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October 2, 2026 \u2014 7:00pm<\/p>\n
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Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n AAA<\/p>\n Bonnie didn\u2019t know she had a dream car until she first laid eyes on it.<\/p>\n The 27-year-old Pilates instructor, who has chosen to withhold her surname for privacy reasons, had previously driven a series of small hatchbacks that were perfectly serviceable, if a little forgettable.<\/p>\n \u201cI was driving a Mazda 3, and there was nothing wrong with it, but I was sick of it,\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d been talking to my partner for a while about what I wanted in a car, and I couldn\u2019t really verbalise it. But when I saw the Pajero, I knew it was my dream car.\u201d<\/p>\n She fell head over heels for a bright red short-wheelbase Mitsubishi Pajero<\/a> that\u2019s older than she is. The two-door, diesel-powered 4WD from 1992 has a manual transmission and not much else.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I bought it three years ago, it didn\u2019t have seats or carpet on the floor, and the speedometer and the tachometer didn\u2019t work,\u201d Bonnie laughs. \u201cIt still doesn\u2019t even have airbags.\u201d<\/p>\n While her friends drive modern SUVs with cruise control and blind-spot monitoring, Bonnie says she wouldn\u2019t trade her vintage ride for all the mod-cons in the world.<\/p>\n \u201cHonestly, I don\u2019t think I was a very good driver in the past, and now, having a connection to my car, I\u2019m a much better driver,\u201d she admits.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause I really enjoy it, I\u2019ve asked my partner lots of questions about how it works and how to fix things. He\u2019s taught me how to service it, so I do that on my own too.\u201d<\/p>\n Bonnie is one of an increasing raft of young women opting for old, off-road-focused cars over modern SUVs, hatchbacks and electric vehicles.<\/p>\n In June, a headline in The Wall Street Journal declared, \u201cThe Expensive Accessory Every \u2018Hot Girl\u2019 Wants: An Old, Loud SUV\u201d, with journalist Chavie Lieber pointing to the booming market for secondhand Ford Broncos and Land Rovers, driven by affluent young women.<\/p>\n It turns out a similar phenomenon is playing out in Australia, but swap Ford Broncos for Toyota LandCruisers and \u201caffluent young women\u201d for savvy creatives with a thirst for serious adventure.<\/p>\n An antidote to \u2018disposable culture\u2019<\/p>\n Stuart Amm, owner of Sydney-based restoration company Aussie Motor Group, has witnessed this trend in real time over the last two years, and says young female owners now account for roughly 25 per cent of his company\u2019s work.<\/p>\n \u201cSpecifically for women, they\u2019ve been exposed to the car scene via social media, and they see the beauty, the design and the story of these vehicles and want to be involved,\u201d Amm says.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cThey love to continually refine and update their vehicles, so they\u2019re falling into that pattern of the old-school revhead, but coming at it from a different angle.\u201d<\/p>\n Amm says his female customers tend to be successful business owners with a creative background who are heavily involved in their car\u2019s design and customisation.<\/p>\n Most recently, Amm worked with Ngoc Dang, the owner of Melbourne-based events company Ed&Ed Studio, to customise her 2015 Land Rover Defender<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the biggest things that drew me to my car was that it was a manual, and it\u2019s really difficult to buy a manual car new,\u201d Dang explains.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the first time I actually drove it, I was like, \u2018What was I thinking?!\u2018. It has such a heavy clutch, and it\u2019s clunky to drive, but you get used to it. Those are the things that make you feel like you\u2019re really driving.\u201d<\/p>\n While Dang has kept the manual transmission, she\u2019s worked with Amm to add Apple CarPlay and sound dampening so she can take work phone calls on the go, and has had the interior fitted out in a striking caramel-coloured leather.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019ve stopped \u2013 the best thing about the Defender is you can continually keep working on the small details.\u201d<\/p>\n Amm concurs: \u201cThese cars are the antidote to disposable culture. And there\u2019s something beautiful about bringing something back to new \u2013 there\u2019s a pride there.\u201d<\/p>\n It doesn\u2019t hurt that cars like the Defender or Toyota LandCruisers are just as capable as they are aesthetically pleasing.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a cool car to take to the beach or to your highlands farm, but it looks just as good parked outside a hotel next to a modern Range Rover \u2013 they cross worlds really well,\u201d Amm says.<\/p>\n For Madelyn Holmes, a 31-year-old photographer from Queensland, it was this duality that kick-started her love affair with vintage Land Rovers.<\/p>\n \u201cMy original interest was photography and nature, and I realised that 4WDs are the perfect way to access the more remote locations,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s great to have a capable vehicle, but they\u2019ve also got such a character to them, and they\u2019re photogenic too,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n For Holmes, the bare-bones design was a plus rather than a minus, allowing her to disconnect from her screen-heavy lifestyle.<\/p>\n \u201cI work in photography and graphic design, and I\u2019m surrounded by cameras and phones and computers, so I like that it\u2019s stripped back.