Giving some thought to a FL2 Auto later this year, I wonder if anyone here has really challenged one off-road?

If so I would love to hear your thoughts on

Ground Clearance
Ramp Break over Angle
Traction
Lack of low-range gearbox (hence the auto)

I remember LRO magazine doing a pretty extensive test but can't find the article.

On road ability goes without saying as I ran a TD4 manual for a short while but never took it off road.

I have not yet but if you want you can look at this

&feature=related

that was posted by muddywheels in http://www.freel2.com/forum/topic2020.html
This should realy show what the FL2 is capable of.
 FREELANDER 2 TD4 SE (XS UK) IZMIR BLUE SIDE STEPS COLD PACK BI-XENON TINTED WINDOWS - AND PROUD OF HER

Do they not have one at the LRE centre?

My wife drives her auto off road daily but only down fields. If you have a Defender and a D3 why would you want to test the car, it is good in slippery conditions but is never going to threaten the others in the extreme conditions  D4 HSE Lux for me
FL2 HSE Zermatt & Alpacca for the wife now gone
Skoda Yeti L&K for the wife.

Martin wrote:

Do they not have one at the LRE centre?

I am sure they do yes, need to blag a half day session

I thought you were working at one?

Hi,

Drove an Auto Freelander last week at the Ashford LRE day and it did everything that the Disco's and defenders were doing, it was astonishing!.

Then, on the way back, the driver took a roundabout at what felt like 70mph and stated 'try doing that in a disco!'.

It appears that we do indeed have the best of both worlds

NM Baltic blue XS - Alpaca Leather - 18" HSE wheels.

Martin wrote:

I thought you were working at one?

I had a job offer at the North Yorkshire LRE but the commitment was too great (wanted me to work every weekend) on top of my regular job. Pay too low to do it full time So now working for Parkwood 4x4 as an instructor and working towards LANTRA accreditation, much better pay and totally flexi hours.

pelyma wrote:

My wife drives her auto off road daily but only down fields. If you have a Defender and a D3 why would you want to test the car, it is good in slippery conditions but is never going to threaten the others in the extreme conditions

My car is manual, but I've done the half day LRE in both, no doubt the Auto is more suited to off road.

As soon as you need to make slow progress then in the manual car your into clutch slipping which is a real concern, that isn't the case with the auto. If you look at the specs then first on the auto is lower than the manual which, helped by the torque converter, makes low speed progress more controlled; now whether that is enough to make up for lack of low ratio I don't know, but you'd have to guess in the extreme there is no substitue for a low box.

Ground clearance, well mine has been pushed many times here, with plenty of evidence under the car to prove it. For me the most annoying feature is that the lowest point appears to be the fuel tank. The tank seems to straddle the transmission and on each side there is a metal bar at the leading edge of the tank, this always seems to be the first point to start collecting undergrowth. I wish it were something other than the fuel tank at the lowest point.

As for traction and breakover well I suppose Tong will be as good an opportunity as any to see what we can clear (or not!)

i put an auto through the LRE at coniston hall, was lots of fun and seemed very capable, with the instructor saying bar the rock crawl and deeper water the fl2 could hold its own against a d3 etc


edit: Martin I PM'ed you a week or so ago and they are still sat in my out box so i presume you haven't received them yet  Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Did a bit of offroading with a manual Freel2 and i was surprised how well it did it. I was able to leave it in 1st up to 600rpm without stalling it.
Compared to the bmw X3 (not an offroader, i know) it is way better. A couple of weeks ago i did the same road in an x3 and i can tell you the clutch was smelling like hell and it wasn't fun fun.

The x3 isn't that bad offroad, but it's scary. You're always wondering if it'll make it. I had to turn around up a hill at a certain point (for some reason the narrow road just stopped in the middle of the woods). I was really scared that the bmw wouldn't go up in reverse and would start sliding right into a tree. I almost myself at that point. If the X3 had started sliding and got stuck with her nose down against the tree i would have been in serious trouble and maybe still in that forest right now.

I'm really happy about the FL2. I feel a lot more confident in that car.

Regarding ground clearance (though you likely know all this already), we've been researching GC modifications for the FL1 and have been told that the most straight-forward way to gain further clearance is to fit taller tyres... BFG ATs at the 215/70 size (on the Fl1) get you 30mm more clearance so I'd imagine roughly the same goes for the F2?
Lift kits are going for about £70 now and I don't think 40mm would stretch the internal components though worth checking. Couple that with the tyres then you've got 70mm clearance for little money (and the bonus of further improved traction off-road) which should make a fair difference.

In reference to the standard Autos, I watched one tackling the LRE centre at Dunkeld on Friday and it had no problems - I know that the terrain is built to suit but it managed all the approaches/departures and breakovers that the D3 managed. Again, I'd have thought AT/MT tyres would help with traction though it has most of the TR from D3 to help with that. "CY from DISCO3"

Discovery 3 TDV6 SE

cotefarmboy wrote:

Ground Clearance
Ramp Break over Angle
Traction
Lack of low-range gearbox (hence the auto)

Did an LRE day recently, all of the FL2's at the LRE center where HSE Auto's, the instructors confirmed that the Auto is a better choice offroad. To a novice like me it was well impressive