My Land Rover Experience
When Land Rover newbie Mark, bought his Range Rover Velar, he didn’t know this would be the start to his Land Rover Life.
Words and pictures by Mark Hodgson
After years of hot hatches, family life finally caught up with me and I decided to be all grown up. A trip to the Land Rover dealership later and I had a Range Rover Velar P250 HSE sat on my drive. With all new and used Land Rovers bought from the dealership you get the opportunity to participate in a Land Rover driving experience at any one of Land Rovers Experience centres dotted around the county. We decided to visit the North Yorkshire centre located at Yellison Farm Barns on the Broughton Hall Estate, just outside of Skipton and it was a fantastic day that the entire group thoroughly enjoyed.
When booking your experience, you get to choose which of Land Rovers products you wish to drive, and for our visit we chose to drive the new Range Rover (74 plate). Driving it surpassed all the expectations we had for such a luxury car with its amazing off-road performance.
After our instructor familiarised us with the controls and off-road gadgetry we were let loose. The first feature we got to experience was the hill descent. Having never used technology like this before, the entire group had the opportunity to try it. The hardest part was trusting the vehicle to control the descent and move without having our feet on the pedals, a nerve-wracking initial experience as the vehicle moves over the crest onto the slope!
The Range Rover dealt with all the obstacles with ease, with the vehicle doing all the work for us (our off-road driving skills were definitely not refined!). Despite being in group of three, we all had sufficient time behind the wheel to try the various challenges of the course, with everyone thoroughly enjoying driving through the water section.
What impressed me the most however, was the performance of the vehicle on some of the steeper sections, and the rear-wheel steering made a huge difference in the turning circle, which was totally unexpected for such a large piece of metal.
As the day came to an end, I reflected on the enjoyable experience the entire group had. The Land Rover driving experience not only allowed me to test my skills but also gave me a newfound appreciation for the capabilities of these remarkable vehicles. The combination of advanced technology and breathtaking scenery made for an unforgettable experience. We will definitely be trying to participate in another day like this very soon.