The day Rovers landed with their families

Land Rovers of all models and colours, spanning fifty years of manufacture, filled the Frontier Automotive showroom at the start if the 'Land Rover Family Fun Drive'. Held on the 30th of September and the 1st of October, this fun drive organized by the Sri Lanka Land Rover Owners' club together with Frontier Automotive proved to be a great way of once again displaying and experiencing Land Rover's superior performance. Not only did it give the proud owners of Range Rovers, Freelanders, Discovery 1,2,3's and a wide array of Defenders, an ideal opportunity to spend quality time with their families. It also gave them the perfect chance to experience just what their vehicles could do.

After getting acquainted with each other and posing for a picture of this extend 'land Rover Family', all participants set off on a convoy drive to planned destination of Habarana. On arriving at the Chaaya Village Habarana, a beautiful and scenic resort, the group enjoyed a delicious lunch.

This was followed by a trek through the Minneriya National Park. Those who partook in this were fortunate enough to see over two hundred elephants. Another impressive sight they witnessed was a long line of Land Rovers against the backdrop of the sunset. Just as the herd of elephants moved around freely on the rough and uneven terrain of their home ground, the 'herd home ground, the 'herd of Land Rovers' too traveled with ease along these unfamiliar surfaces.

Having completed the events of evening, it was time for the night-time fun to begin. Frontier Automotive had planned several other activities that catered to the whole family. There was a magic show, raffle draw and a film on Land Rovers, just to name some of the vents. The soothing background music and cool night breeze created a calm and relaxed atmosphere, perfect to unwind and have fun while enjoying a scrumptious barbeque.

The next day an off-road drive was planned which surpassed all expectations.

The route chosen for this drive was where the final extreme stage of the 4x4 challenge was held, and hence it was no surprise that it kept everyone's adrenalin pumping right throughout. The host of Land Rovers entered the jungle through a gravel path. There after they got a chance to hone their off-road skills on just about every type of obstacle, including steep hills, ditches, v-grooves, open grass areas, deeply rutted jungle tracks, water crossings, and mud pits. In getting through the deep ditches and v-grooves the Discovery did extremely well, while the water crossings and mud pits were the areas where the Defenders shone.

Right from the start it was evident that the newer models, namely the Discovery's performed the best. This was thanks to their modern technology and advanced features such as traction control, superior power and unique terrain response system. It was impressive to see that the Discovery 3 which performs extremely well on normal road surfaces, could perform so well on off-road conditions too.

Thus this off-road drive created the ideal opportunity for all the vehicles to display their skills and capabilities, and they undoubtedly succeeded in impressing their owners and exceeding their expectations.

One of the participants in the fun drive, First Secretary of the South African High Commissioner, Linda Coetser, said "the fun drive was very well organized, there was a good crowd and we really had a great time". Her husband Lourense Coetser said, "I was very impressed with the performance of all the vehicles; especially with the Discovery's performance in the dips, where I thought they outdid the Defenders a bit. In the mud I thought the defenders had the edge. I'm very happy with the Discovery's on road performance and comforts and was chuffed to see that it could hold its own in off road