I am extremely conscious of security and love the idea of armored vehicles even though I don't have one.

If you have ever spent time in an armored vehicle you will know the amazing sense of security that you recieve when you are inside. You get this feeling despite the fact that the sheer reason you are in a armored car indicates that either you or your passengers most likely have very serious security concerns / threats.

We (in the US) are used to seeing armored H1's, Chevy SUV's and Caddy's but any car can be turned into an armored car. The companies that do this sort of work usually make the car look entirely stock from the outside but with heavy internal modifications, the vehicle can withstand any likely threat (the customer determines the threat level).

Anyway, below is a link to a company that did a Range Rover. It is pretty impressive and interesting to see such a great vehicle armored.

http://www.manhattanarmor.com/range.html

 

These people do a good job, a guy in my building in NY has one. He has more money than me so I guess he finds it relevant - but in reality it was just a gizmo for him. I know one of the Koch brothers here has one as well, as does his brother in the Midwest. Ironically, the guy in our building uses it infrequently - and when going to the airport or across town always just takes a standard town car...in this economic climate, I owe enough money that no one probably wants to take me out - yet. Maybe the Mrs., but she'd likely do it in my sleep....

 

A friend of mine has a Guard S-Class MB and he loves it, but I wonder why have that, and then the next day take out your Ferrari Spyder? Oh well, not for me to decide, but what is so amazing is like you said Luxury1, the sense of safety and the seemless integration of components into the stock form is amazing.

 

I almost bought an armoured Jeep Cherokee that was used as a UN vehicle. It was more of a novelty to just have one is why I almost did it. The drawback was the weight was attrocious and never woul dbe good for off roading. Plus I would always want to shoot at it just to see if I could damage it.

 

The weight is a big problem. The Secret Service nicked named the presidential limo "The Beast" for this exact reason.

I have seen these cars shot at and they can withstand it. You will of course see damage on the outside (especially obvious in the bullet proof glass) but the rounds do not penetrate.

 

I just read today that Land Rover is directly offering an amored version of its Discovery:

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Land...oured_999.html

 

some of them not just for show or toys. These guys are building the armoured land rovers for police:

http://www.inkasarmored.com/vehicles...over-defender/

 

Armoured Land Rovers have been around for quite awhile.

 

when I was in Iraq we had armored 2009 suburbans and 2004 armored land cruisers. I also drove around an up armored ford explorer for a day. The biggest thing was how much they weigh. Gas mileage was terrible and every one of them was a dog accept for the Suburbans with the 6.0 in them. Not very pretty in the inside either. always wondered what would happened if you T boned a ford escort though..