Price Check
Newcomers should get some professional training before they venture off-road, says Dave Phillips
Newcomers should get some professional training before they venture off-road, here’s how
WHEN you buy a Land Rover you are doing more than just buying a car, you are buying into a lifestyle – a lifestyle that can, if you wish, see you drive through jungles, across deserts and up snow-covered mountains. Good eh!
All Land Rovers are built to be top of their class in off-road ability, but do you have the skills you need to understand and safely deploy that ability?
It’s a question you need to answer honestly, because your life could depend upon it. Despite the myriad of laws passed by politicians to keep us safe when driving on the road, no legislation has ever been aimed at driving off-road. Whether you’re fording a fast-flowing river, attempting a steep hill climb or negotiating a slippery side slope, your vehicle and yourself are going to get badly injured – or worse – if you get it wrong.
Luckily there are professionals on hand to help you become a proficient off-road driver. The best-known are the Land Rover Experience centres, of which there are nine dotted around the country.
Andy Summers, who set up the Land Rover Experience West Country centre near Honiton, Devon, has a team of 15 qualified instructors on hand and has never been busier. “We opened in 2002
and got 2500 customers in our first year; last year it was 8500,” he says.
“Modern Land Rovers are packed with technology which can be daunting but it is simplistic once you have learned how to use it. Our off-road course includes 35 acres of woodland on the side of a big hill. When you reach the top, you can see Dartmoor 40 miles away on a clear day.”
Buyers of new and used vehicles from any official Land Rover franchise dealer are entitled to a free half day’s tuition at any LRE centre, but anyone can book a paid session, in which you get the chance to put the latest Land Rover models through their paces.
It’s not just off-road driving skills you can learn, too. LRE centres also offer trailer handling courses, and Andy reckons many visitors come to learn how to set up their Land Rovers’ ever-moresophisticated electronic systems. “Cars are changing all the time and the Land Rover you buy today is probably very different to the same model you bought three or four years ago,” he says.
Just like LRE South West, really. Andy, a dairy farmer and Land Rover fan, set it up in 2002 in a converted stables block, but over the last four years has transformed it into a futuristic-looking centre complete with business and conferencing facilities.
It really is well worth a visit. After all, what could be more fun than learning to drive off-road in a Land Rover in a stunning setting? Not much!