Land Rover Experience

[crockers]

Yesterday Mrs C and myself went on a half day LandRover Experience at Eastnor Castle, near Ledbury. Firstly to get this I had registered at LR website and in the various emails I get it was mentioned. I telephoned LR and booked ourselves in (was about 2 months in advance).
Mrs C currently runs a Honda CRV and last year whilst trying to get up a track in the Highlands we realised it is a very soft offroader - so I asked if we could try a Freelander auto.
The car we tried was the HSE version.
Firstly, after registration, we went for a drive (instructor in front) for about 50 minutes on various B roads and a blast along the motorway. Found the LR very comfortable - can see the Volvo influence on seating from their Ford days. Engine nice and responsive and on the roads felt it was a very stable car. Along the Motorway cruised very ably at around 70 - 80 (oops) and had to keep an eye on speedo - not something one really has to do with the CRV.
Then......................................into the woods. All I can say is ....my God you don't really expect this car to go down THAT track do you??? So into mud and ruts setting and off we set. If you are serious about off roading - then this is a great car. It went where I wouldn't even fancy walking. Up steep wet muddy rutted tracks. Hill Descent Control took some getting used to...but brilliant. We had about 1.5 hours of this - and Mrs C is very enthusiastic.....in fact she loves the car. - Damn as they aren't cheap...but then once you drive it off road you can see and feel where that money has gone. My main concern is - if you spend the best part of £30k on a car do you really want to take it into the woods ( no smut now ..)...

Am very tempted.................

 

[Chattonmill]

I did this when I had my last Range Rover, amazing the limits they have
You soon forget that it is an expensive car and start enjoying it more!

 

[Deleted member 6183]

Basic Freelanders at Motorpoint, admit that they're only in white and basic spec but under £20k

 

[crockers]

Basic Freelanders at Motorpoint, admit that they're only in white and basic spec but under £20k

True - I saw that last night....not that I was looking.....

BUT...after the comfort and toys on the HSE......no mustn't......stop it..

 

[IanA2]

Better than a G-Wagen.....??

 

[crockers]

Better than a G-Wagen.....??

Doubt it -- but a lot cheaper than one too....

 

[jimmymidnight]

True - I saw that last night....not that I was looking.....

BUT...after the comfort and toys on the HSE......no mustn't......stop it..

I used to have the old shape Freelander HSE 2.5 V6 petrol and it was pretty disappointing, but when my car got smashed into last month I was given a brand new diesel HSE for a few days and the difference was amazing, it's now such a nice and roomy place to be! Felt a million times better! I was half tempted my self to go back to the LR brand!

I did one of those landrover experiences in the old freelander when i bought mine, it was brilliant being able to really see what the cars were capable of!

 

[vincenz]

I used to have the old shape Freelander HSE 2.5 V6 petrol and it was pretty disappointing, but when my car got smashed into last month I was given a brand new diesel HSE for a few days and the difference was amazing, it's now such a nice and roomy place to be! Felt a million times better! I was half tempted my self to go back to the LR brand!

I did one of those landrover experiences in the old freelander when i bought mine, it was brilliant being able to really see what the cars were capable of!

In all fairness the Mk1 Freelander was a poor Rover design based on the 200 floorpan, its a shame LR didnt rename the Freelander II a different name as some people still associate it with the Mk1.

I have done the off road experience at Solihull and was amazed at the ability of the vehicles, one of my boses has got a FLII which I took to the lakes in January and it coped excellent with the flooding and twisty roads up there, really impressive piece of kit!

 

[James Rothwell]

If you think Freelanders are impressive offroad try and 3.0Di Nissan Patrol, they are almost go absolutely anywhere. I only got mine stuck once and that was when I tried to cross a river which only looked like a foot deep but turned out it was 5 feet of thick mud. I couldn't even open the doors, that was a long day.

 

[vincenz]

If you think Freelanders are impressive offroad try and 3.0Di Nissan Patrol, they are almost go absolutely anywhere. I only got mine stuck once and that was when I tried to cross a river which only looked like a foot deep but turned out it was 5 feet of thick mud. I couldn't even open the doors, that was a long day.

Ha! How did you get out?

 

[crockers]

If you think Freelanders are impressive offroad try and 3.0Di Nissan Patrol, they are almost go absolutely anywhere. I only got mine stuck once and that was when I tried to cross a river which only looked like a foot deep but turned out it was 5 feet of thick mud. I couldn't even open the doors, that was a long day.

Had me grinning ....but in all honesty shouldn't this be compared to the Discovery?

 

[James Rothwell]

Yeah the Patrol is more like a Discovery, I was just pointing out that what a Freelander can do is merely scratching the surface of what fully capable (diff locks, disable ABS, etc) 4x4s are able to do.

To get it out it involed a lot of digging with shovels laying down lots of bits of wood behind the tyres and a Unimog, which incidently went through what I got stuck in with no issues what so ever which was highly impressive. I think if I carried more speed into the mud it probably wouldn't have sank as only the middle of the river was mud the rest was gravel so it might have just skipped over the mud and got itself back onto gravel, I'd try it again but I would take my friend with the unimog with me rather than waiting for me to get stuck!

 

[crockers]

The instructor said. As slow as possible but as fast as is necessary. Took some understanding. If you go too fast the car's momentum bottoms the car on the ground, but too slow you may lose momentum and get stuck. Definately a skill that has to be learned, and I'm sure like most driving skills once you think you have it mastered it turns round and bites you on the a*se.

 

[Lugy]

Off roading certainly is a world apart from doing on road stuff.

The places I've been in my Series 3 would shock most people! Leaf springs, solid axles, ground clearance and a proper centre diff is where it's at. Of course it's not the best thing onroad though

On the subject of the LRE we recently drove the course they used for launching the new RR Sport and 2010 Disco, some of the terrain was pretty tricky. It's amazing how reliant the cars must be on driving aids. The tyres used were no more than road tyres!

 

[vincenz]

Yeah the Patrol is more like a Discovery, I was just pointing out that what a Freelander can do is merely scratching the surface of what fully capable (diff locks, disable ABS, etc) 4x4s are able to do.

The FLII has got both that, the only thing it hasnt got that the rangie, rangie sport and discovery is air suspension, its old school like the defender.

 

[James Rothwell]

I'm not really a fan of air suspension of 4x4s in my experience when you stretch the suspension to it's limits, for example when you've got a wheel dangling in the air, they seem to fail. It might just be my luck with older Discoverys and Range Rovers though.

I didn't realise the FLII had all that, I had a play with the original Freelander once and I seem to recall it having switchable four wheel drive and that was it, the FLII sounds like a much needed improvement.

 

[grober]

Did you use the same car offroad as you did on the motorway?

 

[crockers]

Did you use the same car offroad as you did on the motorway?

We did - yes...if that question was about the LR experience.