Training at Parkwood 4x4 centre

I've not driven off road before other than on good tracks and am thinking of going to Parkwood 4x4 centre for a lesson. Is this a good idea or should I just get myself to a pay and play and get stuck in?

Hi Nick
I'm in the same position as yourself.`
Personally, as my Jims in "as new condition" I'd opt for a lesson and suck-up someone else's experience rather than risk my own trial & error learning approach, as I'm sure it'd end in tears :S
But then again if my Jim was a few years older, then what-the-hell give it ago :pinch:

My first off road experiance was at a pay and play day at tong and it was a brilliant! I went in my slightly modified disco 2 and my mate in his heavily modified pajero. As a total beginner to off roading I spent most of the day following him down some red routes and then watching him doing the black routes. Since that day my wallet kept getting emptyer and emptyer with bigger and better modifications being added to the truck!

I ended up selling the disco as it was too big for some of the black routes and also it cost far too much to run! I now take my Jimny up to tong on most pay and play days and it is amazing how good the little 4x4 is! It can do some black routes that I wouldnt dream of doing in the disco!

If you do have nice shiney jimny's then maybe getting training in one of parkwoods 4x4's might be the best idea. My uncle went up there for 4x4 training in one of parkwoods disco's and he loved it. If you do the training you have the added benefit that there wont be loads of other 4x4's driving around at the same time as you!

As far as I'm aware Parkwood is shut throughout August for site maintenance and the next pay and play day it 11th of September. Not sure if they are still open for training tho.

Chris

You can pay £40 for an hours lesson in your own car at Parkwood. This is the option I was thinking of. Car is 10 years old but I still need to drive to work everyday so don't want to wreck it. The thing that appeals to me about the training is that they will have a better idea what the Jimny can do and are likely to take me on more adventurous routes than I would probably choose myself.

Nick

just jump in to a pay and play site ..,you wont make a mistake twice !! just beware of your car extremities (ie width length etc) and im sure you will be fine.

everybody has a 'cough' whoopsie :silly: now and then lol

look out for bushes , branches, roots etc cos these will reek havoc with the body of your truck .

mines now looks like its been through 500 or so barbed wire fences

but you cant beat the eeeeeeeeeeeek sound of your paint being removed lol :whistle:

you will soon know if you shouldnt be some where. :evil:

I was in a similar position to you Goat (great name by the way! ) and I decided to go do a pay and play day as I couldn't find anywhere nearby to do some training.

It was great fun but I think the Jimny could have handled more if I had the guts to do it! I also intentionally went after a very long dry spell (seems unlikely right now) so there wouldn't be too much mud to get stuck in. The best tip I was given was to walk the route you are going to take, that way you can choose stuff that looks easy first and slowly build up confidence. I only didn't follow that advise once and I nearly got stuck.

However if at that day someone was offering an hours training for £40 I would have jumped at it I reckon!

to sum up don't be worried about going and getting stuck in, its not as bad as it sounds, however an hours training will boost confidence and you'll probably have even more fun!

Goat, I used to be an off road driving instructor (suppose I still would be, just haven't done it for a while) and I used to say you might baulk at £200 for a days training but it's easy to clock up a £200 repair bill if you get it wrong!
I don't know how much you'd glean from an hours lesson and £40 might be false economy. I don't know anything about Parkwood and "many other 4x4 training schools are available" but go somewhere that knows the Jimny as a basic explanation of the mechanicals is the best place to start. We used to start in the classroom with the basics of how the mechanicals work, the various different types of 4x4 systems, and how to tackle various obstacles. Then move outside spend some time looking at the vehicle before actually starting to drive it. I have instructed for Landrover, Jeep, Toyota, Vauxhall, Ford, Suzuki, Lada (Yes Lada!) and most of the others and of course which ever one we were driving on the day was the best offroad!
So I suppose I'm saying go get some training it'll be money well spent.
Hope this helps,
john.

Thanks for the great advice guys. Will let you know how it goes in September.

whichever way you go enjoy it!

Finally got to Parkwood 4x4 centre today. Started with a 2hr lesson to get some confidence. Really enoyed it. Amazed at what the Jimny went up. Definitely worth the lessons as some of the slopes we went up I might not have tackled if was just having a go on my own. The AT2 tyres were great, really didn't have any wheels spinning and it was quite muddy! Obviously I wasn't going bonnet deep in troughs of mud like some folks.











So that's what that grills for.

Now where's that credit card :silly:

excellent, glad you enjoyed it
will try and find something similar in the north east

we were going to go today but saw the weather n thought it would be to much for the at2s