Have lions in the front yard? Have to wade through rivers on the way to the service? Here is the car for you. Daktari sends his regards.
Modern cars are technically perfect, but look very similar, are somehow soulless. Is that your opinion too?? A quick trip in the Land Rover Defender will convert you, promised.
Even getting in is different: The door with the external hinges takes you to the narrow driver's seat via a step. It is stuck between the vertical dashboard, the truck steering wheel, the wide center console and the gear lever size "Titanic". Already now we are afraid: Land Rover handlebars separate light years from the car vintage 2006.
The ignition lock is sitting to the left of the steering column, which takes some getting used to. Instead of an airbag, a padded foam bulge on the steering wheel serves as a target marker in an emergency. The heating control and ashtray greet you as old friends from the VW Beetle. The ventilation takes place via mechanical flaps underneath the windshield. Drivers with driving test 1955 regularly get wet eyes at this point. Because of the draft? The space available to the driver and his passengers is limited to the bare minimum. In the back you sit in the short "Landy" (there is also a long wheelbase version) on folding seats, across the direction of travel In good German: Seldom has so many cars carried so few people. The predominantly military one, After all, the almost 60-year history of this vehicle takes its toll.
Driving in general! One has the impression: Nothing – except for a technical defect – can stop this car. With felt 17 Tons of weight we find our place in the automotive pecking order in the right lane of the motorway between the trucks. Overtaking becomes a test of courage for real men. After all: The children on the street are waving again.