I did the off-road experience on Sunday at Skipton and can throughly recommend it just to learn more about your vehicle and what its actually capable of. I learnt loads and cannot believe some of the terrain I went across, unfortunately I now want a more up to date model (currently have the 2011) model because the 360 cameras are so handy

Possibly thinking of doing an instructors course now

Been lucky enough to do this a few times a New LR launches at Coniston Cold.

Going to do it as a lads day, on day before my wedding this year as well.

Great fun, and as you say teaches you a lot.

Hi,
which model did you have a play in
we took a FFRR out, a nice place to be sat, although I still prefer the older shape 4.4tdv8 doubtful I will get either

Friend that came with me said should take a Defender next time

I know what I'm about to say will be heresy to some but if you really want a surprise off-road then ask to try the 2WD Evoque. We had one follow us around the Eastnor LRE a couple of years ago and it followed the Defenders and RRS's everywhere except through the very deep water wade. It's performance off-road is enough to make you wonder why 95% of us need 4WD as on a rainy day it's traction control got it right around the course without any assistance from a more capable sister, all of us in the RRS's and Defenders were really surprised just how capable that little car was! And it wasn't being driven by an LRE instructor either! 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

In a similar vein to Tim, my work vehicle (Disco 2) was in for a service and MOT last week. My job is in the woods as a Bushcraft Instructor and Forest School leader. The courtesy vehicle was a 2016 Fiesta!!! I was concerned about not being able to switch off the traction control as, unlike the LR products it cuts engine revs to zero. Surprisingly it got me to within 300 yards of my usual location (not enough ground clearance to go further) and the traction control never cut in!
Still missed my D2 though

Tim, I'm not surprised the 2WD Evoque got around Eastnor. Mostly the tracks are well founded so below any mud is a decent surface. The things that would trip it up, potentially, are wet grass or deep mud. But then most things struggle on wet grass and deep mud so it's no great shame.

The one area the Evoque does lack is ground clearance. On one of my videos from Eastnor there's a comment from me that I'm surprised they got an Evoque around. The instructors did warn the owner about ground clearance a couple of times but taken gently it got around fine.

Interestingly, when setting up the convoy the instructors put the Evoque at the front behind the lead 110. Explained to me that it gave the Evoque the best chance before the heavier vehicles went through and compromised the surface. This most important in the wet grass/mud areas, obviously.

As with so many situations, the choice of tyre is generally more important than the choice of vehicle. A 2WD with winter tyres is better than a 4WD on rubber band summer tyres, for example, in winter conditions. Likewise AT or MT compared to road tyres when off road.

There was a Disco Sport out on our shoot last week. Did fine on "Scorpion Verde all season" tyres except for one bit of wet grass and mud. Got through eventually. But even a L320 FFRR and a D4 struggled a bit - TC was visibly working hard. I doubt a 2WD Evoque would have managed on the same tyres. But on a MT it would have sailed through.

The one thing that LR have done is make their vehicles very good on road tyres when off road. In effect the TR systems give you an up-tyre. So road tyres can go where AT might be expected, AT where a MT tyre might be preferable. But then when they get stuck they're further in than a normal vehicle might have been! 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

Not surprized about the 2WD being capable, remember Land Rover use Eastnor as one of its primary test grounds In Spain - 2018 F Pace - Frightened away from the Sports due to crank failures
Gone - A couple of RRS, A couple of Disco's. However thinking of another Sport.

I was in a 2015 RR Sport very nice place to sit and felt very comfortable as it was like my own but without some of the toys

Can you drive your own car at these events? I'd love to learn more about my 2005 RRS; I've been on an event in a current Sport and it's obviously much more modern, so I'd like the experience in the car I drive every day?

If you want to take your own car then best done with an off-road club as it can be very expensive, also whenever I have taken my own cars over the Dunkeld LRE they have been very careful to check my insurance has covered me for Off Road Use. I have taken my Defender, Freelander 1, both FFRR's and my first Sport to club days at Dunkeld. What has also been great fun has been to preferred customer new model test drives there as the LR demo team and the LRE staff are really keen to make sure that you get to use all the new car's capabilities - I was invited to the pre-launch test drives of the L405 and had the use of a brand new 25 miles on the odo 5.0 S/C Autobiography for half of the day and a TDv6 Vogue for the after lunch session - there was 10" of snow fell the night before and we got to drive in a convoy from Gleneagles Hotel to Perth and then on to Dunkeld so a good test run on the A9 and then all day crunching thick ice chewing up LR's nice 22" wheels and generally having great fun seeing not just how great FFRR is onroad but on some seriously challenging off-road stuff in deep snow and on road tyres! No instructors in the cars but we all had radios to call for help if it was needed (it wasn't!). 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW