Sand Storm!

Nancy loves nothing more than flattening all those pesky dunes in the desert and what better way to do so than with her awesome Land Cruiser! She tells us more...

- Imran Malik

Welcome to wheels, Nancy. It is quite rare to find a lady who not only enjoys off-roading but is also extremely talented at it too! Tell us what attracted you to it?

Thanks for featuring me in the magazine! Well, I sell safari packages and events in the desert but never actually did any myself until I eventually went with a friend of mine and really enjoyed it. Two weeks later I bought a 2010 Jeep JK Islander with a manual gearbox and started venturing off-road at least five times a week — sometimes with friends and sometimes alone — to get more off-roading experience.

Hailing from Germany where we have lots of amazing natural beauty, I have always been a fan of the great outdoors, but the desert is something else totally. I have always been fascinated by it and now I love driving off the beaten track any chance I get. It is ever so thrilling to hit the dunes — literally!

And your rugged LandCruiser 71 is your ideal companion…

It sure is; my trusty Toyota ensures I never stop having fun out there.

I saw the pick-up variant quite often on the road and then the hard top in the desert performing ever so well. I was a Jeeper before (I have owned twoWrangler JK’s) but I was attracted to the LC71 the moment I first saw it and even though I was tempted by the Nissan Patrol Y60 I decided to buy the Toyota and am ever so glad that I did.

I love the box shape and also love the fact that you don’t see that many around but most of all, it is just too much fun to drive!

It has a 4.0-litre V6 which makes around 230 horsepower mated to a five-speed manual. With 4WD and my lead foot, it is almost unstoppable.