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Cars > Off-Road

Tear up the neighborhood in comfort with your own Ripsaw EV3-F4

This turbodiesel monster has leather seats and air suspension

This thing looks like a tank, and you can buy one. PHOTO FROM HEMMINGS

This is the Ripsaw EV3-F4, curiously called a “Personal Recreational Tank.” It was made by Howe & Howe, a company that specializes in designing and fabricating military-grade equipment (basically a military contractor). It also makes vehicles for well-heeled civilians who are bonkers enough to throw money at the firm.

If you’re a fan of The Grand Tour, you may remember seeing Richard Hammond drive one of these through a wall in Dubai. The Ripsaw is what rich people get if they have a bone to pick with someone, and would rather take things into their own hands (just kidding).

Even the most hardened kamote rider will be scared of the Ripsaw. PHOTOS FROM HEMMINGS

The tank is based around a custom high-strength tubular-steel exoskeleton. It’s also adorned with other goodies such as high-intensity LED lamps (which provide up to 360° of coverage), an infrared lightbar, a remote spotlight, a FLIR camera, two winches, two external watertight storage boxes, and an open bed for cargo.

The turbocharged Duramax V8 has enough torque to rotate the earth backward. PHOTOS FROM HEMMINGS

But once you step inside the passenger cell via the two gullwing doors, you’ll be surprised at how luxurious the vehicle actually is. There’s a yoke-style steering wheel, leather upholstery, heated and cooled Recaro bucket seats, a heated windshield, a Bose VHF aviation intercom system, and two fully customizable 12-inch touchscreens from Garmin.

The Ripsaw's numerous lights can blind you, and you can't do anything about it. PHOTOS FROM HEMMINGS

Powering this 4,536kg fortress is a tuned 6.6-liter Duramax turbodiesel V8 that has a claimed output of 800hp and a staggering 2,034Nm, and is mated to a five-speed Allison 1000 “extreme-duty” transmission. Feeding the engine is a 242L fuel tank. The seller says Ripsaw folks quoted him a range of 209km.

The EV3-F4 can reach speeds of only 100km/h. Then again, do you really need to care about the top speed when you can drive it almost anywhere? The dual rubber tracks and the air suspension allow for 508mm of ground clearance—with a shockingly small turning radius of 2.4m.

The fancy Recaro seats are heated and cooled, so you can crush cars in comfort. PHOTOS FROM HEMMINGS

This Ripsaw is being auctioned off by Hemmings. It has a clean Wyoming title in the seller’s company’s name. It also comes with original documentation, an extra set of tracks, and a spare parts package. This is also one of six built in this configuration. The current bid sits at $250,000 (P12.59 million), and you have until October 2 (October 3 in our time zone) to place your bid.



Sam Surla

Sam is the youngest member of our editorial team. And he is our managing editor (believe it or not). He specializes in photography and videography, but he also happens to like writing about cars a lot.



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