Earlier this year we sold off our old pajero and upgraded to a 2011 TD4 XS. I can confidently say the FL2 is the best car I've owned - I cannot think of any other vehicle that does so many different things as well as the Freelander does - it's great around town, easy to drive, park, deal with traffic, carry stuff etc, great on the open road, surprisingly good on the twisty bits like Bells Line of Road and very capable off road.

My problem is this - I bought it to go exploring the 4wd trails in the blue mountains, around Newnes etc, and trying out some of the trips from the 25 4wd trails around Sydney book but when I get out there I feel like a kid who's gone to a birthday party in his Sunday best and the rest of the kids are rolling around in the dirt in their play clothes.

I was never too concerned about damaging the old pajero, but I am extra cautious in the Freelander and concerned about damage to the paintwork or rupturing the fuel tank on a sharp rock. I'm not into rock crawling or anything extreme and the Freelander has proven to be very capable so far, but there is always that concern at the back of the mind.

So at the moment I'm trying to decide whether to spend some money on it at Muddy Mods for some underbody protection, rock sliders and a lift kit - but I'm not sure if this is trying to turn it into something it wasn't really meant to be, or should I sell it and get something that is more off-road suited, like a Disco 2 or jeep wrangler..

Does anybody else use theirs for recreational off-roading? Am I being over protective or did I buy the wrong 4wd?

For proper off reading the Pajero is damn hard to beat.

The FL2 is a very capable vehicle and will easily go places most people would never imagine - just browse the Australia & New Zealand section of this site to see where people like mikehzz, lightwater and others have taken them.

For me, though, the FL2 has two significant drawbacks when it comes to serious offroading somewhere like Australia. The first is fairly obvious - the lack of low range. The second is potentially the more serious - its reliance on electronics. Lose a wheel sensor, say, and you can lose 4wd - not such a problem on a UK byway, but potentially serious in the outback.

The easiest thing you can do is stick some larger tyres on it & reduce pressure for offroad. Like what all the "white goods" owners do!

Your car is a decade old, I wouldn't worry too much about scratches.

I have stone chips all over the front of mine. That is the whole point. Get out there & use it for what it was designed for.

I have been on beaches & LandCruiser owners have got stuck wondering how I got where I did. Tyre pressure will solve most of your problems!

Not having low range is an issue. The auto in the Freelander is brilliant. Heaps of torque, & I have 90Nm less with the petrol engine.

Electronics in the Freelander is not the problem in the outback. It's not having 2 spares & recovery/repair gear.

Having windows open on corrugated roads & vehicle coming the other way is a problem. When you try to close the windows the corrugations cause them to fully open. Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18

Last edited by Lightwater on 24th Sep 2020 11:39 am. Edited 1 time in total

The sump and fuel tank guard are there to protect so fitting a set is a very sensible thing to do. Fitting a lift kit - again a good idea to give improved ground clearance. Yes, the vehicle will now sit higher.But again, only really noticeable the first few times you get into it once fitted. After that, again, you will not actually notice it unless you are parked next to another F2. It does not affect the handling - at least that's my experience and I've had my lift fitted for nearly 2 years.
Now, the next thing would be getting yourself a set of good AT or MT tyres. This is where things really get interesting. These will have a noticeable affect on driving - noise usually being the most obvious, then depending on what tyre, handling may be different .The more aggressive the tread, the harsher the ride. However, once back in the city you can switch back to normal road tyres and all of the above mods will not be noticed.
These three things combined will help you out enormously without turning your vehicle in to something it's not supposed to be. You won't really need anything else - and the best part about it is that the vehicle will look virtually standard.

Thanks Lightwater, that's very reassuring. Do you have any underbody protection on yours? Looks like you've taken it on some rough roads..

So far the wheels and tyres are the only mod on mine, it came with 19s but I managed to put together a set of five 17s with Cooper AT3 LT in 225/75r17 and also purchased a compressor so I can air down as needed.

SYFL2 wrote:

For proper off reading the Pajero is damn hard to beat.

Pajeros are not highly regarded here as a proper off roader all proper off roaders must have live axles, coils and diff locks..

I have got AT tyre noise down to such a low level with acoustic insulation that I could probably miss the last bit of noise. Even on concrete roads it's pretty good. But it has been a bit of an ongoing technical exercise to see how far I could improve things. So there is no reason to put up with tyre noise! Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18

RealBeale wrote:

The sump and fuel tank guard are there to protect so fitting a set is a very sensible thing to do. Fitting a lift kit - again a good idea to give improved ground clearance.

Lightwater wrote:

Having windows open on corrugated roads & vehicle coming the other way is a problem. When you try to close the windows the corrugations cause them to fully open.

The windows opening is probably a design feature. It's probably that corrugated roads cause the same result. I have to stop the car as well.

I don't have any underbody protection, have had a few minor scrapes. Get out of the car & walk the route.

The Freelander only has a 500kg payload & we are at our limit. I don't want to add any weight that really is not necessary. Especially when we have to carry water!

Well done getting some non "poodle" 17 inch rims Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18

jayoh wrote:

I just found some pics of your FL2 - looks good! How much of a lift is that?





I've made the switch to AT's, mostly as that's what came with the 17 inch wheels. They are noticably noisier on road, but the ride is a bit improved and I haven't noticed much of an impact on the on-road handling, Off road they have been great so far too.

A couple of pics from a recent trip to Newnes..




In the pic below, I was watching a couple of guys carefully reversing their FJ Cruiser down a slope. Once they left I walked up the trail to see how bad it was. The first part of the hill was ok but the rest of it looked like this. After some mental debating I decided to try it anyway and got to this point easily. The next section was quite rutted but I found some rocks to fill one of the holes in a bit to avoid damaging the front apron. The trail was wet and slippery and I couldn't quite get over that step at the top the first few times. Then I realised the thumping from underneath wasn't from an obstruction, it was the traction control locking the brakes because all wheels were spinning - switched it from grass and snow to mud and ruts and made it over and up the rest of the path with ease.

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

^^^ Excellent !!

A lot of great tracks around there. Have to watch out for the overhead obstacles as well.
 Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

Acoustic insulation ARB TPMS 3xARB air compressors After cooler Air tank On-board OCD pressure air/water cleaning Additional 50L fuel Carpet in doors ABE 2x1kg Waeco 28L modified fridge Battery 4x26ah Solar 120w Victron MPPT 100/20 DC-DC 18amps 175amp jumper plug Awning 6x255/60R18