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I used to think there was no such thing as a free lunch, now I'm not so convinced after being invited by my local Jeep dealer to Jeep Jamboree 2000. This event was by invitation only and staged by Chrysler Jeep UK for dealers to show Jeeps on an off road course to both existing, and potential customers. The Northern Jamboree was held at Tong near Bradford during May 2000. The same site will be used for the Northern Jeep Fest later in the year. The site entrance is located at OS grid reference SE217304 .
As well as an interesting off road course, there were quad bikes, the most
peculiar 'seat steering' contraption you've ever seen, a reverse steering
Cherokee and excellent free food and
drink. The ratio
of Jeep people to customers was very high, with 12 Jeep staff and 22 customers.
The event was so friendly, even our coach driver was invited to take part
in everything (perhaps letting him drive the reverse steering Cherokee before
driving us home wasn't such a good idea).
One regret was Chrysler Jeep not bringing any Wrangler cars along. The Jeep
people pointed out that UK sales of Wranglers are very low compared to the
Cherokee range, and that many Cherokee customers (especially Grand Cherokee
customers) don't realise how good their cars can be off road in fairly extreme
conditions, it therefore wasn't
their current
policy to demonstrate the Wrangler range off road. That was a pity, I might
eventually replace my Cherokee with a Wrangler and would have liked to try
one off road here.
The cars were all fitted with BF Goodrich Mud Terrain tyres (235 x 75 R15
in the case of the standard Cherokee), there were turbo diesel Cherokees,
a V8 Grand and a straight 6 cylinder Grand. We had a drive in each type of
vehicle, most of us agreed the drive was more comfortable in the Grand Cherokees
but they just don't have the control when going down hill that a manual gearbox
diesel cherokee has. This was the first time I had driven a Grand Cherokee
and didn't like the lack of control descending hills -why isn't there a 'hill
descent' control using the ABS, as per Land Rovers?
I did take note
of the under body skid plates fitted to the Cherokee models and also the
winch fitting arrangement on the Cherokee Sport support car. The side bars
were standard Jeep stainless steel units, the underside plates were manufactured
by Surrey Off Road and looked
very workmanlike. Having asked Surrey Off Road for a quote for similar plates
for my Cherokee, it came as quite a surprise to find them less than keen
to supply protection plates... Maybe the UK economy is in better shape than
I thought if manufacturers can ignore business.
The Tong site was excellent with areas of clean running water flowing through
the 'ponds', a firm base under the muddy sections and what seemed like a
regular rut repair policy. This might even mean the rear drum brakes didn't
fill with mud... (sorry Jeep, you really need to replace those Cherokee drum
brakes with discs). None of the hills were so extreme that a novice driver
would get into difficulty, although I'm sure it's possible to arrange a more
demanding course. I shall have another play here during Jeep Fest 2000 North
(26th to 28th August). Details of the Northern Jeep Fest can be obtained
by telephoning 01302
534330.
Most of us managed to steer the reverse steering Cherokee without too many problems. Fortunately the course was on fairly flat grass as driving over the main course would have been rather silly and dangerous. It came as no surprise to find the car wasn't road taxed, I don't suppose the police would take too kindly to anyone trying to drive it on the road.
On site catering was superb, besides plenty of tea, coffee and Danish pastries, there was a good cooked lunch comprising soup and a choice of three main courses.
The day was nicely finished off with gifts of Jeep tee shirts, baseball caps and a Jeep off road driving book.
Thanks to Peter Stockill Jeep for inviting me to this event and to Chrysler Jeep UK for arranging it.
Copyright ©
D Johnson, 2000, all rights reserved.
