2 more sleeps!!

James  Follow us on Twitter: @GrangeBarnetJLR

One more sleep! Well half a one for me. Got to leave very early to miss all traffic. Look forward to meeting everyone and thanks again James for organising this day out  MY11 Autobiography supercharged. Santorini Black. Monaco interior. Rear screens. Privacy.
Gone MY08 Supercharged HST. Java black. Ivory premium interior. Rear screens. Privacy. Missed a lot.
Gone MY04 Discovery V8 Petrol ES Premium. Awesome.

I heard someone announce on Radio 2 this morning that they were driving down to the Midlands for a Land Rover off-road driving day. Any one from here??? Are you a day early!?  2016 VW Golf GTD DSG
2007 Exige S British GT SE
Gone : 2011 3.0TDV6 HSE, Stornoway Grey, Ivory, Piano Black Trim, Paddleshift, Privacy Glass, Side Steps, Mud Flaps, Heated Steering Wheel, Timed Climate & Remote Park Heating

Bomber H wrote:

I heard someone announce on Radio 2 this morning that they were driving down to the Midlands for a Land Rover off-road driving day. Any one from here??? Are you a day early!?

....... and more importantly did they get the HGG name in?

James  Follow us on Twitter: @GrangeBarnetJLR

Enjoy the day all, Luton Hoo's a great venue.
Hope to get along to one of the future ones, I shall look out for pictures of the day as I sip my beer in 34 degrees of Singapore sunshine  ON THE WAY: BMW F21 M140i
MERCEDES GL350 - Metallic Navy Blue w/Grey interior

GOING: BMW F31 335D MSport+ xDrive Touring
GONE: Land Rover Discovery 4 HSE - Stornaway Grey w/Black Interior (wish we'd kept it )
GONE: BMW F10 520D MSport - Carbon Black
GONE:MY12 RRS SDV6 HSE Sumatra/Ivory/Grand Black Privacy glass

Returned home an hour ago ... just in time for tomorrow. Jet lagged but looking forward to it

Just got home from the am session. Thanks James , great fun and especially good to be able to compare all the models from Full Fat to Defender by driving one after the other on the same terrain (although going straight from Full Fat to Defender was something of an eye opener). Pity the area was as dry as it was though a bit of mud would have added to the fun  Gordon Kerr
Bedford, UK
2007 Java Black RR Sport TDv6
1980 Brooklands Green Triumph TR7

gordon kerr wrote:

Just got home from the am session. Thanks James , great fun and especially good to be able to compare all the models from Full Fat to Defender by driving one after the other on the same terrain (although going straight from Full Fat to Defender was something of an eye opener). Pity the area was as dry as it was though a bit of mud would have added to the fun

Got home from the afternoon session and had a thoroughly good time considering it was free

"although going straight from Full Fat to Defender was something of an eye opener"
We did the opposite, Evoque->Defender->Full Fat and jumping in the Defender was a shock (although I own one !), jumping back in the Full Fat equally shocking. I have to admit that the defender made it all much easier, all other vehicles needed prodding of this button, that button, etc... but let's not start an argument here.

We were lucky to be treated to a light amount of rain shortly after we started, followed by a full-on hailstorm, the track was getting muddier and muddier as the day progressed which really showed how changing ground affects the behaviour of the vehicles.

So great afternoon, thanks James and LRE. A few comments if I may (you asked):

-A little more variety on the course would have been nice, the same obstacles five times becomes a little repetitive.

-Maybe try to enable a vehicle choice so that we can spend more team in the vehicle of our choosing. Having said that, while I was keen to try out the Full Fat, I reckon I could have happily stayed in the Defender all afternoon which may not have been my first choice. Depending on the vehicles LRE have to hand, maybe do a Defender+Disco one month, RRS + FF the next, etc... and let people apply for the session they're interested in (assumes there are 3+ of each in the fleet of course).

That's all I can think of for now.

Thanks again
Greg

-A group photo with the cars next time ? 

"Roads ? Where we're going there are no roads." Back to the future.

Brilliant, thanks for the feedback Greg!

I just wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who attended today. There were 45 forum members and guests in total that attended, and it was great chatting to those of you that I managed to get to.

As mentioned HGG are happy to arrange similar events (doesn't necessarily have to be off road), and I feel that the majority enjoyed the day. I put the LRE team under some pressure to try to get everyone behind the wheel of each of the 6 models in the range. Despite being warned that it would be tight, they did pretty much managed to pull it off. There were a couple of people that missed driving the Range Rover in the morning, but were offered a separate drive over lunch. In the afternoon they reduced the availability of the Freelander (as a photo car) which I hope resulted in everyone driving the remaining 5 models. Perhaps all 6 models in half a day was ambitious, however as mentioned the day was totally bespoke and was a trial for the future.

