MARCUS BONTEMPELLI FAVOURITE MARQUES

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estern Bulldogs vice-captain Marcus Bontempelli prioritises function over form. The AFL star known as Bont gets around town in the new X-Class ute — as ambassador for Mercedes-Benz Melbourne Vans.

Kitted out with a towbar and aftermarket off-road tyres, the workhorse is ready for more than the daily commute.

“I live just outside the city and have to travel to get to work and it’s great to drive in the city and get through traffic in a fashionable way,” says Bontempelli.

“But then it has the components … to take the car off-road, which I’m excited about.”

Bontempelli is ready to scratch that itch to get out of the city and into the country with plans for off-season road trips.

“Because the season has just wrapped I haven’t had enough time to take it off-road but I’m really keen to see what it can do,” he says.

“Head down to Torquay when it heats up a bit more. My mate has a farm and now that I have a couple of weeks off I’m really keen to take it down there.”

The gun midfielder is used to spending long hours in the car. As a kid, he went along on the family‘s long road trips for sporting fixtures.

“We would do road trips in the Chrysler Voyager to almost Adelaide for basketball tournaments and travelled all over Victoria for local footy tournaments,” he says.

Coming from a family of six, Bontempelli is accustomed to big rigs.

“We had big cars as a family. The first big one we had was a Nissan Patrol and then went in one of those vans, the Voyager,” he says.

Spending all those years in large vehicles, Bontempelli developed a love for one feature in particular — space.

A roomy interior and the ability to haul all his footy gear is at the top of the list for any car purchase.

The one exception to the large cars was his first vehicle, which like most P-plater cars was of modest size and value. And even though he did a lot of hours in a manual car, he got his licence in an auto.

“My first car was a Mazda6. I had that for a couple of years when I first started,” he says. “It was pretty humble, it got me from A to B and where I needed to go.”

But those days are over. If Bontempelli could get behind the wheel of any vehicle it would be the new twin-turbo V8 Mercedes G-Wagen.

“I’m a massive fan of the G-Class. I got to look at one in the workshop … they just hum, they purr. It’s definitely up there, it is No.1,” he says.

His preference for tough off-roaders might be the key to avoiding his pet hate, heavy traffic.

Next up on the annoyance index is “the cars that sneak up in the left lane when they know they have to merge. That one lane is free for a reason, because we have to merge.”

He has a spoiling tactic. “Sometimes I’ll sit halfway across in the other lane. With the X-Class, not many can get past the big dog.”

Dom Tripolone