\u201d<\/p>\n Holmes is a seasoned Land Rover enthusiast \u2013 she\u2019s owned three in total and currently runs a 2015 Defender 110 and a 1973 Land Rover Series III \u2013 but says she\u2019s faced backlash from male enthusiasts not ready to welcome young women into the fold.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the start of my experience in Land Rover world, I had a lot of people saying \u2018Wow, I really like your boyfriend\u2019s car,\u2019\u201d she recalls.<\/p>\n Related Article \u201cWhen I was trying to buy my Series III I had some people push back and say, \u2018I\u2019m not going to sell this car to you,\u2019 purely based on my profile picture and name.\u201d<\/p>\n Holmes started her popular Instagram account @ladyinalandy as a tongue-in-cheek response to the sexist comments.<\/p>\n In reality, it\u2019s younger buyers like Holmes that are seeing models like the Land Rover Defender and Toyota LandCruiser hold their value incredibly well on the used market.<\/p>\n Impressively, a 2012 Land Rover Defender on average retains more than 100 per cent of its original value when sold on today\u2019s used market, according to data from automotive intelligence firm AutoGrab.<\/p>\n Toyota LandCruisers are a similarly solid buy, with data showing two-to-four-year-old models are regularly selling for the same amount as they cost new.<\/p>\n For Jaycee Wilson, a LandCruiser Troop Carrier or \u201cTroopy\u201d was the only option when buying her first car.<\/p>\n \u201cI fell in love with Troopy because I saw the possibility and capability. I grew up camping and my family is very outdoorsy, so I wanted something that could take me anywhere and that I could sleep in \u2013 like a little house on wheels,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n The Sunshine Coast local purchased her 2006 LandCruiser Troop Carrier<\/a> from a French tourist when she was just a 17-year-old with freshly minted P-plates.<\/p>\n She worked with her father, a cabinet maker, to slowly turn it into the portable home of her dreams, complete with a fridge, oven, pop-up tables, a pantry and even a bathroom with outdoor shower.<\/p>\n Looking back on her early days as a novice driver, Wilson admits the Troopy \u201cwasn\u2019t the most sensible choice of car\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s pretty big for a first car. I\u2019m quite limited as to where I can park a lot of the time \u2013 underground carparks are always a no for me. And it\u2019s not the most economical car to run,\u201d she admits.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t see it as a sacrifice though, I\u2019d much rather have the experiences I\u2019ve had.\u201d<\/p>\n The ultimate statement purchase<\/p>\n Wilson has driven her car \u2013 nicknamed \u201cSaltee the Troopy\u201d in full \u2013 almost 400,000km in four years. Like Bonnie, she\u2019s learned to service the car herself and has grown accustomed to the manual roll-down windows (which occasionally require WD-40) and the air con system, which sporadically breaks down.<\/p>\n \u201cI definitely get a lot of comments and reactions to my car,\u201d she admits. \u201cPeople are surprised that it\u2019s actually my car and I\u2019ve done all the stuff to it myself.\u201d<\/p>\n Thankfully, the reactions have been overwhelmingly positive.<\/p>\n \u201cI have my Instagram handle on the back, so lots of people post and tag me if they see me on the road,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n However, the best interactions are always with other young women her age.<\/p>\n \u201cMy favourite is that I get a lot of car-fulls of young girls driving past me,\u201d Wilson explains.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ll look over and they\u2019re waving at me, and then I\u2019ll see they\u2019re holding up messages on their phone saying things like, \u2018WE LOVE YOUR CAR!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n That, Amm says, is perhaps the crux of the trend \u2013 the ability to stand out from an increasingly homogenous crowd.<\/p>\n \u201cI still think a big part of this anybody can buy a brand-new SUV, but a restored classic makes a bigger statement,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cGenerally, most people will look at that and say, \u2018Now that\u2019s cool\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Make the most of your health, relationships, fitness and nutrition with our Live Well newsletter. Get it in your inbox<\/a> every Monday.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Bonnie,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/c2caa5805ce2226fc99999649969734199da6f13.jpeg\")
Bonnie, 27, and her\u00a0beloved 1991 Mitsubishi Pajero.<\/p>\n![\"As](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/7b543a8fc38e3da25e9fc7686014e947a9e4e56e.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Jaycee](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/bea0fca61ccb4ba7b209ce4369908b8bc7e96711.jpeg\")
Jaycee Wilson and \u201cSaltee the Troopy\u201d.@shannonkellycreativeGoing off-road and offline<\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1790939661_192_dc0958bc589eb1dba5c69d696827808096f52639.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Jaycee](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/3f462c0cd1a0a202cc34df62c9e432d3e018f4c8.jpeg\")
Jaycee Wilson says while her troopy wasn\u2019t the most sensible choice in first car, she wouldn\u2019t change a thing.@shannonkellycreative<\/p>\n
![\"Susannah](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1790939663_557_1e5edff922480011b98b095e05febe568c8a53b65934102f645e1f1156990d85.png\")