Keswick Mountain Festival

Visited the Keswick mountain festival in town today. I was interested to see the Land Rover stand was taking the new defender over their display course. 

I was even more interested when I realised they were actually allowing members of the public to drive them too! I dutifully joined the queue (which wasn't too bad) and took my turn. The electronics on these are amazing- cameras on the wing mirrors show the front tyres, so you can line it up perfectly with the various ramps. All the diff-locks etc engage automatically when required. 

Certainly an amazing technical achievement, but it did feel weird driving a car whilst looking at a monitor. There was something more raw about the old defender, relying a little more on drivers ability.

...and at £70,000, with all those electronics that in the future might go wrong(!) ... I think it's unlikely you'll see me driving one anytime soon.