Best Expedition Vehicle

[calitaco]

Sorry if this is a repost, but this is the first time I've even seen this. Think it's overkill?


http://www.calitaco.com/truck/pic01.jpg
http://www.calitaco.com/truck/pic02.jpg
http://www.calitaco.com/truck/pic03.jpg
http://www.calitaco.com/truck/pic04.jpg
http://www.calitaco.com/truck/pic05.jpg
http://www.calitaco.com/truck/pic06.jpg

[calitaco]

The rest of the images.

http://www.calitaco.com/truck/pic07.jpg
http://www.calitaco.com/truck/pic08.jpg
http://www.calitaco.com/truck/pic09.jpg
http://www.calitaco.com/truck/pic10.jpg
http://www.calitaco.com/truck/pic11.jpg

[ThomD]

Yes. Not enough room for bicycles.

[Accrete]

the unicats are beautiful rigs! though as many have discussed here, they might not be able to squeeze into the places we enjoy venturing to here in the states.

: ) Thom

[bigreen505]

That is the first time I have seen interior pictures of them. Very cool!

[TCM]

Wow! This rig is much, much too large for the locations I visit; my Jeep Wrangler Unlimited is often a tight fit . But the design details are just beautiful. It is a modernist home with knobby tires. I can only imagine the price equaled that of a modern home as well, at least $500K+.

[charlieaarons]

Try 800,000-1,000,000 euros. I will say that when we visited our fellow campers in Morocco in a 7 meter Unicat on a MAN 6X6 (like the one pictured), my wife felt we were "slumming" in our little camper on the U500.

Charlie

[SunMan]

R-i-d-i-c-u-l-o-u-s.

There doesn't appear to be much they didn't think of.

Can't imagine bombing down MEX-1 in it though...talk about white knuckles.

[Overland Hadley]

Big, but very nice...

[Scott Brady]

Only criticism




He should have picked the KTM 950 Adventure for the back ;)

[Nullifier]

:bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown: :bowdown:

I'll take one and make my own room on Mex 1!!!

[jcbrandon]

I'd take one in a heartbeat; if I had the budget. That thing rocks. It's a yacht, for land cruising.

[haven]

When your vehicle is also your home for months at a time, the extra space makes a huge difference. Most people really do need some personal space on a long journey.

[TCM]

I like the yacht analogy. The exterior and interior finish is exactly the same. You might also compare this to a full size RV with high end finish only designed for off road travel not the highway. If you owned this you would not really even need a house. I would take one in a minute if money were no object. Just throw in a smaller vehicle for driving on more technical trails.

[jcbrandon]

Here's a yacht:

http://www.wally.com/Upload/W/WP4707_0252_2.jpg (http://www.wally.com/jumpch.asp?idChannel=132&idUser=0&attivo=2-2)

And here's another:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3129/2523833288_bf65ca7dd8.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbrandon/2523833288/)

The Dodge is more of a luxo-tugboat. The 6x6 overland rig is a world-cruiser. Nice.

[jatibb]

wally? beauty!

[egn]

As an owner of rig with similar size I have to following comments:

If it is overkill or not can only answer the owner/user. I don't think that many people spend so much money ($1.000.000+) without reason. Whether the reason is to live for longer time in such a beast or just the fun to own such a toy doesn't really matter.

As this rigs are build to customer specification there is no reason to waste space to reserve space for bicyles. ;)

Of course, if you own such are large rig you are certainly limited in the areas where you can go to. But I am sure there are enough places on the world where you can go to enjoy life. With a rig of SUV size you can also not go to areas where a motor cycle or even a a person can go to. So effectively everybody makes a lot of compromises during selection of the rig.

The comparison to a yacht is and full sized RVs is very good.

Regarding usage my experience is that only a few are going round the world for several years. Most of this rigs are owned by busy people and have not much time to spend. Some own multiple RVs of different size and have them place on multiple continents. I know one who has a full sized RV based on a regular bus, a full sized off-road truck, a Pickup with a cabin and a VW T4. The fullsized RV is used in Europe, the off-road truck in Europe and North Africa, the Pickup in South America, and the T4 in South Africa.

Why not? If one has the option?

[haven]

It's a personal choice, usually dictated by the goals of the journey and the depth of the pockets. People ride bicycles around the world, and people sail across oceans in 14 foot open boats. But that's a level of discomfort that most of us couldn't tolerate. While a Jeep and sleeping bag works for a week, I doubt many of us would care for it after 2 months.

There's something to be said for keeping it simple. I met a guy in a campground in the Sierra Nevada. He said he bought a used 4x4 Ford Ranger with a bed cap, stopped by Wal-Mart to pick up some inexpensive family camping gear (tent, sleeping bag, camp table and chair, Coleman stove, and so on), and hit the road to conduct a personal safari across North America.

When I talked with him, he had been traveling for 6 months, following the changing seasons north. He spent his time interviewing people he met about what they value most in life. I think people's reactions to him would have been different if he pulled up in a million dollar ExPo vehicle.

[efuentes]

Given the choice of lets said 2 million bucks, would you buy a Million dollar rig and go at it for a few months or retire on 1,950,000 and go at it full time on 50,000 of equipment?

I think I would go with the 50k rig.

