There’s a lot you wish you could do with your car but would never dare to do. As a big fan of the British car show Top Gear, I’ve always heard about Land Rovers but didn’t really know what they were like to actually drive.
Sadly to say, the Land Rover Experience Driving School located in Montebello, Quebec is now closed but this tells the story of what our experience was like when it was still in operation.
In This Article
About The Land Rover Off-Road Driving Experience
There are currently 35 experience centres all over the world, with 3 in North America – Manchester Village in Vermont, Carmel in California, and Asheville in North Carolina.
The 4th North American location was previously in Montebello, Quebec but sadly it is now closed.
The purpose of these experience centres is provide owners of Land Rovers or simply fans the opportunity to:
- Learn new skills – Going off-roading requires technique and a good grasp of the car’s technical features.
- Confidence – By getting real-life practice, you’ll be ready to take on challenging terrain if you ever encounter it with a Land Rover.
- Push your limits – It’s no every day where you’re clinging onto the edge or driving over impossible-looking hills.
- Expert guidance -With a qualified driving instructor with you, you’ll be able to ask all of the questions you want and they’ll impart maximum knowledge.
When in operation, the Land Rover Off-Road Driving Experience was located right off the Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello in a private 65,000 acre plot of land with special obstacle courses and trails carved throughout, the perfect staging ground for Land Rover adventures.
Our Land Rover Adventure
Getting Checked In
After registering and signing in for our two our course, we were immediately paired one on one with our instructor for the day, Alex. He started off giving us a run down of everything to expect.
I particularly loved how he explained that what we were about to embark on is “the slowest extreme rollercoaster you’ll ever be on” and that similar to being in Top Gun flight school, we would also need to think in a three dimension axis as our Land Rovers will be on all sorts of pitches and rolls.
From there we jumped into the Land Rover LR4 we were assigned and off we went. Exiting the Fairmont property and driving a good 15 minutes through the town and up north to Kanauk, a private wilderness park.
After twisting and turning through wooded trails, we finally made it to an area that seriously looked like a big playground for 4x4s.
“The slowest extreme roller coaster you’ll ever be on” Alex of Land Rover Experience Driving School @landrovercanada pic.twitter.com/WVTElfTBjj
— Will (@GoAwesomePlaces) June 15, 2015
From there you’ll have to watch the video which shows you just how many GoPro mounting points I tested and how quick on my feet I had to be given the time constraints we had.
Driving A Beast
What I’ll say about the Land Rover and the course is this. The LR4 and its cousins are fine pieces of machinery. It is a vehicle designed to make the driver look good no matter what the terrain.
Whether it’s mud and ruts, or climbing rocks (the two main modes we used), the Land Rover was simply a beast.
Honestly, I barely had to do anything at all aside provide a little bit of gentle gas and brake. Even though things may have looked hairy on the outside with two opposite wheels dangling in mid air but from the inside, you’d never know that was happening.
The Land Rover simply hums along as if it’s nobody business.
As Will Smith says in Independence Day, “I got to get me one of these!”
Instructors
The instructors at Land Rover Experience are world class. Throughout the course, Alex was able to intelligently speak to all the features of the car and give us that invisible guiding hand to make us breeze through the obstacles as if they were nothing.
I know Chantelle was a bit nervous about driving but with Alex’s help she was able to conquer each part with confidence and a left a huge grin on her face.
To wrap it all up, we arrived back at the driving center each with our own framed and signed certificate as proof of course completion. To us, what it really meant was that we had just completed having some of the most fun I’ve had in a car (aside from that time I drove a Ferrari with Expedia or the Mustang in our Ontario’s Highlands itinerary).
Staying At Fairmont Le Château Montebello
A great feature of the Land Rover driving course is that it’s right on the Fairmont Le Château Montebello property. This rustic and fully wooden chalet gets the first class treatment of the Fairmont name while staying down to earth with its storied history and serene surroundings.
When you walk into the chalet, it doesn’t take a lot of time to hit you that this has to be one of the world’s largest log cabins in the world.
The grand foyer is definitely the most impressive part of the property with its centerpiece hexagonal stone fireplace that rises straight up to the roof.
As you look up, two mezzanine levels encircle the foyer along with the massive cedar logs that build up to support the roof and rafters.
The summer gives guests access to great hiking trails, water sports, outdoor pool, sports, and even an evening bonfire. In the winter is where I see this resort really hitting its stride with curling, cross country skiing, tubing, ice fishing, sleigh rides, dogsledding, and snowmobiling.
During our time there, we had a chance to kayak out on the river, hike the 3km trail, hot tub our aches away and even squeeze in nap time under the sun on one of their many beach chairs.
Le Château Montebello is the perfect place to spend a relaxing couple of days taking the calm shore of the Ottawa River, being amongst the wildlife sanctuary, and calmly driving that Range Rover over potholes made by giants.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
While this experience no longer exists at the Fairmont in Montebello, we’ve kept some of the original details of the Land Rover Off-Road Driving Experience.
Price
- One hour lesson: $250/vehicle
- Two hour lesson: $400/vehicle
- Two hour trail session: $400/vehicle
- Full-day adventure: $1200/vehicle (Not available during the winter season)
Hours
- 7 days a week: 9AM – 5PM
Location