In its element

Wow! The field picture is amazing! You a professional photographer?

Thanks. No not a pro by any stretch of the imagination. Just a snap with my phone and slapped one of the filters on that came with the phone's camera software to even out the light.

You're going to love that Cross. We don't have them over here yet, so I had to make do with a 4x4, but it's a brilliant little car. I'm a huge fan of functional design and these Pandas are some of the best I've come across. My Panda wipes the floor with the Defender 90 it replaced.

High praise indeed and lovely photos.

The thing that I really appreciate about the Panda, and I've mentioned it before, is that it isn't wide.

That is such an advantage round here.

I can use the tracks and narrow lanes without having to cope with a wider vehicle, and also when I go and park in those apologies for parking spaces in town I can get out of the car without having to do contortions!

I've a had a couple of Defenders. A 110 and a 90 and they are terrible in the ice and snow because they're so heavy. Once they lose grip they're off and there's nothing you can do about it because of all that intertia. Thankfully they're good at dragging themselves out of ditches so usually the loss of control is just a temporary off-road detour.

Defenders are very good over the very lumpy stuff because of the half metre ground clearance, but how many times do 99% of people need that.

Today we had another slick ice day with pedestrians Torval And Deaning it around the streets. Not a slip from the Panda.