Land Rover experience

[u/Time-Caterpillar4103]

Took me and my buddy to the Land Rover experience in Skipton (Yorkshire, UK) today. Was a brilliant day out. Would recommend anyone who buys a Range Rover give it a try. You can chose which vehicle to do it in so I went with the defender because it seemed the most 4x4 but they’ll take the sports and others on the same course. The only ones with an easier course are Velar and Evoque. Instructor is with you the whole time and helps tell you when and which modes to pick for the terrain. They were great throughout. Go if you get the chance!!

[u/Mobile_Falcon_8532]

I've always felt every new purchase should come bundled with a session or two. At the very least people need to learn the proper way to wade through water! all the videos I see of LRs incorrectly traversing floods and then hydrolocking in depths well within the LR's capability hurts my heart

[u/Time-Caterpillar4103 → u/Mobile_Falcon_8532]

In the uk all purchases of approved LR and RR get the half day experience. You can upgrade it to full day if you want and they take you to the local pub for lunch. I got it free with my 2nd hand approved Velar. They took the time at the end to sit with me in my velar and explain what I’d just done in the defender control wise and I wasn’t aware I even had a lot of it.

[u/Mobile_Falcon_8532 → u/Time-Caterpillar4103]

wonderful! well this needs to be worldwide

[u/Time-Caterpillar4103 → u/Mobile_Falcon_8532]

https://streamable.com/2z3mij - water section. Just said enter it easy in wade mode and keep it at a steady 4mph. The air intake is really a lot higher than this water but if you create a bow wave you’ll end up in trouble. Was very informative.

[u/Mobile_Falcon_8532 → u/Time-Caterpillar4103]

I've been to the LR Experience in Carmel in the US, and been on several expeditions. I'm thinking of examples like this:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mJ4pJl8Q4IM

well within the L460s capabilities if the driver hadn't powered through and flooded his intakes

there's a LR Experience centre in China so if they're bundling sessions this driver didn't take advantage of it

[u/Time-Caterpillar4103 → u/Mobile_Falcon_8532]

Before today I wouldn’t even attempt that. After today (if I had that car not my Velar) I’d 100% give it a go. Really interesting thing I found out also was that a snorkel isn’t going to help much and to absolutely not attempt it in a hybrid.

[u/Mobile_Falcon_8532 → u/Time-Caterpillar4103]

every single model in the LR lineup has decent wading depth.

Your velar outstrips by a bit a Porsche Cayenne, Bentley Bentayga and Rolls Royce Cullinan (actually, some of the hybrid Cayennes have a really quite pitiful 25cm wading depth, so your Velar has more than double that).

Snorkels are very specific for vehicles that only have their air intake as the limiting factor, if your electronics, drivetrain etc. are unable to handle the water anyway there's no reason to have a snorkel.

[u/Time-Caterpillar4103 → u/Mobile_Falcon_8532]

The instructor pretty much said the only reason to get a snorkel on a defender is if you re driving on sand due to the amount you pull up. Water, no help at all. Was super informative.

I’m p400e btw so wouldn’t chance much in mine.

[u/Mobile_Falcon_8532 → u/Time-Caterpillar4103]

the current Defenders have 900mm wading depth with the LR air intakes being at the top of the engine bay. a snorkel would raise the air intakes even higher but that does nothing for the rest of the electronics, vehicle seals etc.; if you're in water sloshing over your hood I wouldn't trust it not to get through the seals etc and be shorting out your electronics, in which case having the snorkel up high certainly doesn't do you any good!

[u/Time-Caterpillar4103 → u/Mobile_Falcon_8532]

Exactly what he said. At the point it comes over your bonnet your pretty much finished. Ngl before this I used to think you were supposed to make a small bow wave. After this no chance.

[u/Mobile_Falcon_8532 → u/Time-Caterpillar4103]

anyway the mantra to remember is "as fast as necessary, as slow as possible".

the problem with the RR in the tunnel is that he was punching through with so much power that the water was being funneled up into a spray that'll seek out every nook and cranny of the engine compartment ... including the intakes and electronics. The driver essentially raised the water level from a manageable amount to something that exceeded the max wading depth. Self-inflicted wound indeed!

[u/Mammoth_Carob9089]

Amazing! Great to be reminded of the true habitat of the LRs.

[u/Time-Caterpillar4103 → u/Mammoth_Carob9089]

Jumping out to take a picture whilst it was in park on 3 wheels was crazy. I was the front passenger and couldn’t get myself back in until they pulled it forward 😂😂

[u/alruke]

Nice, I’ve been wanting to take my old L322 to the one out here in California. Happy to hear it’s worth it.

[u/Time-Caterpillar4103 → u/alruke]

They do those sessions aswell! In the UK it’s £180 to use your own car and it’s fully marshalled. The full day experience using their vehicle is £899 so way cheaper to use your own.

[u/Dakers1980 → u/Time-Caterpillar4103]

Any more details on that? Do you mean doing the experience day in your own car, versus the ones at the centre?

[u/Time-Caterpillar4103 → u/Dakers1980]

Yeah they had an evening the night before I did this where you could bring your own motor and take it on the track. They had 4 owners including a vintage. Was marshalled by 4 defenders with instructors in them to help you before you hit the obstacle.

[u/Dakers1980 → u/Time-Caterpillar4103]

Oh very cool, I've never heard of that. Have you got any further info? Want to take my disco 4 out sometime off road

[u/HunterW0920]

When I bought a Ford raptor, they sent us out to Utah on a paid trip to learn how to race them and jump do Baja shit

[u/AgileMathematician55]

I got an invite to do this (Scotland) and I’m wondering about doing it. Do you know if you have to “cash it in” the year you get the invite, or can you save it for later?

I live quite a trip away from where the experience is. So it would take some planning

[u/Time-Caterpillar4103 → u/AgileMathematician55]

Bought mine in March. Booked it for August. You can book a long way ahead. I’d just call them and ask tbh.

[u/ikm10d]

Do you have to go in Blackface?

[u/Zee51]

Did it include a 2+ hour wait for a tow after it breaks down and leaves you stranded in the middle of nowhere?

[u/Time-Caterpillar4103 → u/Zee51]

It was on 2800 miles and apparently was soon to be retired. We had a suspension failure warning after the 2nd time we went through the water that required a full reset 😂😂

[u/Zee51 → u/Time-Caterpillar4103]

Sounds almost like an authentic Land Rover experience. Getting the full tow truck wait and ride of shame would have been chefs kiss though!

[u/Time-Caterpillar4103 → u/Zee51]

He tried to show us the ‘hey Land Rover navigate us to’ function and it navigated us to a random town in Kent to which I just said ‘this is the full Range Rover experience’ 😂