about the Unimog a while ago and this conversation stuck in my mind: presenter: "So what is the average life expectancy of a Unimog?" Unimog official: "We don't know that yet. It has only been in production for a little over 70 years."

Doug, when reviewing specialty vehicles, do consult someone who actually uses them. Cruise control is quite important if you're driving 20 km/h with a salt spreader attached to the PTO... leaving aside the other oversights in the review of this car-shaped tractor. Also, air brakes. They don't work the same as ordinary hydraulic brakes. The pressure gauges are there to tell you whether you CAN move, as no pressure = brakes applied, and you need to wait for the compressor to do its thing.

Imagine Doug reviews, drives and gives a Doug score to a cruise ship *1 hour and 45 minutes into the video* “here in the engine room are some more quirks and features of this Carnival Victory”

37 minutes of Doug being astonished by the fact that utility trucks and commercial vehicles exist.

The “power outlets” front and rear aren’t electrical hookups, they’re hydraulic connectors to power various implements that are designed to work with the Unimog.

Well this Unimog is really has rather common features compared to duty vehicels here in Germany and basically seems like a fusion between the big trucks we use for delivering loads of material and the back tilts to dump stuff like Sand. Dependig on how accessible the place to unload the truck is, you decide on wich way to tilt it. The rabbit donky button is also a thing that is common in Power shovels and Wheel loaders, tho sometimes its a rabbit and a turtle, wich let you decide on how fine you can maneuver. The sunshade and other feautures we got in our Mercedes flat lorrys, the "Pritschen wagen", but they probably originated in the unimog. Love from cologne Germany, everybody have a good Start in 2023. Peace

Another funny thing about this specific UNIMOG-variant (there's two general variants, one for heavy off-road duties and one for communal use). With this communal variant you can usually take off parts of the dashboard and bring the steering column and pedals to the other side - the dashboard fits back in on the previous driving side - in case you are having a mowing arm attached at the front or so and you need to see what it's doing.

The coloured circles on the back and front... they're not electrical connectors, they're hydraulic connectors, that's also what the joystick is for, controlling the hydraulics, the two switches you didn't know, the first one is for a beacon, the one is for the heated mirrors, no rear window because that rear section isn't stock, from stock they would have a rear window. Hope all this helps!

The outdoor “power outlets” are not electrical outlets. They are hydraulic outlets. For commercial or agricultural equipment like snowplows, snowblowers or sweepers. In Germany these vehicles are for example also used to cut grass next to roads. Or to maintain railways.

Dug has no idea how awesome a Unimog is in the world of 4x4 owners. It’s a go anywhere 4wd vehicle.

Seeing Doug be this excited for this car has made my day

The “tire on a pole” switch is probably for heated mirrors

Soccer Moms be like: I just needed a vehicle I can sit up higher in

Tons of cheap European hatchbacks used to have power windows in front but not in the back up until pretty recently. Interesting to see that that's so uncommon in the US. Also, as mentioned in the beginning, the rear cabin was added later and by the looks of it pretty custom, so yeah blame whoever added it for having no rear window, not the Unimog itself.

These trucks shine off road. Power Companys and people like that use them to get where other work trucks cant make it to. These things are awesome.

The “Tire hanging from a pole” switch looks like heated wing mirrors to me.

Doug: This is so strange!! Every European Mercedes truck driver: Seems pretty normal to me

I've watched a lot of your reviews and the Unimog seemed to be the most fun you've had doing one! I was laughing as well!

Doug Demuros next review: “THIS is an M1 Abrams tank!”

The button you described as looking like a "Tyre on a pole" is heated mirrors.

You can fit a F150 tire where the manual window lever goes 😂

Back in the late 1980s Scania offered a pre-selectable10 speed transmission similar to what this Unimog has. In the Scania center console is a joystick that is used to pre-select the next gear. Moving the joystick to the right pre-selects upshifts, moving the joystick left would be to pre-select downshifts. You can also skip a gear by hitting the joystick twice, either up or down. Once the gear is preselected, the transmission doesn't shift until you push in the clutch.

First of all: Those "Power Outlets" are actually hydraulic ports, not electric ones. You can use them for quite a variety of hydraulic tools, like for example Snowploughs, Mowers, etc... Some of these Tools are specifically made for the Unimog and approved by Mercedes-Benz. You operate them with the Joystick (which starts to quite make sense when you think of driving with a Snowplough), after you preselected the hydraulic ports you want to use. The "Tire hanging on a Pole"-Switch is simply for heated mirrors, the Rabbit/Donkey-Switch reduces all gears of the normal gearbox about half for better torque when in Off-Road use. Cruise Control isn't really a luxury feature on an Unimog, in fact you won’t get one without it. Its main use (beside the function as a Cruise Control while driving) is to be able to keep the engine running at a certain speed in standstill. This is very useful when you use those hydraulic tools mentioned earlier (for example a crane), or when you order your Unimog with an front and/or rear output-shaft for direct engine driven tools. (Which this Unimog doesn’t have.) It’ll also probably dump a little bit faster if you rev the engine or set it to certain revs with this lever. All in all it’s quite funny to see Doug being that excited about a vehicle that is very common and seemingly known by heart from every tec-interested child in Europe. :D Ah and before I forget: you can order your Unimog with an air horn (“Überlandhorn/Overland-horn”) in addition to the “city-horn” this one has. ;-)

Who is this guy with long sleeve shirt and pants? What have you done to Doug?

