Sliding behind the wheel of this thing is like coming home to Mom’s shepherd pie. The pedals are the same cinderblock-sized lumps, the yard-long gearshift feels like a railway switch, and the steering wheel has the diameter and responsiveness of the helm of a Royal Navy square-rigged sailing ship.

It’s just so much fun. You don’t move fast, and if you want to bring the lever for the overdrive into play, things get even busier. The Defender responds best to slow, deliberate inputs, and can’t be hurried. Grab fourth, wind down the window, and just cruise down the mountain road, slowing to a crawl for the hairpins.

A few weeks back, Pelly made the run up to Norton Lake, way up in the backcountry. The trail gets a bit hairy in places, but this is the kind of work the Defender was made for. It soldiered up the slopes, clambered over rocky creek beds; the turbodiesel whistled away like a teakettle, ladling out the torque.

Along the way it picked up a few scratches from the underbrush that hemmed in the trail – but that’s just Land Rover pinstriping. Pelly has plans to repaint the entire truck when he gets the new rear doors on, but it’s never going to be a garage queen or show vehicle.

Total cost for one of these things varies wildly, but is actually pretty reasonable when you factor in that they don’t seem to depreciate. A newer TD5 like Pelly’s will set you back about as much as a new crew-cab Toyota Tacoma. If you want to spend more, the sky’s pretty much the limit, with Land Rover specialists willing to kit out your ride just as you like it. If you want to spend less, just keep your eyes open, as many of these trucks see regular hard use, and haven’t always been repaired properly.

But basically, for about the same outlay as somebody might spend on sportscar for the weekends, you can get something a bit more real. The Land Rover Defender is a simple tool, a shovel, a hammer. It’s uncomplicated and honest; there are certainly more reliable, sensible, and comfortable options for the money, but I’m not sure any of them are actually better.

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