[mauricio_28]

That wide rectilinear lens does a fine job handling barrel distortion...

[kcowyo]

Cool truck but something about those pictures doesn't jive....

Notice the interior shots show huge windows but not the exterior shots?

And look at the sitting area in the first 2 photos, it seems level with the floor but in the 3rd photo it's elevated....?

Looking at those first 2 pics, there is no galley but in the 3rd interior shot, the galley is there...?

It also looks like the bunk may be a cab-over but definitely with a window. No front or rear windows on the exterior pics.


I'm sure the photos are all from the interior of a built-up MAN (what else could they be from?) but I don't think there are all from the same unit unless it has some kind of hard shell that hydraulically lifts up to expand the living area and expose the windows.

.

[Lynn]

unless it has some kind of hard shell that hydraulically lifts up to expand the living area and expose the windows.



Bingo! Think shoebox. Unicat (http://www.unicat.net/en/index2-Individual.html)does that on several of their rigs.

The loft is in the front, but not a cab-over. The seating area is in a mid level. From the loft it looks low, but from the galley it looks raised. The galley is in the front, right side, below the loft. In the picture looking down from the seating area the galley is blocked from view by a cabinet/wardrobe on the right side.

Here's the only pic of that particular model with the top up.

Click on the image for more pix. In some interior shots you can see the hydraulic cylinders in the corners.

http://www.unicat.net/img/EX63HDM-MANTGA6x6.27-560.jpg (http://www.unicat.net/en/pics/EX63HDM-MANTGA6x6-2.html)

[kcowyo]

Thanks for the link Lynn. I think mauricio had point with the lens making some things "harder" to see.

From this angle, it looked like there was no way there is a galley -
http://www.unicat.net/img/EX63HDM-MANTGA6x6.7-560.jpg


...but this angle makes it evident there is -
http://www.unicat.net/img/EX63HDM-MANTGA6x6.8-560.jpg


And if I squint my eyes really hard, I can see a difference in the shade of wood flooring from the dining area down to the hallway. I kind of figured the top was a lift top, but sometimes it's hard to envision that from a few photos. A good security measure for sure.

I wonder how he keeps his plates and cups from being rattled into shards on rough tracks? They must fit pretty snug with some type of 'drawer cushion' built in. And all those tires and only one spare? Brave.

I like it, I really do. I'm not knocking it, just curious about some of it's features...

.

[Lynn]

I wonder how he keeps his plates and cups from being rattled into shards on rough tracks? They must fit pretty snug with some type of 'drawer cushion' built in.

http://www.unicat.net/img/EX63HDM-MANTGA6x6.15-560.jpg

The more you see, the more you'll like.



And all those tires and only one spare? Brave.


That's what the motorcycle is for. :)

As mentioned before, these are custom built. I'm sure they'd design in as many spares as you would like for that kind of money.

I've wasted a lot of hours drooling over the pix on their web site. And the ActionMobil (http://www.actionmobil.at/)one.

[jcbrandon]

That's a big part of my yacht analogy. Cruising boats have to deal with very similar stowage problems to cruising trucks. Good solutions work on land or water. I highly recommend a book called "Yacht Joinery and Fitting" by Mike Saunders (1981, Hollis, London). Sadly, it's out of print. But it talks at great length about building convenient, secure stowage for crockery and clothes in very small spaces. If you can find a copy, grab it.

[mauricio_28]

A wide lens exaggerates distance. Those interior shots, to those familiar with photography, look like they were taken with a very wide lens, one that does an admirable job of keeping straight lines straight, rather than bulge like a fish-eye lens. The point is that the interior space is probably cramped, but the lens makes it look spacious.

[NothingClever]

The trick is wanting what you have rather than having what you want.

I think I'd rather spend all that dosh on other people as I travel. Imagine the joy of a new well to bring fresh water....

But then again, I'm a victim of my circumstances with a career where spending 30 days without a shower is rather routine.

Driving that thing around hardly seems like an "expedition" to me. There's too many creature comforts which tend to make one insulate himself from people and people are part of the expedition.

[egn]

There's too many creature comforts which tend to make one insulate himself from people and people are part of the expedition.

I have a total different experience:
Such a large and eye-catching vehicle tends to attract all kind of peoples interest. And if you are open to contact - and even better - try to approach people that pass nearby by greeting them in their own language (even you don't speak much more of the language) and show that you are normal people and probably help them, then most of the time the barrier is broken.

We have made this experience not only in Turkey (http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18684&highlight=turkey) this year, but also on our tour to Russia last year.

[NothingClever]

I suspect you're the exception and congratulate you on your sense of interpersonal exploration.

As a language specialist I can appreciate what you wrote concerning learning other peoples' languages. It has opened many doors for me.

[egn]

Speaking to other people in their own language is one of the most important things to get in contact and break the ice. You don't have to be afraid. As I wrote, you don't have to know many words, just a few that show that you have interest in the people you meet. After exchanging this few words the rest of the conversion can go on by using hands and feet.

A good example for this is the story of Doug Hackney with his 23 words of spanish: http://www.hackneys.com/travel/chile/docs/justask.pdf

[egn]

Here (http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/4965914/dick-smith-home-global-adventure) you can find another such positive experience. The link is from this (http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18823) thread.