What limitations / foibles of my 07 RRS am I likely to discover - or fall foul of - off-road?

My D2 was astonishingly capable off-road, but I don't think the RRS is as water-resistant as that was.

If anyone has found things out the hard (i.e., expensive) way, I'd like to be forewarned before I travel far from the metalled black-top (in company).

Thks
Hugh

There aren’t many. With all 3 RRS’s I have run they never felt any less confident off road than my Defender but were a darn sight more comfortable! Tyres would be your biggest issue and if you had an HST the low front and rear spoilers reduce approach and departure angles, but in a standard car no problem. Make sure you remove the cover plates from the front and rear recovery eyes before you get into deep mud or water that might need an assistant to get you out again.... RRS’s are pretty good at handling the rough stuff as their electronics and air suspension help hugely and never be too concerned about battle scars, if you play offroad you will get some, it’s a fact of life!
I never took my RRS’s places where I thought I would damage my Defender but had some wonderful drives along very low flowing river beds and dried up streams as well as miles of forest tracks in all states of repair. Even the last RRS on it’s 22” alloys was amazing in the rough stuff but I was careful not to get into deep mud on 100% road biased very low profile tyres and expensive alloys, I was never “precious” about the cars, they are Land Rovers after all and meant to go far further off the beaten track than most people would take an SUV. You sound from the post like you aren’t a complete novice, but a drive at an LRE Centre can give you a good insight into what even the smallest cars from LR can do - Evoque and DS are great if you are aware that they do have limitations with lower ground clearance but they will go over a hillside as well as any old Disco1 or 2 even without low range gears, provided they are on suitable wheels and tyres - terrain response in then is really good. I tended to drive my RRS’s in either Auto TR or just in low ratio without resorting to the special programs. I don’t think I ever tried rock crawl mode once in any of my TR equipped cars.
I can’t wait to get the Countryman off road onto a forest trail, I know it won’t go far off road over a hillside (it won’t even get there!) but it should be up to forest fire roads and timber extraction trails, it’s ground clearance isn’t great but nearly up to Evoque height and I never got any Evoque stuck! 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

Thanks for the full reply, Tim.

In a job a couple of years ago, one of my colleagues told me how he had driven to the top of a remote Scottish radar station with another chap, driving a D3. The chap driving announced he had to go into low ratio and 'gravel' mode of TR in order to get there: when they arrived at the top there were two Corsas and an Astra.

Good clean fun:

I had my standard 08MY TDV8 deep enough for the leading Defender to have water coming through the bottom of the doors. All dry in RRS-land, however. Is that deep enough for you?

One thing to check if you want to go in water is that the starter motor has the long breather fitted. It wasn't as standard on the early models, hence the shallower wading depth - ask me how I found out. With that fitted you'd be ok to 700mm the same as the later RRS1s. RRS2 is good for 850mm. You can go deeper in both but the back end starts to float!

Quick tip - if you're wading and the dash tells you it's going in to extended mode then the back end is starting to float...time to change plans! You'd need a raised air intake for that sort of playing, however, and you'd need to seal it as it's not designed as a true wet snorkel.

The problem with RRS is that there is very little off road modification kit available, unlike the Disco.

Ignore those who tell you the RRS isn't fully capable off road - they've obviously never driven one! Trust me - generally speaking you'll chicken out before the vehicle runs out of ability. Tyres are key, of course, and on ATs the RRS is pretty impressive.  2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

Never had a problem with my 06 but did take the ally edge strip off the side step last weekend in wales
On the strata Florida

Been there, done that... Radio message "Err, silver RRS, would you like to go back and collect your side-step?"

But the guy with the new defender running Pirelli scorpion tyres mange’s to take chunks out of his side walls
That’s 3 been replaced in 12 months great grip on the road bit very soft side walls good job he took the insurance on them this time he’s changed for wranglers with Kevlar side walls ( cheaper than the scorpions too)

I know from hard experience that Welsh rocks mangle sidewalls. There's all sorts of nasties under the water in Strata Florida that can either cut the sidewalls of tyres or get between tyre and rim. One of the reasons I fitted 18" steel wheels. Good fun there though, isn't it?

The Strata is a nice route although when we did it Hugh it wasn't the ominous monster that some have made it out to be. The bomb hole, for example, is a walk in the park for an RRS / Disco 3 or 4 where Defenders seem to scrabble about more. Perhaps short wheelbase is their issue there. 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

Electronics, Wayne, electronics! A fast idle + terrain response = understated and discreet competence.

I remember the shouts of "POOOOWWWEEERRR!" as we pottered calmly up the face of the bomb hole in our Chelsea Tractors.

"I don't need to do that, thanks, as I have a 250bhp V6 not a puny c.120bhp clattering old lump!" 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

Their cars wouldn't be able to do things like this:

RRSTDV8 wrote:

The Strata is a nice route although when we did it Hugh it wasn't the ominous monster that some have made it out to be. The bomb hole, for example, is a walk in the park for an RRS / Disco 3 or 4 where Defenders seem to scrabble about more. Perhaps short wheelbase is their issue there.

Nearly six years (and one car) on, I conclude that:

* Alloy wheels = punctures, three in the space of two hours being my record
* An air inlet on the side of the car isn't the best place through which an engine should breathe
* The fluidity and control of a V6 and automatic outperforms manual gearboxes
* The rear-end tries to float before the front does
* Anywhere close to the 38 degree roll limit seems VERY scary
* With the suspension fully extended (I had an EasyLift as well), it can seem hard on rocky ground, but generally speaking, articulation is superb
* It is bl**dy lovely to be able to travel to/from an off-roading session in quiet, smooth, leather-bound comfort!
* The electronics rally do the business: it seems effortless compared to some of the machinations of older machines thrashing around
* It will slide down slopes on its chassis rails
* Comfortable for passengers
* Tinny bits do come off!

Put it this way: one of the chaps who led Wayne, James and me round mid Wales now does so in an L320 RRS....

300bhp/ton wrote:

RRSTDV8 wrote:

The Strata is a nice route although when we did it Hugh it wasn't the ominous monster that some have made it out to be. The bomb hole, for example, is a walk in the park for an RRS / Disco 3 or 4 where Defenders seem to scrabble about more. Perhaps short wheelbase is their issue there.

Wheelbase can contribute to climbing ability, but on the part of Strata Florida you mention I'm pretty sure if was mostly 99% traction control.

Open diffs by their very nature will let a single wheel spin and when it does it reduces power to the wheel with traction. Most of the time the driver will accelerate to try and counter this.

Traction control will brake the spinning wheel, so visually (and maybe audibly) it won't spin as fast, but more importantly it will transfer more power through the tyre with traction.

Therefore an older vehicle without traction control (and no locking axle diffs or limited slip diffs) is more likely to spin a wheel, then make more of an issue over it once it does.

This isn't specifically Terrain Response, although Terrain Response does include traction control. But there are plenty of vehicles without Terrain Response that do have traction control. A Td5 Defender should have gone up more easily, although the TCS on those does require more wheel spin than that on a D3/4 or RRS.

The latter Puma Defenders should have been less fuss again and closer to the RRS, but probably still slightly more wheel slip for the TCS to work.