Special Ed: Land Rover gives me fever-induced chills with its Fire and Ice Defenders

Debuting over 60 years ago, the Defender has done its part to get people across everything from the deserts of Africa to the jungles of your girlfriend’s panties. It has been a man’s man SUV since your dad was a kid, belonging to a group only the few and the proud have been able to join: hard-ass purpose-built-with-no-compromises off-roaders (think bricks that like to swim). Unfortunately, Land Rover and its new owners have decided to go and crap on its thick-browed-bully by luxurizing it (there’s a new word for you) even further with these Fire and Ice special editions.

The price for these club-going neanderthals jumps up to around a €68,000 (more or less, depending on whether you opt for the 90 or 110, I imagine). What do you get for all that extra dough? Well, for one you get a couple of factory colors - Vesuvius Orange and China Alaska White - that also get splashed onto the headlight- and taillight-surrounds. There’s also the Santorini Black paint found on the hood, fender flares, and roof. Up top there’s a glass sunroof, and down low are the running boards and shiny new alloys. Lastly, inside are the Recaro seats in leather and alcantera. Try hosing out THAT interior, Miss Thang.

The special edition packages don’t do anything to the ladder-framed and aluminum-bodied 4×4’s capabilities, but they do make it seem more 5th Avenue than 5th parallel. Chinese, South African, and European buyers still get the 122-horse/360 Nm 2.4 liter CRD (which, according to the website, can run on sulfur-rich fuels one may encounter in “remote parts of the world”) and the 6-speed, but there’s still something prissy about it, like an H1 with Nappa leather and low-profile tires on 22’s. At least only 850 copies will be made; all the less likely I’ll see one and have to key it.

Some people - hopefully smoking-hot women - will buy one of these things and worry about getting it scratched in the parking lot. That’s ok. If you’re a guy and have the same worries, though, I’m going to have to ask that you hand in your Man Card. Don’t worry, we’ll have a nice hairdryer/curler combo as a consolation prize for you.

This article was taken from: Examiner

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009 at 8:38 am and is filed under Land Rover. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.