EPS gearbox or electronic power shift, had it in the Actros. It’s also got power take off which is used when you connect different machinery. Nice piece of kit, great video👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

7:13 i love how you go from cracking up to getting real serious abiut a steering column in the same sentence

In Germany there is a saying "where a Unimog can't go, man shall not go" Mercedes makes these for decades

“Electrical power” is actually hydraulic line receivers so you can put implements and machinery on it. These are essentially road goin tractors

Your power system at the back are for hydrolic hoses full of oil, like your hydrolic lift that tips you deck sideways or over the back. So a different attachment can be pulled by the unimog.

i use to drive passenger in a unimog when i was in service. we used the older and more square versions with 3 seats not 7 XD and they are litterally Offroad beasts.

The up and down arrows are quick reverse, for getting it out when it's stuck. The hare and donkey are so you can drive slowly while still getting higher revs, like when you need to power other equipment and also for crawler gears to get even higher revs while going slowly. Start/stop seems to be associated with the lower "power versalift" which appear to be added aftermarket. Versalift is a company that makes bucket trucks, so it could be something like that. ABS is for a different ABS program when off-roading. The beacon light an optional upfitter switch since a lot of these trucks have a beacon light fitted to the top. The one that shows the axles, drive shaft, and a shaft across the middle that has a knob attached to it is for the PTO. The n in a circle is for the governor, used for keeping the engine running at a specific speed in congjunction with the cruise control. Tire hanging on a telephone pole is heated mirrors. Power versalift, see above with start/stop. The tires with arrows is for the inflating/deflating the tires and the button next to it with the two axles is for choosing which axles you want to adjust the pressure on.

If Doug doesn’t bid on this truck he will regret it for the rest of his life.

What you forgot to mention: The name Unimog is an acronym for the German "UNIversal-MOtor-Gerät", "Gerät" being the German word for a piece of equipment (also in the sense of device, machine, instrument, gear, apparatus). This shows that the Unimog is first and foremost a working machine. The name alone shows that the Unimog is first and foremost a working machine - which you have also shown in your examples of possible applications.

He forgot to mention one pretty ridiculus thing in the cockpit. You can move steering wheel with pedals to the right. You change it from LHD to RHD in a matter of seconds. So, if you plan to travel to Britain, this is the right vehicle for you.

Every modified American pickup with a train horn. Unimog: Meep Meep

he actually forgot to mention that it has the same amount of reverse gears as forward gears and that the steering wheel can switch from side to side

My old neighbor had a 1960's era Unimog I remember growing up as a kid , It was very short, tall and stubby. had a 4 cyl diesel engine maximum speed 70 kmh had very low gears. It was fun to ride off road in the bushes.

Buddy you are hilarious, love your videos, sense of humour and expertice in cars. Literally you had me laughing because I understand the microcosm of unimogs.

"it won't go over 20mph!" "Oh that's because your have it in donkey, you gotta switch it over to Rabbit to go faster."

I don’t think anybody in Germany ever referred to the Unimog as a “pick-up truck”...😂

4:05 all I ever wanted is Doug talking down to me 😂

So almost 2 yrs ago I changed a tire on the side of I5 in Federalway Washington.the vehicle was an us army fmtv truck. I preformed the tire change on the side of the hwy with basic tools it took around 30 minutes and these army guys were so happy.

comparing unimog to a pickup truck is like comparing Dwayne Johnson to Kevin hart.

The “electrical” outlets on the front and back are actually hydraulic connections. Most industrial tools are hydraulically powered.

Damn…have some lug nuts!? Great review as usual Doug!👍✌️

I don’t even care about cars much. I own a 2000 tundra and a 2006 Jeep Wrangler TJ but I’ve been watching this guys videos all morning and they’re awesome and fun to watch. I’m actually learning something in addition to the wow factor. So DOUG, if you see this, thanks for making these videos! I’m hooked! -Ryan

In germany this is a normal boring Work, snow Plow, Farm vehicle and americans are totally fascinated🤣🤷🏽‍♂️💯

German engineers: rabbit and donkey Easy to please Dougie: *dies laughing

I first saw one of these around 30yrs ago. Some guy had one in my town as a daily driver and he came hurtling around the corner near my house. The thing is he didn’t take any notice of curbs and just took the racing line almost on 2 wheels. He literally drove it like he stole it. I was in awe immediately.

I drove unimogs in the 70s and 80s in standard and MPV (buffalo) configuration. Those mogs could do 130 km/hr forward and reverse and for me are still the ultimate 4x4. Deep soft sand or thick mud, insane climbs and steep Decents they just kept trucking. Before the MPV we took the top of the cab and removed the seats then layered the floors with braided conveyor belt and sandbags for a modicum of mine protection.

