I drove 2500kms to South Australia with the intention of doing the Simpson Desert south to north through Warburton Crossing a few weeks ago.... I got on the Birdsville Track and 50kms along ripped a gash in the sidewall of a tyre. My spares were only marginal so I returned to Marree and bought 2 new tyres @ $350 each Had to wait overnight for them to be freighted in AND then I had to put them on myself.
Left Marree at lunchtime and reached the Warburton Crossing turn off 300km up the track by 4:00pm and its spitting rain. Believe it or not that's when my troubles started. I'm driving along this track and all seems well but I notice I'm throwing a fair bit of mud up at the back. To be honest the track looked sandy not muddy and it wasn't that slippery. Anyway, 10kms in and the car won't go anymore, the engine is fine but the transmission is not working right. I get out to have a look and can't believe my eyes, the mudguards are completely full and packed solid with the stickiest clay possible. The wheels could barely turn the mud is that tight and was setting like cement. I had to try and hack it out with a shovel on all 4 wheels. It took me 3 hours to get back to the main track having to stop and hack the clay out every few kilometres. To top it off, the clay wore a big groove in my $350 new tyres that weren't even a day old.
I found a close place to camp on the main track and spent the night in the rain. Morning comes and I have to decide which way to go, on or back. I chicken out and just as well...20kms down the track, every warning light comes on, no traction control whatsoever. There is that much cement like clay on the wheels, guards and suspension it's hard to tell what's going on. I didn't know it then but the clay had completely ripped an abs sensor apart. This meant no terrain response, hill descent, abs or cruise control. The nearest Land Rover dealer was 1000km away. Lucky I only needed 2wd on the Birdsville Track out or I would still be there. I drove all the way home with all the warning lights on. The part is ordered and has to come from the UK, 2 weeks wait.
It makes you wonder about going remote in a car that can lose 4wd if a wire breaks or one electronic sensor goes down? By the way....I had a great time but lost interest in taking pictures. It certainly wasn't boring though.

sounds like a working holiday not an adventure

Does make you think, one sensor and hell breaks loose, you eitherh have to have a spare car in parts in the tool box or risk it Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

A perfect example of why I think Land Rover are getting it wrong by ditching traditional 4wd technologies and becoming totally dependent on electronics. The electronics may be impressive when they're working, but it's not the kind of stuff you can fix in the bush with a bag of spanners!

Scarey stuff! But yeah, so many things to go wrong or faulty. I'm assuming that LR didn't test these cars in such conditions!

It's why I wouldn't do such a trip without someone else to tag along, although I'm sure it's nice to be 'free' setting off out on your own.

The clay was like plasticene. It was only spitting rain and the track was completely dry 1/2" under the surface. The top layer of dirt that was wet was the most horrendous stuff I've come across. When I walked on it, I left dry footprints but quickly got nearly 2" taller because where ever I stepped stuck to my shoes. No Terrain Response setting for it. The last 2 hours getting out were in the dark as well.
I like going remote alone but I reckon the FL2 is actually a bit fragile to handle it now. At least my Jeep has a honking big lever that mechanically drops it into low range and locks the centre diff.

Ita like an episode of Top Gear

It would be a bit bland if everything went well all the time. The tough things that happen stick in your memory far longer and you really learn from it. Whatever doesn't kill you just makes you stronger It was a lot harder on the car. The new tyres are shot, abs sensor gone, lost the lower plastic corner trim on the rear of front wheel well, both linings on the rear wheel wells have been ripped up and pushed in off the retaining clips causing the panel with the fuel filler to be slightly out of shape so the fuel filler flap doesn't close properly. It's tough country out there...

I've done two long mainland trips since I got my FL2 in 2011, the first time I can recall two distinct times where I chose to "fold 'em, not hold 'em" when the car was only 10,000km old and I was still unsure of its capabilities. One time was on the Bourke-Menindee track along the Darling River in circumstances similar to those described, where I turned back immediately things got slippery in the red clay, another was in Northern NSW where a sign advising likely track blockages due to flooding ahead in hilly country was enough to send me the other way.

The time I chose to "hold 'em" was crossing the water out of Bendethra where I dropped into an unseen dip in the ford near the end, way deeper than the 500mm wading max. Only past 4WD experience had me keep the foot planted as the crossing was nearly over and though the water came over the bonnet almost to the base of the windscreen the forward momentum kept the bow wave up so that the side intake vent didn't go under, and the car got through OK before the water could get up the side panel. Stopping with the engine running would have been curtains.

The next trip through the Victorian High Country saw the one time I chose to "hold 'em" almost turn out badly, although the vehicle got through OK, the heat-shielding along the transmission tunnel and the fuel tank "protection" bar work were all mashed and torn completely out of shape by loose rocks, unseen under the mud, rolling under the car. I was extremely lucky that the fuel tank or lines themselves weren't trashed, because no-one else was up there, no phone reception, and too far to walk to civilisation. I now have a Green Oval fuel tank bash plate installed, but that should have been done before, not after the event, of course.

Having had many "real" 4WD vehicles in the past, mainly shorty Land Cruisers, and Range Rover Classics, I've come to the conclusion as indicated already in the answers above that within limits the FL2 is brilliant off road provided conditions are not too severe. For one thing I've never had a vehicle that makes the 99% of bits in between the 1% of hard bits so easy or such a delight to drive, Range Rovers included.

In the dry the thing is almost unstoppable and will go anywhere my RRs used to, albeit with a bit more considered driving and less gung-ho in the rocky stuff, but also that unless I can actually see the obstacles ahead or how deep the water/mud is, going back immediately is the better option. I've been lucky so far, and have learned not to push this vehicle beyond the point that I'm confident it'll be OK, unlike the old days where I'd point the RR or Tojo at the impossible and hit it with everything I had, hang the expense.

This is the sort of crap I used to get up to after another fourbee in our group pulled me out of the hole I didn't get through (always travelled with company in my crazy days) - cost me a complete set of brake shoes and drum machining, that placid water and sandy mud behind the vehicle in the photo. I wouldn't subject my FL2 to this, definitely horses for courses:

Click image to enlarge

Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated

Mate, I think this track would have caught anyone. It looked and drove so smooth and easy, no puddles and only spitting rain, I didn't give it a second thought. It ended up being a real trap of the highest order. It was narrow so no turning around and you couldn't see far enough ahead. I drove 10kms before I could turn around and then it was a 4 point turn. If you drove it in the dry you would think anyone who had their car nearly wrecked on it was mad.

Hey Mike, I am so sorry to learn about your bad luck. Such a little thing and such a big trouble, how is it possible the abs sensor to be left unprotected by the car manufacturer!? I am grateful that you share your experience; it makes me think twice before I attempt driving into any remote places.

I wander if you tried to claim any of the damages on the warranty? I know you are not happy with Land Rover customer care but still. The last time I serviced my Landie (a whopping $880), I tried to push them about the tyres, (they were showing excessive flaking on the top even before my trip to Uluru), but the smug Land Rover representative said that the tyres are not covered. I was thinking to extend the warranty for another 2 years, but now I decided against it.

Drive on mate!

Why not do it in a JCB next time, they are properly designed for going off road and you can dig yourself out without getting your feet wet?