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What lies beneath: the ‘secret’ tech under your SUV’s bonnet

 (Land Rover Driver Experience)
(Land Rover Driver Experience)

Nobody knows how many ‘Chelsea tractors’ ever go off-road; it’s not information that motor manufacturers are keen to publish.

What is known is that, according to a survey by The New Weather Institute, three-quarters of the 360,000 SUVs sold in 2019 in the UK were bought by people living in towns and cities.

It’s easy to understand their appeal; Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) usually offer more space, elevated, panoramic views over other vehicles, a certain feeling of invincibility and - frequently - high levels of extra technical equipment. Even if much of it is seldom used.

In snowy conditions, which rarely strike London, 4X4s offer more traction (even if, in the city, a two-wheel-drive car on all-weather tyres might go - and stop - just as well). SUVs are also great for towing with their extra grip and, if you venture into the countryside, they can be useful for accessing riverside or coastal areas with boat trailers, for towing horse boxes into fields, negotiating fords, or towing your holiday home-on-wheels.

But how useful is all that extra 4X4 technology hidden under the shiny bodywork of your London runabout - and what is it really capable of, if you venture beyond the M25?

Land Rover Driver Experience
Land Rover Driver Experience

Land Rover’s nine regional Experience Centres have just reopened following a long spell of closure during lockdown and they are an enticing way for city-dwellers to discover what their 4X4 is truly capable of. All new Land and Range Rover buyers get a ‘free’ half-day experience during which they can ford rivers, negotiate muddy hills and tackle tricky man-made obstacle courses while learning what all those mysterious buttons on the dashboard actually do... In fact anyone can try their hand, for a fee.

Suave looks

We headed to one of the most picturesque centres of all - Land Rover Experience North Yorkshire, near Ripon, a five-hour drive up the M6 from London - to see what all the fuss is about, at the wheel of the firm’s top-selling vehicle, the Evoque. Popular in cities such as London thanks to its blend of Range Rover prestige, suave looks and compact dimensions, could it cut it in the rough?

The Centre is perched on top of a remote hill on the Broughton Hall Estate, with commanding views over the Yorkshire Dales. Next to the reception area, which sits in a traditional, former farm building, is a purpose-built barn housing a 20-car line-up representing the complete Land Rover and Range Rover fleet.

Aware that most owners don’t want to mess up their own shiny new vehicle as soon as it’s been delivered, customers - and anybody else wanting an off-road adventure - can take their pick of the Centre’s fleet which is washed, prepped, and maintained on a daily basis. And, impressively, all run on exactly the same standard tyres as Land and Range Rovers supplied in London.

All sessions start with a safety briefing, with one of the Centre’s highly-trained instructors asking what owners want to get out of the course. Some just want to get to grips with the basics. Others want to push their chosen vehicle to the limit, using every bit of technical assistance built in on the factory line.

Land Rover Driving Experience
Land Rover Driving Experience

Because of Covid, we would remain in ‘our’ Evoque D180 while joint lead instructor Adam Wilcock led, or followed, in one of the centre’s own Evoques. After a run-down of the Evoque’s Terrain Response system, which, at the dab of a button on the ‘infotainment’ screen, allows appropriate traction settings to be chosen for different terrains from a menu ranging from snow and gravel to mud and ruts, Adam would guide us by issuing instructions over a walkie-talkie.

Treacherous

On particularly tricky sections we’d park up so that Adam could offer advice face-to-face. On treacherous descents and ascents, we would be told to engage more tech ‘hidden’ in the dashboard including Hill Descent Control which automatically manages the brakes, to ‘shepherd’ the vehicle in complete safety on tricky downhill sections. With our hands off the brake and accelerator, all we had to do was steer - and enjoy the ride.

The first challenge was the 550mm deep Water Section, a disused and flooded railway line that’s perfect for the Evoque with its wading depth of 600mm. We engaged the Grass/Gravel/Snow setting which evens out acceleration and dampens braking, for a smoother ride. All electronically.

Nosing the Evoque gently into the muddy water and maintaining a steady speed, we created a ‘bow wave’ which ‘pushed’ the water ahead of us, preventing the engine from becoming swamped, while the vehicle - on the same tyres that had carried us from London up the M6 - gripped the bottom of the ‘lake’ and surged forward.

Land Rover Driving Experience
Land Rover Driving Experience

Next hurdle was the Log Road, a narrow, raised section of sawn logs, laid side-by-side, twisting through woodland above a bog. With Grass/Gravel/Snow again engaged on the Evoque, Adam directed us as we inched along the slick, uneven, logs, the Evoque’s long-travel suspension soaking up the savage bumps. Using the vehicle’s on-board camera system, relayed to the big infotainment screen, we had a clear, partially computer-generated, bird’s eye view of the vehicle including a close up of the front tyres, helping us place the vehicles in the centre of the track. This could even prove handy in a tight city parking spot...

Inching forward, the trick was to avoid sliding into the mud, by checking sharp images relayed by those on-board cameras. It was challenging - but the Evoque’s technology and 4X4 system made it so much easier.

Muddy descent

Heading deeper into the estate, we engaged the Mud Ruts programme to tackle a series of berms, put the traction control to the test of a section of steel rollers under just one side of the vehicle (both obstacles despatched with a shrug thanks to the 4X4 system) and tried our hand at a steep, muddy descent.

Land Rover Driving Experience
Land Rover Driving Experience

Again, by engaging the Hill Descent Control and removing feet from the brake and accelerator pedals, the Evoque took over, easing the vehicle steadily down by automatically engaging the brakes on an individual basis, on each wheel.

By pressing the Using All Terrain Progress Control (ATPT) button, it worked on slippery ascents too. Reassuringly, it means that if grip is lost while climbing up, the system will take over automatically, ensuring there’s no sudden slide back to the bottom... Handy even in hillier parts of London, on a slippery day.

The last remaining obstacles were the most dramatic. The deceptively named ‘side slope’ looks benign in photos but was in fact heavily cambered ably demonstrating the stability of the Evoque - with its 4X4 system - to tackle extremely steep slopes without rolling over.

The final display of Land Rover technology came on a treacherous series of rocky climbs and dips on a hill with breathtaking views over the Dales, where the Evoque showed what all that under-bonnet tech is capable of, frequently hoisting two wheels into the air simultaneously - and still making secure forward progress. Not much use in London, but handy to know all the same.

Land Rover Driving Experience
Land Rover Driving Experience

All that remained was to blast off the Yorkshire mud with a jet-washer and head back down the M6 to London. It was hard to believe that the same sparkling-clean vehicle, so at home in the city, and in which we cruised silently along the motorway, was the same mudspattered vehicle in which we tackled some of the most treacherous conditions North Yorkshire could throw at us, minutes before.

It’s a pity that many owners - lured by ‘go-anywhere’ technology for which they paid - never really get to know what their vehicle is truly capable of.

More information

One-hour taster Drive experiences at Land Rover Experience North Yorkshire cost £99. A more challenging Half Day Experience costs from £300 while a Full Day costs from £500. Young Driver Experiences, for 11 - 17-year-olds (who are 145cms tall and above) cost from £150. More at https://bit.ly/2QuQAke