Emailed 2 4WD training companies (down here in Australia) to ask if OK to use FL2 in their course

1st reply...
Thank you for your email, unfortunately your car is not suitable for our courses as it does not have low range and has insufficient ground clearance and could possibly course damage to your vehicle.

2nd reply ....
I have spoken to *** and he said your vehicle will be OK. He can show you how to get the most out of it.

Looks like the 2nd is the best / only option

You have a FL2 auto, it will creep along very well without cooking the transmission, the first gear happens to be very low - she sets off in second normally. The underside is vulnerable to damage, the first time I took mine off-road I snagged the fuel tank and shifted it several inches backwards that was never fixed.

Old fashioned 4x4s have beam axles, they drag the center of the axle, if you can see witness marks in the mud of the differential from the Defender in front you will be dragging your belly, if you have fitted skid plates underneath then not a problem.

One of the tricks that stops traditional 4x4s is elephants feet, a series of craters that cross axle the car and stop them in their tracks - the FL2 sneers at these, can you imagine how upset the driver of the worlds best 4x4 feels when he is defeated and the "toy 4x4" waltzes through like its a supermarket car park?

Stick to option 2 and enjoy, get some training and then decide for yourself if the terrain ahead is suitable. Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

when I had my last Land Rover Experience day in around 2011 I drove the FFRR 4.4 TDV8, absolutely effortless beast of a machine.
The instructor took me down a steep incline with huge pot holes which resulted in a cross axle balancing act but gravity took me down it ok. We also breezed over the elephants feet, but he said they didn't allow the TD5/Puma Defenders over the feet as they would get stuck

Reminds me of my last day at an offroad coures in kent,
it was a group training/ #assessment day with SE4X4 Response,
the site {private grounds} had the elephants feet on quiet a steep hill
and having watched a couple of tyros in their 90s one heavily modified, failing
I pointed the Freelander at the hill, which left them somewhat bewildered and gobsmacked,
in fact later the group trainer/assessore asked me drive the feet again and stop midway,
with car rocking with just the two diagonal wheels on the ground and of course absolutely no
issues driving off again.
as said your limitation is lack of ground clearance,
use the terrain selector appropiately with correct positioning of the vehicle
no more throttle than necessary and observation of the ground is whats needed.
Not a gung ho charge at everyting.
Dave DAVE.
I.A.M. F1rst Driver.
Gone 2003 Discovery TD5 Auto,
Gone 1986 Defender 90 Station Wagon
Gone 1984 Range Rover 3.5 Vogue Manual.
Gone 1970 Series 11A/3 SWB 3.5 V8 Hybrid
Gone 1964 Series 11A LWB Van
Gone 1966 Series 11A SWB Van
Gone 1964 Series 11A LWB Station Wagon,

Cheers Guys
Yea I live in the land where Toyota's are king
I dont need 3 1/2 tonne towing capacity
Owned a Hilux years ago and want to do a refresher on 4wding From what I've read and seen the FL2 are very capable Cant wait to see
95% of the year its a day tripper and enjoy the comfort

The easiest way to gain a bit more ground clearance is to install a wheel/tyre combo with a larger overall diameter. There are some threads about this on here somewhere. Jules

Mine already has 19” rims . If anything was looking at small rims larger sidewalls But rims are hard to find in Aus

You could put bigger tyres on your 19" rims to increase the height .

Ive got the standard 235/55R19.
Going to 235/65R19 would give a rise of 1" increase in ground clearance as the tyre is 2" greater in diameter.

Ive not done it but I'm sure others have and can testify to whether there are any problems with the tyres clearing the wheel arches/suspension etc - increasing the tyre width causes more issues in my experience

https://tiresize.com/tyre-size-calculator/ Jules

Apart from some rubbing
Might affect speedo Torque etc



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I don't think it will rub........lower torque will be better for crawling trails. Speedo will be slightly off, hardly noticeable. One inch for crawling trails is very significant. BUT, armour is the best investment but is pricey and adds weight.

AUD$ 350 for a day of sand and bush training / car

Joining a club is a much cheaper option for picking up off road skills. I was a member of my state Land Rover Owners Club for a couple of years. They ran great training days as well as trips. I was able to watch other guys snap axles, hit trees, roll cars and get recovered.

All for about $25 a year, plus fuel. Worth checking out. MY11 SD4 SE Auto

Problem with joining a club is the other members

I tend not to play well with others, and the wife's quite timid until she gets to know you.
Plus you always get the who has to have the highest lift / biggest tyres / smallest giving you grief about a car that he has no knowledge of, but it must be rubbish because it's not got beam axles and low range, his mate down the pub (or on tinternet) told him so.

I would definitely get some one to one or certainly small group (say half a dozen per instructor) training before joining a club. At that point it becomes a lot cheaper to mess about in the mud/bush in a club, and if you find some sociable souls all the better.

Just my opinion, like I said I don't play well with others, will always help someone in trouble, just don't like a fixed agena.

Click image to enlarge

Damn might want to close the window

The problem down under is 4WDs have 37 inch tyres, they hack up tracks then the rest of us can't use them.

Had to let the tyres down for a 17 point turn as the track ahead was ruined & didn't want to back out as most of the track was very narrow with scrub. You had to climb out the windows. Even though the sand was soft the car was perfectly ok in standard drive mode.
 Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18