We have owned our 2007 FL2 TD4 now for just over a year and are highly delighted with it so far. However, I do have one question for which I would be appreciative of Members comments. In all that time we have hardly touched the various 'All Terrain Options' and have stayed in the basic setting for most of this time (not much need since it is used on tarmac roads in reasonable weather conditions just about all of the time). I did try one or two of the other selection options and have noticed that although the car still drives very well, the pickup is somewhat reduced from that of the basic option. Is this normal, I assume it is because it is now driving 4 wheels instead of just the front two and there is extra drag in the drive system. Any comments please.

It's nothing to do with extra drag - the GGS and M&R modes deliberately reduce the accelerator response (it's a drive-by-wire accelerator) to give you more control over power, and to prevent jerks as your foot bounces around over rough terrain. Sand mode does the opposite - increases reponse so you get more power for less accelerator movement. Neither affect the engine itself (you don't get more or less power) just the responsiveness of the accelerator.

when you are next in the car, out of gear put your foot on the accelerator in normal mode, set it to 2500 rpm

then keeping your foot in the same position, dial in GGS and watch the revs, then do the same opting sand mode and the revs change again Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Gentlemen

Many thanks for such informative replies, I will do the test you mentioned, I suppose I should take it off-road just to see what its capabilities are.

Just performed the tests and noted that in GGS mode the revs drop while in Sand mode the revs increase (quite dramatically). Assume from your message that this is how it should be.

With the car in the General mode, is there any 4WD connection or is it purely front wheels only.

In normal mode the car will still move off from rest in 4wd (unless the steering is turned away from straight ahead, in which case it won't to avoid transmission wind-up). The balance then moves to FWD as the speed increases, but will always revert to 4wd if any slip is detected at the wheels. The brakes are also used to control any wheelspin. It's pretty clever, for a Haldex system.

Thanks for helpful description, I wish LR could have put this detail in the handbook since it would be of great help to people when fully engaging the 4WD options to know what the responses should feel like.

I hope you don't mind but while you are in helpful and supportive mode, I would appreciate your view on Haldex servicing. The car has done 90K miles and the transmission has so far been perfect in its operation. Due to the miles I have done three dump & fills (about 9 ltrs in total) on the transmission with Mobil ATF3309 and was wondering whether any similar attention should be done to the Haldex and final drive at this stage to keep it running perfectly. What do you think ?

the difference in revs in the test you did, was shown to me by the LRE Instructor, to show the difference in throttle response, GGS you want slow steady power to prevent wheel spinning and in Sand you need power, to keep moving, wheels spinning but staying on the top of the sand and not digging in

The car starts in a ratio of 50:50 but drops to more like 60:40 when going along, unless its in a TR setting

If you can, get yourself booked on to a LRE, the instructors really show you what the cars can do and its very informative  Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Portculislr wrote:

I would appreciate your view on Haldex servicing.

Tried for the first time the Sand mode but on tarmac road, notice that it revved quite freely and very responsively to quite high revs but made no attempt to shift up to higher gear, assuming this is the characteristic of this particular mode

I would not use Special Programs on tarmac as transmission wind-up may result. (Landrover's advice) The transmission to the rear wheels seems quite fragile (rear diff, transfer case etc) & prone to premature failures. Wind-up will surely exacerbate this. Not built like a tractor unfortunately.

Point well taken, this trial run only lasted a 20-30 secs as it definitely felt out of place on the tarmac, will now be looking for some suitable off-road situation to try it properly.

I use GGS on Tarmac if there are lots of wet leaves, heavy frost or flooded roads including waterlogged motorways. It preloads the system to engage 4WD more quickly than general mode when needed and I believe it speeds up the sampling rate for grip evaluation by "the system" from 1Hz to 5Hz (tip from LRE instructor).
You are right not to leave special setting on longer than you need to avoid wind up and temperature rising in the Haldex. Gone... 2013 XS TD4 Manual Firenze Red
Gone... 2008 (09MY) XS Td4 Manual Stornaway Grey
Prior... 2003 G4 Discovery 2, 1998 Disco 1 and 1997 Disco 1 Company car before that
Also gone in Nov'13, after 7.5 yrs, to new owners with time for more TLC - 1980 Series III 88
Current 2015 Discovery Sport HSE 2.0

Thanks for the tip Chris B, last year was our first winter with the car and unfortunately little or no frost in the area but hoping for some cold and bright sunny winter days this year to try the GGS option out. I did try HDC mode on a very steep gravel track and was pleased to see how well it worked despite the unnerving judder from the ABS system as it controlled the speed downhill