The perfect 4x4 and caravan match
Joe Barney of Shukers Landrover with the trio of 4x4s and tourers during the demonstration
A motor dealership and an outdoor leisure specialist have got together for a second time to offer the public the rare opportunity to test drive their combination of 4x4 and touring caravan.
Shukers Land Rover hitched up three of Dinmore Leisure’s touring caravans to a Discovery and two Freelanders to give visitors to their joint event the chance to try them out on the road.
And both Shukers Land Rover and Dinmore Leisure said afterwards the event had gone down well and they had both received positive feedback from those who took test drives.
The event was held at Dinmore Leisure, Hope-under-Dinmore, last Saturday and the firm’s general manager Gavin Williams said it had brought in a regular flow of people throughout the day.
“It has demonstrated to them how a Land Rover will tow one of our touring caravans as well as offering an insight into how to tow a caravan with a 4x4 where people hadn’t had any previous experience,” said Gavin.
Mark Clarke, Shukers sales manager at their Ludlow dealership, said it wasn’t very often that people could experience a test drive with such a combination.
A Discovery was hitched to a new Bailey Pegasus four berth twin axle and a single axle Bailey Pegasus was hitched to a Freelander. A second Freelander was hitched to a Swift Charisma four berth. The Freelanders were both auto and manual.
Ken Knight, senior instructor with Land Rover Experience, demonstrated the tow hitch assist feature and the use of five cameras on a 3.0 litre Discovery HSE on which they were standard. He explained to visitors how these features could be obtained as optional extras on other models in the range.
He showed how the tow assist, an anti-snake braking device, worked. At 37 mph as the caravan went into the snakes he kept a straight hold of the wheel of the car, the device sensing that the caravan was snaking, and by bringing in the braking system he controlled and gradually slowed the car down.
Amongst those test driving the Discovery and twin axle touring caravan were John and Val Briggs of nearby Marden. They already have a twin axle Lunar Lexon which they bought from Dinmore Leisure and a Discovery 3 – from Shukers Land Rover. And John was interested in how the new Discovery towed a different tourer.
The couple took the combination on a four mile test drive near to where they live and John said afterwards: “I must say as a towing car I have never driven anything better than the Discovery. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience.”
He was also impressed with the camera technology offered by Land Rover Experience. “The cameras are tremendous – I really like that feature,” he added.
Ken told John and Val that any type of trailer could be programmed into the technology and in particular demonstrated the benefits of the five cameras – two in the front spoiler, two in the front doors and the other in the tailgate door handle.
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