I wanted to come to post this as it we had such a blast and it was a great experience.
So Land Rover has experience centers in Asheville, NC at Biltmore Estate (where we did experience), Manchester, VT and Carmel, CA. We learned about the experience this past February when we were biking around Biltmore Estate as we had to make way for a Range Rover making its way out to the woods. Looked it up immediately as we were back at the hotel. Well dang you just pay $$$ to get a Land Rover experience for 1 hour, 2 hours, half day (4 hours) or full day (8 hours?) - you pick the Land Rover model you want (based on availability) and an instructor takes you off roading for your allotted time and if you manage to damage the car you have no responsibility whatsoever.
We booked half day experience (4 hours) which ran $850 but allowed both myself and my partner to drive, the experience prices are good for up to 3 people but all 3 can drive if you want. While we were having lunch at the estate before the experience I was questioning booking the 4 hour tour, its a long time and what if we get bored? Well that was not a problem at all to say the least and we had a freakin blast plowing a $130k Range Rover through mud, wading through 3' of water, up rock climbs, down moguls, mud ruts, up and down a 29 degree incline, etc. Our instructor was A+++ and was an excellent teacher on showing us how to safely off-road, once he was confident we were not just terrible drivers (we heard horror stories) he let us do some very technical trails that could have easily destroyed the LR if done slightly wrong. One of the best parts is you get to tour parts of the estate that you would not see unless you do the Land Rover experience, going between trails we had to drive through their vineyard which was a huge highlight.
Overall - HIGHLY recommend. It is expensive but it was worth every penny, we had such a good time we are already planning on going back in October and trying to snag a Discovery (we had a Range Rover this go around) - will probably only do 2 hours this time though as we had a good fill of the experience already on the 4 hour tour. I have never really been a Land Rover fan, I think they are freaking handsome as heck but they just weren't my cup of tea - now after driving a Range Rover with that turbo I-6 I am a huge fan, even so we barely crested 10-15 MPH (usually 4-6 MPH through the trails) it sounded very very nice when I had to goose it to get out of mud ruts.
**My admitted shame - I did get the Range Rover "traction challenged" in one particularly deep mud rut because I was too gentle on the throttle on the exit. Instructor hopped out and talked me through getting out which only took one further attempt. This thing is an absolute off road beast and it takes a LOT to get it "traction challenged" - every other obstacle it walked through without fuss.
So Land Rover has experience centers in Asheville, NC at Biltmore Estate (where we did experience), Manchester, VT and Carmel, CA. We learned about the experience this past February when we were biking around Biltmore Estate as we had to make way for a Range Rover making its way out to the woods. Looked it up immediately as we were back at the hotel. Well dang you just pay $$$ to get a Land Rover experience for 1 hour, 2 hours, half day (4 hours) or full day (8 hours?) - you pick the Land Rover model you want (based on availability) and an instructor takes you off roading for your allotted time and if you manage to damage the car you have no responsibility whatsoever.
We booked half day experience (4 hours) which ran $850 but allowed both myself and my partner to drive, the experience prices are good for up to 3 people but all 3 can drive if you want. While we were having lunch at the estate before the experience I was questioning booking the 4 hour tour, its a long time and what if we get bored? Well that was not a problem at all to say the least and we had a freakin blast plowing a $130k Range Rover through mud, wading through 3' of water, up rock climbs, down moguls, mud ruts, up and down a 29 degree incline, etc. Our instructor was A+++ and was an excellent teacher on showing us how to safely off-road, once he was confident we were not just terrible drivers (we heard horror stories) he let us do some very technical trails that could have easily destroyed the LR if done slightly wrong. One of the best parts is you get to tour parts of the estate that you would not see unless you do the Land Rover experience, going between trails we had to drive through their vineyard which was a huge highlight.
Overall - HIGHLY recommend. It is expensive but it was worth every penny, we had such a good time we are already planning on going back in October and trying to snag a Discovery (we had a Range Rover this go around) - will probably only do 2 hours this time though as we had a good fill of the experience already on the 4 hour tour. I have never really been a Land Rover fan, I think they are freaking handsome as heck but they just weren't my cup of tea - now after driving a Range Rover with that turbo I-6 I am a huge fan, even so we barely crested 10-15 MPH (usually 4-6 MPH through the trails) it sounded very very nice when I had to goose it to get out of mud ruts.
**My admitted shame - I did get the Range Rover "traction challenged" in one particularly deep mud rut because I was too gentle on the throttle on the exit. Instructor hopped out and talked me through getting out which only took one further attempt. This thing is an absolute off road beast and it takes a LOT to get it "traction challenged" - every other obstacle it walked through without fuss.
