Linder's agricultural assistants.

Already with his previous vehicle, a 400 with agricultural equipment, the 38-year-old appreciated the enormous flexibility: "If I maintain footpaths in the morning and hitch up my low-loader in the afternoon, only a Unimog lets me do that so quickly and flexibly," says Linder. When ordering the U 430, the Unimog general agency Henne Nutzfahrzeuge defined the special equipment configuration for his range of applications together with Linder. "Particularly important to me was the height-adjustable Scharmüller coupling so that I can switch from the hay trailer to the low-loader in next to no time," he explains. Another extra that Linder particularly values is the hydrostatic EasyDrive drive system, which he uses mainly for maintaining grass verges and for clearing footpaths. "Henne implemented my special requests quickly and without complication," the entrepreneur says, satisfied.

Strictly speaking, Daniel Linder acts as a transport contractor for his regular customers. He mainly handles machinery and heavy timber transports, moving, for example, prefabricated house components and whole roof trusses from the manufacturer to final assembly. "I'm always amazed at the manoeuvrability on the construction site, because with the Unimog I can get closer in than anyone else," he smiles.

His main business in summer is transporting hay. In those operations, it's less about the flexibility of the vehicle than about responding spontaneously to orders when the weather is right. The Unimog features a tyre pressure control system as a means of optimising ground clearance when carrying out jobs for agricultural customers. It means Linder is able to adjust the tyre pressure rapidly from wet field to dry asphalt conditions, and so move quickly between fields.

When it comes to hydraulics, Linder has pulled out all the stops. Flexibility is his watchword. In summer he is almost daily out with the mulcher for the surrounding municipalities; on other days he sprays plant protection products on the nearby fields. That is only possible if he can continually adjust the hydraulics and have full power available for his high-power implements. Therefore the Unimog's equipment list includes a load-sensing hydraulic system, the tipping hydraulics for the platform and an additional hydraulic circuit available at the rear.

From October to April the company boss and his relief driver are on permanent winter standby duty. "Even though modern weather apps let us plan quite well, surprises keep coming that you simply can't foresee," he says on the subject of the weather.

So he has to be ready at very short notice to mount the snowplough and de-icing sprayer in order to keep Roßhaupten and the surrounding area free of snow and safe for traffic. "We switched to the de-icing sprayer a few years ago because it allows us to work much more effectively," explains the experienced winter-service operator. He also didn't skimp on his vehicle's passive and active lighting for winter service. Height-adjustable high-performance headlights are mounted on the A-pillar, and to ensure he is clearly visible even in the worst visibility conditions, marker lights and LED strobe lights at the front and rear provide additional safety.

The new Unimog is more than just a tool for Daniel Linder – the comfortable cab is his office. Alongside the many hours behind the wheel he also coordinates the various jobs, mostly via a hands-free system. Even though Linder's wife has the administration under control in the home office, he manages his company for the most part from the driver's seat of his new "grey flash" – and every time he steps into the cab in the morning he looks forward to a working day full of surprises for which he is perfectly equipped.