For the Aussies, Sydney and Brisbane drives are live!

[Krabby]

I did the Sydney drive this morning and I absolutely love this car. The footrest is a total non issue for me and I forgot about it after 5 seconds of driving. The suspension is tuned really well and soaked up the bumps with ease. Did a few steep climbs over some mounds and it really didn't struggle at all. The steering is a bit heavier then my current car but that is coming from an independent front end with electric steering so can't really compare. It also feels very torquey low in the rev range too which is good.
The quality of the cabin was also really impressive and just feels like it has been made to last a long time.

Overall it just felt like a really fun car to drive and has a sense of ruggedness to it; but also is very comfortable to drive.

Cannot wait to take delivery!!

A few observations - it seems that the trucks have the normal steering wheels but the saddle leather on the handbrake? Also, PTO2045 looks like it has brown steel wheels; I'm sure it's just caked on mud, but it seems pretty uniform. PTO2047 has the "Grenadier" decal on the bonnet edge that we've seen on a few trucks.

 

[DaveB]

Ric from SLRV Expedition vehicles just told me they will find out today if they can attend the drive days at Mt Tambourine.

 

[Davman]

Ric from SLRV Expedition vehicles just told me they will find out today if they can attend the drive days at Mt Tambourine.

I was told by my dealer at the Melbourne day, that only a few key people from the dealers were allowed to attend the day, but only in a vehicle familiarization capacity, they weren’t to “meet with” customers.

 

[DCPU]

What's the thinking behind that?

 

[CountyV8]

What's the thinking behind that?

Like your dealer training at Glanusk

 

[DCPU]

I'm missing that, can you explain?

 

[grenadierboy]

A few observations - it seems that the trucks have the normal steering wheels but the saddle leather on the handbrake? Also, PTO2045 looks like it has brown steel wheels; I'm sure it's just caked on mud, but it seems pretty uniform. PTO2047 has the "Grenadier" decal on the bonnet edge that we've seen on a few trucks.

Beautiful hand stitching

 

[DaveB]

Beautiful hand stitching
View attachment 7797758

It's not perfect!!
A machine could do it better
Maybe that's the point

 

[ECrider]

It's not perfect!!
A machine could do it better
Maybe that's the point

Going to need a strong needle and sailors palm for the whale foreskin

 

[bigleonski]

I have registered for the drive day at Cedar Creek with a guest at 9am this Friday.
My guest has had to cancel at the last minute, so if anyone missed out on a look, you'd be more than welcome to ride in the back.
Just shoot me a PM.

 

[Tazzieman]

Beautiful hand stitching
View attachment 7797758

In some countries you apparently never have to use it anyway. So it should last.

 

[DCPU]

Beautiful hand stitching
View attachment 7797758

Apparently, it's a basting stitch; and when you delve deeper, it's a stitch designed to hold things together temporarily or as reinforcement. If you look very closely at the photo there is separate stitching running up the seam.

 

[grenadierboy]

Apparently, it's a basting stitch; and when you delve deeper, it's a stitch designed to hold things together temporarily or as reinforcement. If you look very closely at the photo there is separate stitching running up the seam.

Then it's really just for show

 

[Tazzieman]

Then it's really just for show

It's the Turk's head knot of the handbrake world.

 

[grenadierboy]

It's the Turk's head knot of the handbrake world.

you have a great sense of humour Tazzieman !!

 

[Tazzieman]

It's the Turk's head knot of the handbrake world.

you have a great sense of humour Tazzieman !!

I like to think of it as "well hung"

 

[dime80]

So the Brisbane drive started today. Is there any one who let me in on what I can expect from the course tommorrow. It feels like Santa has come early.

 

[DenisM]

So the Brisbane drive started today. Is there any one who let me in on what I can expect from the course tommorrow. It feels like Santa has come early.

Yep, we attended today. I'd never been to Thunder Park previously and was impressed with the facilities for "kids"young and old!

Arrived about 12.30pm for a 2pm start. There were three vehicles, 2 station wagons -one silver, one dark blue/black used for test drives and a Fieldmaster (dark blue/white roof) as a static display. Plenty of time to explore the static display in detail. The event was very professionally organised and supported and ran to time with no sense of being "hussled". The enthusiasm of the potential owners was most evident!

The "test track" was narrow, rutted with several sharp turns, steep inclines/descents within the Thunder Park boundary.
The course was covered in 1st and 2nd gear. Particularly impressed with the controlled manner in which the vehicle was able, in low range, to crawl up a steep, loose rutted surface with seemingly minimal engine revs without any wheel spin or axle hop! My dear wife in the rear seat was also impressed with the comfort and lack of sway and not being jolted around as we climbed out of deep wheel tracks. The visibility of the front corners made wheel placement more precise. The ability of the vehicle to descend a steep slope slowly at a constant rate in ist gear low range, feet off all pedals is very reassuring! The patient instructor I'm sure made me "look" better! I did keep my hands on the wheel, thumbs in the correct position

I came away very reassured about the impending purchase. Dime80, I'm sure you'll have a ball!!

 

[dime80]

Thanks for the Brief Denis. Much appreciated. All the feedback from performance seems positive. I have a 2pm drive also and will aim to get there early to crawl over first inspection of the new rig.

 

[bigleonski]

I was the first in the car this morning. Silver trialmaster. PT02. Short track along the resort of about 100m then straight onto the course through bush tracks. Never faster than about 10-15km/hr unfortunately so didn’t even get to hear the engine rev. I did the whole track in High and only locked the CDL for a short rocky climb to see how it changed things. It would have done it without the CDL in easily. The course certainly didn’t demonstrate the IG’s potential off-road capacity as it was pretty straightforward and not technical at all really. There was a bit of a decline I put it into low on. Low CDL locked foot off the pedals and it wandered down in first never going faster than 6km/hr. Nice. It is a bit prone to over steer and often had to pull it back around the other way after turning too far based on what I am used to. Neil pretty much just allowed me to drive it how I wanted to, taking a harder line if I wanted and he just pointed the way. All the guys were very welcoming and knew their stuff, if not all the technical stuff around batteries etc I wanted to get into. Joel from SLRV on the gold coast seemed like a good guy to deal with, and mentioned that the last thing anyone needs to worry about was the on road drive, nice and tight and eats it up.
For me the interior was a bit more agricultural than I expected in terms of plastic finishes etc, and was certainly more towards the 70 Series cruiser style than the 200. I assume the fit and finish and perhaps some of the plastic fixtures will be better done out of production because some of them felt almost Chinese rather than what you’d expect from the Euros.
It was also a bit smaller than I thought it would be externally and internally. A bit bigger than a prado. Snug without being small. But again I’m coming out of a 200 so most things are small by comparison. So others probably won’t have the same impression.
Rear draws will need to be no longer than 700-750 with the cage in the back, well short of the 1000 in the landcruiser. Good width though and identical to the landcruiser from wheel hump to wheel hump. But the rear load space is HIGH. I reckon you could easily put some sort of rack system in the back on a trip to make full use of the height.