Tell you what,
you do get some people telling you about how they feel a bit nervous
in Johannesburg. I don't, no! I don't. It's a weird feeling because I'm both worried about bumping into things
because it's big, and not worried about bumping into things
because, well, frankly, who cares? Like the original Hummer,
the Marauder is a military-spec vehicle that ordinary civilians can buy. All you have to do is
pass a background check to prove you're not a villain
living in a hollowed-out volcano... and come up with a cheque for £300,000. That is Rolls Royce Phantom money, for a machine that's not exactly
the last word in luxury. Take the back seats, for instance.
There are eight of them, which is good, but I don't think you'll be renting
this out as a wedding car any day soon. And, as for the dashboard, they clearly decided not to go
for the walnut and leather option on here, partly because they need
to leave room for the switches, partly because the wood might clash
with the wood on the machine guns. Yeah. However, the Marauder
does compensate in other areas. Take this annoying slow traffic
that I'm stuck in now. Normally this is where you need
some expensive sat-nav system to give you alternative routes. The Marauder doesn't need sat-nav. There you go. There you go. Oh, yeah! It really does control
its immense weight very well. Yes! It really is like off-roading
quite a large building. Right, now... That gap's big enough. It is now. Oh, Lord! This is a good town car. In fact, the Marauder
has several benefits as a city runabout. Imagine, for example, that you nip off
to get a coffee and this happens. Oh! That's not nice, no. Now, normally the tow-away people
leave you powerless and penniless, but not this time. The Marauder has got 290 brake horsepower and a top speed of just 70 miles an hour,
which admittedly isn't brilliant. However, the torque figure is astonishing,
1,100 Newton metres of it, which is a lot. And that makes it pretty good
in a tow-away tug-of-war. We're going this way. Yes, there you go. Another everyday irritation,
popping into the supermarket and coming out
to find yourself blocked in. Again, no problem for the Marauder,
thanks to its vertical climbing system. Low range, four-wheel drive, div lock... drive, handbrake off. It's really
kind of the ideal shopping car. But let's not get carried away
because, like everything, the Marauder has its weak points. Visiting a drive-through, for example. Now, normally at about this point
you'd roll down the windows... and get ready to say:
"Cheeseburger and chips, please." But the problem is the Marauder's windows
are, you know, for tough situations. They're 90 millimetres thick. They can shrug off an RPG
and, as a result, you can't open them. This is where it gets a bit awkward. Good morning,
can I take your order please? Hello. If you're there, I'd like a cheeseburger
and some chips, please. This isn't a riot situation.
Don't be alarmed. But the real problem comes when
you drive around to collect your order. Right. Don't be alarmed. I'm not shooting. So, a mark against the Marauder there. And if you happen
to visit a safari park... you might find that the windscreen
wipers aren't that tough. But is this the only weak spot? Let's see. Now, this is where
we're going to do a little test you won't find in the NCAP ratings and we start not with this, but with that. Our old friend, the Hummer... whose underside was packed
with seven pounds of plastic explosive. Oh, dear. Really not much point
trying to see if it will start because some pretty important bits
are missing. So, the H3 is, like Hummer itself,
very dead. But the important question is,
what happens to the Marauder when you put the same amount
of explosives underneath it? Right, well, clearly, what's happened here
is there was a fight between the Marauder and the earth, and the earth lost and the explosives
have just dug a big hole. Okay, fingers crossed. That was definitely an inconvenience,
but really nothing more. Oh, yeah.
I've been so damn intrigued with the stuff that goes on behind the scenes in Top Gear, especially in this one, for example. Like--do they buy a marauder to just fuck up? How much set up goes into running over those two cars? How much did they plead with the police department to do the towing stunt? Did they get in trouble for fucking up the brick road pulling the tow truck? Etc. etc.
I don't know why I want to know such things. I just do.
As someone who lives in a place where tire spikes are a daily thing and sudden street shootings are really common, I could really use this.
man this is cool but the title really made me think
What did you learn today, OP? WHAT DID YOU LEARN!?
Some back story on this Marauder. It's a civilian version of a Mine Resistant, Ambush Protective(MRAP) military vehicle. This vehicle system is manufactured by BAE in conjuction with General Dynamic Land Systems(GDLS). It's encased entirely of 3/4" thick armor, "V" hull design, powered by a Cummins diesel hooked up to an Allison automatic transmission. The windows on the militarized version are almost 8" thick. The top speed on one of these about 60 mph. They can withstand a blast up to about 40 pounds without a hull breach. When involved in a direct IED blast, the entire vehicle is designed to break apart. Depending on where the blast hit, the engine compartment will blow off or the axles just fly off. This entire vehicle is a pain in the ass to work on. Either the hull and armor eats your tools or you have no room to work. The wiring systems on these vehicles is over a mile long and trying to find a short in the system is just as hard as doing a mechanical repair. I know all this because I was a US Army mechanic for 7 years with 2 deployments to Afghanistan in which our primary movers consisted of these vehicle type.
Marauder vs 88 toyota pickup. Last one driving wins. GO.
Canyonero!
I'm pretty sure this title breaks several rules.
so the canyonero it real?