exhilaration by appointment
Discussion
For those who don't know, exhilaration by appointment is what Land Rover is calling its new corporate day. It was hosted at Elvington airfield. I went as my dads guest. TBH, I wasn't expecting too much, but I was pleasantly surprised.
We went into the posh marquee
Had some posh coffee, then sat down to a posh lunch
A seriously slick operation.
We were then briefed, briefly - then introduced to our instructors and cars. Fortunatly there wasn't the usual b/s, this is a steering wheel, this is a gear stick etc etc. It was 1 car/insturctor per guest/guests. The cars were all 2009 cars :fish: Range Rover Vogue SE, and Range Rover sport with a V8 diesel lump producing 9,8000,000,000.00 NM of torque. A couple had LSD's and all had brembo brakes. All were standard and set to factory spec.
So the first test was interesting, it involved accelerating down the runway to 50mph, then pulling the handbrake on! Believe it or not, I didn't land on the roof, it bleeped at me advising I had pulled the 'E' brake on and stopped, quickly.
Then there was the 80mph emergency stop, then the half a wet stop. The cars performed very well and simply deified gravity!
Next was the maneuverability bit around cones, both car's did pretty well, the Sport was bizarrely taught and really direct!
We then did a bit of off roading, on one of those rig things, demonstrating the diff's and low box etc etc - all very sedate.
Last thing, was the high speed bit. A mile long course with a couple of straights, some fast bends and some tight 2nd gear stuff.
My dad was hilarious during this, armed with a sport and chasing and elderly man in a Vogue, he got red mist in a big way and hunted him down, then insisted the instructor used his walkie talkie to get him out of the way as he wouldn't move. He has never done track work, and got a lot from it.
Even at this point, the brembo brakes had NO FADE at all, amazing considering the Vogue weighs 2.7 tonnes, the Sport 2.8 tonnes. The Vogue was a mess around the track though, it had grip but that is about it, the Sport, oddly, was pretty capable, the medium speed, tighter stuff showed up the weight a bit, but with some hydraulic/electric front arb and those electro magnetic shocks, it sat solid taking all the abuse out on the 20" 275 wide tyres.
I had fun too, the instructors were pretty sold on the V8 diesel, but I much preferred the 4.4 BMW lump in my old mans car.
It was a bloody fantastic day, I can recommend it to anyone. Really well managed in every aspect.
The following pics are taken on my iPhone, which has a crap camera, and are in a random order.
We finally left at gone 4pm - very happy too. I can conclude that the RR sport felt every bit £20k cheaper than the Vogue, and brembo brakes are a good thing. How many people they have queuing up to spend £50k/£70k respectively, I don't know? But I will have a go next year, that's for sure.
We went into the posh marquee
Had some posh coffee, then sat down to a posh lunch
A seriously slick operation. We were then briefed, briefly - then introduced to our instructors and cars. Fortunatly there wasn't the usual b/s, this is a steering wheel, this is a gear stick etc etc. It was 1 car/insturctor per guest/guests. The cars were all 2009 cars :fish: Range Rover Vogue SE, and Range Rover sport with a V8 diesel lump producing 9,8000,000,000.00 NM of torque. A couple had LSD's and all had brembo brakes. All were standard and set to factory spec.
So the first test was interesting, it involved accelerating down the runway to 50mph, then pulling the handbrake on! Believe it or not, I didn't land on the roof, it bleeped at me advising I had pulled the 'E' brake on and stopped, quickly.
Then there was the 80mph emergency stop, then the half a wet stop. The cars performed very well and simply deified gravity!
Next was the maneuverability bit around cones, both car's did pretty well, the Sport was bizarrely taught and really direct!
We then did a bit of off roading, on one of those rig things, demonstrating the diff's and low box etc etc - all very sedate.
Last thing, was the high speed bit. A mile long course with a couple of straights, some fast bends and some tight 2nd gear stuff.
My dad was hilarious during this, armed with a sport and chasing and elderly man in a Vogue, he got red mist in a big way and hunted him down, then insisted the instructor used his walkie talkie to get him out of the way as he wouldn't move. He has never done track work, and got a lot from it.
Even at this point, the brembo brakes had NO FADE at all, amazing considering the Vogue weighs 2.7 tonnes, the Sport 2.8 tonnes. The Vogue was a mess around the track though, it had grip but that is about it, the Sport, oddly, was pretty capable, the medium speed, tighter stuff showed up the weight a bit, but with some hydraulic/electric front arb and those electro magnetic shocks, it sat solid taking all the abuse out on the 20" 275 wide tyres.
I had fun too, the instructors were pretty sold on the V8 diesel, but I much preferred the 4.4 BMW lump in my old mans car.
It was a bloody fantastic day, I can recommend it to anyone. Really well managed in every aspect.
The following pics are taken on my iPhone, which has a crap camera, and are in a random order.
We finally left at gone 4pm - very happy too. I can conclude that the RR sport felt every bit £20k cheaper than the Vogue, and brembo brakes are a good thing. How many people they have queuing up to spend £50k/£70k respectively, I don't know? But I will have a go next year, that's for sure.
eliot said:
Not much mud in sight..
My thoughts exactly - curious place for them to choose, surely now is NOT the time to go blathering about them being good on the road, they should stick with the off road heritage!Looks like fun though - totally agree that the Sport seems cheap and tacky next to the FFRR - wifey has now put her foot down and forced me to put our RR up for sale and to get a Disco3. Much as I like the idea of a new car and think it'll be nice for a change, the interior of both the D3 and Sport are horribly low rent next to the FFRR
My sister just got rid of her Discovery 3... It was a bag of s
t quite frankly. Lovely to drive when it is working, but it constantly had issues, be it the GPS, the radio, or brakes, or the rear door, or the electric seat... She has just swapped for one of those lexus hybrid 400h things. Much nicer.
t quite frankly. Lovely to drive when it is working, but it constantly had issues, be it the GPS, the radio, or brakes, or the rear door, or the electric seat... She has just swapped for one of those lexus hybrid 400h things. Much nicer.Somewhat missing the bigger picture here aren't we??? If you want an off road day, then book one. The idea of these days is to show its overall capabilities and naturally this is biast towards road work, as lets face it, that is what most new people to the brand will use them for.
I think the heritage of the LR brand is enough to put peoples mind at rest WRT "off roading" but in reality how many of you would take a £60k+ RR or RRS to your local "muddy meet"......I rest my case, that's what Defenders are for.
As for replacing a Disco 3 with a Lexus milkfloat........oh dear, I guess someone has to buy them and TBH, better a woman drives them as they are intended
I think the heritage of the LR brand is enough to put peoples mind at rest WRT "off roading" but in reality how many of you would take a £60k+ RR or RRS to your local "muddy meet"......I rest my case, that's what Defenders are for.
As for replacing a Disco 3 with a Lexus milkfloat........oh dear, I guess someone has to buy them and TBH, better a woman drives them as they are intended
Think I have to agree - whats the point in that day. I have a D3. It is a pretty good road car in most areas. It is amazing off road (or my poofy attempt). TO be given the opportunity to drive it in road type conditions wouldnt excite me but to be given the chance to drive some LR products off road would be exciting. You can go to your dealer and borrow one for a test drive if you are interested on the on road capabilities. Most of the things tried on that day would seem dangerous on the road and therefore irrelevant as an experience?
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