The Mercedes Unimog having 2 features are sliding steering wheel by removing the dashboard also by pulling the switch under the column, changing auto to manual transmission by pulling the switch under dashboard too. I through your 2nd channels talking more features on cars on your channel More Doug DeMuro. I think bottoms on the console are power by add on. The Mercedes Unimog it's a beast for the off roader. Also, the Mercedes Unimog it's Swiss Army knife for the military.

The Unimog is a totally unique vehicle. The fact that it can be reviewed as a legal road vehicle is insane. It was designed to be a hybrid of a truck and a tractor. One of the most valuable features of the Unimog was not even covered in this episode and that's because Doug isn't a farmer. Unimogs were designed with the ability to run agricultural equipment off the front of them. Driving them on the street was a secondary function, but it was given a good bit of attention.

Fun fact: Doug created cars and bids to see wierd car postings and review it

I have been in an older version of this, but modified to develop 2’500 horsepower and nearly 5 thousand torque, its like driving a tank

The tilting mechanism with a central hydraulic piston is actually standard for small dumper trucks

*DOUG DEMURO WEARING JEANS 2020 COLORIZED*

The “tire hanging on a pole” is the mirror, so that switch is probably the mirror defrosters.

throe whole video you can see Dougs excitement on this car....hahaa...love it

Listening to a Yankee deliberating about an Unimog and having so much fun: du verstehst Bahnhof dude!

David Attenborough: “ a rare sight in nature, this is a wild Doug demuro in a not natural situation, that is why he is wearing a pullover and long trousers, an absolute incredible sight to behold”

This truck: Massive, Capable, Gas guzzling, and EXTREMELY heavy duty. The horn: _Meep Meeeeep_

Look away for a second and Doug is underneath the truck talking up at the camera. I love this channel.

thanks Doug for the tour. interesting vehicle

Doug, I’m pretty sure those “electrical outlets” are actually hydraulic power units. It transfers the power from the bed to the front or back, most likely for a plow, crane, or excavator type arm that needs hydraulics to control the movement. I grew up on a farm and all equipment is powered either from a PTO, or giant driveshaft, or a Hydraulics from the vehicle

Has Doug ever laughed this much during a review? Looks like he had a blast with this.

Here, in Italy there are many unimog from '60s still working on the snow in high mountain, really immortals

Unimog is the only vehicle that gets me so excited and makes happy just to see it. One day I will buy an older one in military green.

Man this thing has Doug laughing like a little school girl. He really likes it.

U know the car is *interesting* when Doug wheezes during the intro

Going up Etna in these is very comfy ... they're awesome!

I had a key like that on the 1976 240D & 1980 300TD wagon I got to drive growing up in the 1990’s

The “hanging tire” looks like it would be heated mirrors

Doug: call u500 a pick up truck. hummer: "can i be a sport car now?"

Used these in the military in the 70s and 80s. explosion deflecting load beds one man armour plated driver cabs. Beautiful animals. Those raised axles make it look like Superman

At work we have an UNIMOG that had also train weel. It can drive on the train track to pul the cargo trains (not to big) at our terrain.

Some guy in the comments anytime in the future: “this car isn’t for sale on cars and bids, WTF?”

Any farmer knows that the “power” sockets Doug points out at the back are actually hydraulic linkages.

I drove a 1970s model in the mountains of Vancouver Island for a while. What a BEAST!

I drive a school bus (currently a 2014 Blue Bird) so a lot of this stuff is pretty familiar to me. :) Well, I don't (currently) have an air brake endorsement on CDL because none of the busses we have use them. But it's a cheap, quick and simple thing to get. That being said? I'd LOVE to see Doug do one of these kinds of videos on a school bus. haha

Just wanted to add, that the “power” receptacles are hydraulic.

Doug, those are not power outlets, they are hydraulic connections for implements.

My family's 2006 ford focus wagon has crank windows in the back and power windows in the front. Very common in a nit older European cars/versions of cars

Doug, you are awesome at explaining car features! But you have to do a little research at trucks (>18Tons) to understand some things a little better! All of my love and respect for you sir! Keep up the awesome work!

Doug's next episode: "this is a 2006 long wheelbase yellow school bus"

About the no seatbelts situation in back: I'm pretty sure that if you do get in an accident in this vehicle, whatever it is that has come into contact with it will be utterly destroyed and the occupants would barely even feel it.

i used to lived in a village where one have a kinda "survival camper" unimog. it was huge. it hasnt had a dumper but a living compartment. small place but it had evereything you need in it to easyli go on some atvantures.

The "Tire on a Pole" is the button for the heated Mirrors and the Button with the wheel on it doesn't deflate the middle-wheel, it lifts it up, so more Weight is distributed to the other wheels. Helps in snow etc...

2000s: Sedans vs. Coupes 2020s: SUVs vs. Pickups 2040s: *School buses vs. "Sport" Long-Haul Trailers*

It is funny to see how he missed the biggest quirk on that cabin. You can change the steering wheel (and pedals) from right to left using a lever.

This thing is beautiful, i love the wacky console

Doug was having a great time on this review