We put our Group F&I Manager Martin to good use by sending him out with his camera for both sessions (you may have seen him stalking through the undergrowth ) and Pegleg from Freel2 was out for most of the afternoon taking snaps (having driven all the way from mid-Wales )! So, hopefully there will be plenty of pictures posted over the next few days which I will try to spread across the 6 forums (unless Martin can assist?).

Thank you again to all who attended, and as mentioned please let me know if you feel it was worthwhile and something that we should do again (in some form or another)?

James

PS For those of you who went away with an HGG bear, please remember to look after them as they are very special creatures, and please make sure you post some pictures of them in their new Land Rover family surroundings!

Click image to enlarge

Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated

Sounds like a great day had by all.

I can't wait until it is my turn  Proud owner of a 2008 TDV8 HSE.....and an Audi A3 2.0T DSG Cab and a Porsche 911 Turbo (Mercedes W208 320 CLK and Mercedes W124 E220 Estate now gone)

First of all, thanks to James and HGG for arranging the session and to the LRE team for putting up with us.

As requested, here are my thoughts/feedback:

I enjoyed the morning session although I'd agree that the format was trying to fit too much in the time available. 6 cars with 2 drivers each driving after the instructor has done a demo drive meant that only 5 of the 6 cars were driven. That was fine for me because the one I missed was the Disco and that's close enough to the Sport. Having the FL2 and the Evoque was likewise a little overkill on that end of the brand. I understand the logistics of doing it the way it was done though so well done for trying to accommodate as many people as possible.

The technical area at LRE Luton Hoo was fairly compact and limited in scope although I guess this helps with the logistics of the session. I think it might have been more useful to stay in the technical area rather than looping back along the road and track each time - a lot of "wasted" driving time there I feel. More time could have been had explaining the vehicles and driving the obstacles without the loop.

The vehicles were well presented and the instructors were excellent in my opinion. Each had their own thoughts about the various vehicles and each did a good job of explaining them and helping us get the best from the limited time available in each.

As far as the vehicles were concerned, I was impressed by the Evoque - it really did seem to be quite a capable little 4x4. In some ways it felt happier on the obstacles than the FL2 did. The Sport we know about - interestingly it (along with the Defender 110) were the most controlled on the 45deg descent ramp. The Evoque seemed to launch itself (as did the FL2) because the lack of low range meant it was more reliant on the HDC. The 110 was crude and farm-like (as one would expect) but also deeply impressive as an analogue vehicle in a digital age. Stepping from the 110 in to the new FFRR was like stepping from the 1950s in to the 21st century without living through the intervening 50 years! Loved the FFRR - it smoothed the bumpy track as if it were slightly uneven tarmac and dealt with the obstacles in a way that made even the Sport feel a bit clunky. The new RRS is going to have to be very special to make itself feel relevant next to the FFRR.

Once again, thanks to James, HGG and LRE Luton Hoo.  2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

Both fab write-ups thank you! My thought are that we should try to factor in some socialising time too? Just a thought.

James  Follow us on Twitter: @GrangeBarnetJLR

Like RRSTDV8, I was also amazed at how elegantly the Defender managed coming down the 45 degree incline. I was expecting it to be the worst due to the lack of HDC and having seen how "uncontrolled" the more comfortable Evoque and FL2 felt on that obstacle (the Sport was fine there). Just goes to show the importance of a low range gearbox. Also liked the fact that a bit of technique was required to engage the low range box ... too easy on the RRS and FFRR Have to say the Defender was my favourite yesterday (obviously ignoring comfort and luxury).

Regarding suggestions, I agree that trying to get everyone in every model in 3 hours is a bit too much. Perhaps people should be put in one of FL2/Evoque and RRS/Discovery rather than both considering the similarities?

Thanks James, HGG and LRE for a great day out

No complaints from me, a brilliant day and a unique opportunity to try all of the Landrover cars back to back!

Many thanks James for your incredibly generous hospitality including a rather fine fruit cake which made an excellent lunch....

Big thanks to James and the HGG team for organising such a pleasant morning messing about in a few cars.

After my stressful 2 minute journey to pick up my guest followed by another arduous 2 minute slog to the LRE Centre we both needed that nice cup of coffee provided.

Thoroughly enjoyed driving the different models. Big surprise was how much more involving the Defender was because you have to manually engage the low box and lock the diffs etc. plus it's party trick - which was to go back up the steep incline in reverse just by dropping the clutch and then taking both feet off the controls and letting the anti-stall take care of it. You learn something every day.

Guest particularly enjoyed driving the new Range Rover because he's expecting his to be delivered next month - but hadn't actually driven one . Must be worth a couple of cool points.

Agree with James it would be good to factor in a bit of time to socialise and perhaps for those attending the morning session in future lunch could be organised at The Fox which is just a stone's throw away - serves acceptable food and has a big car park. 2008 MY Java Black TDV8 HSE