Finally got a chance to take the RRS properly off-road at Gatsrivier Holiday Farm, a small holiday farm in the Karoo (http://gatsrivier.co.za/)

We did quite a bit of gravel road to get to the farm and back, and I must say I was disappointed with the amount of dust that got into the back of the car - almost as if the rear tailgate doesn't seal properly.

Other than that, the car was faultless: cruising at 80kmh on good gravel roads feels way too pedestrian, and when it came to the off-road bits, it was almost boring.

Since I had road tyres on (Goodyear Eagle F1), I took it very easy on the trail, and avoided the more serious/rocky bits.

Some photos:

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Video mashup of the afternoon drive:

 --
2010 Defender Puma 90 + BAS remap + Alive IC + Slickshift + Ashcroft ATB rear
2015 Range Rover Sport Supercharged V8 HSE Dynamic



Defender Puma Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zZ1en9
Discovery 4 Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zXrtKO
Range Rover/Sport L320/L322/L494 Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zc58JQ

Last edited by naks on Tue Dec 18 2018 12:05pm. Edited 1 time in total

chaps, it is normal to have this much dust ingress in a sport???

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Yes, that looks normal. The door and boot seals have kept the dust out of the interior so are working properly. The areas where you have dust aren't sealed in a proper sense. 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

^ thanks, but there was still some dust inside the vehicle when we got home after the weekend.

I suppose this is a Land Rover feature  --
2010 Defender Puma 90 + BAS remap + Alive IC + Slickshift + Ashcroft ATB rear
2015 Range Rover Sport Supercharged V8 HSE Dynamic



Defender Puma Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zZ1en9
Discovery 4 Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zXrtKO
Range Rover/Sport L320/L322/L494 Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zc58JQ

Well the vehicle isn't sealed up tight - there are air vents in to and out of the cabin so some dust entry is not unexpected. Judging by the thick layer of dust in your photos on one side of the door seals, and none visible on the other side, I'd say they were working pretty well.

Anyway, Land Rovers are built in the UK - we get more rain than dust here, you know! (except this year where most haven't had any rain for several weeks) 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

In the video, why did you stop and back off at 1.35? Did it bottom out? 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

^ on the other side of that little mound, there was a giant hole on the right, I would have gotten stuck there.

This used to be a very nice 4x4 playground, designed for training off-road newbies, and posed no real dangers.

However, the farm has a new owner, who for some unknown reason has dug it up and now it's a vehicle-breaker. Add to that the long drought we've had and the clay soil has dried out and was collapsing almost everywhere with the weight of the vehicle.

Even my friend in his 110 with lockers didn't want to do this section, the risks were just too high. --
2010 Defender Puma 90 + BAS remap + Alive IC + Slickshift + Ashcroft ATB rear
2015 Range Rover Sport Supercharged V8 HSE Dynamic



Defender Puma Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zZ1en9
Discovery 4 Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zXrtKO
Range Rover/Sport L320/L322/L494 Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zc58JQ

RRSTDV8 wrote:

Anyway, Land Rovers are built in the UK - we get more rain than dust here, you know! (except this year where most haven't had any rain for several weeks)

well, as long as the wading depth is as advertised and I don't drown it, I'm good with a little bit of dust ingress.  --
2010 Defender Puma 90 + BAS remap + Alive IC + Slickshift + Ashcroft ATB rear
2015 Range Rover Sport Supercharged V8 HSE Dynamic



Defender Puma Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zZ1en9
Discovery 4 Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zXrtKO
Range Rover/Sport L320/L322/L494 Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zc58JQ

I have a MY10 and that has been on some real nasty dusty trails to Cape York and back,
2000 KMs on one trip, although you would get dust between the body panels/doors,
the seals do a great job and stopped ingress inside the cabin itself. The outside was
literally changed from fuji white to bull dust red, the inside was still pristine


 Another Pommie Bar Steward down under

MY20 Defender 110 SE P400 Eiger/Ebony
MY10 3.0 RRS TDv6 Fuji/Ebony/Anigre

Thanks!

On the plus side, I only discovered these features on this trip:

1. the speedo 'focuses' on a specific speed range as the speed changes,
2. driving on the farm at night, I realised that the front fog light lights up when you turn the steering wheel
3. if you move the sun visor to the side, there's a smaller, hidden one that you can use for the front


I must admit, this thing handled gravel roads beautifully, even better than the Disco4  --
2010 Defender Puma 90 + BAS remap + Alive IC + Slickshift + Ashcroft ATB rear
2015 Range Rover Sport Supercharged V8 HSE Dynamic



Defender Puma Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zZ1en9
Discovery 4 Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zXrtKO
Range Rover/Sport L320/L322/L494 Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zc58JQ

naks wrote:

^ on the other side of that little mound, there was a giant hole on the right, I would have gotten stuck there.

Ah, that makes sense. Discretion is always the key element of off road driving.  2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

 --
2010 Defender Puma 90 + BAS remap + Alive IC + Slickshift + Ashcroft ATB rear
2015 Range Rover Sport Supercharged V8 HSE Dynamic



Defender Puma Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zZ1en9
Discovery 4 Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zXrtKO
Range Rover/Sport L320/L322/L494 Workshop Manual: https://bit.ly/2zc58JQ