I dont know whether I was asking too much of the car but Im not really impressed at all after a poor off road performance on a caravan site at the weekend.

I was towing my caravan at the time which obviously had a bearing on things.

The site owner directed me across his manicured grass field/lawn, half way across it the car came to a halt and everything spun up with no forward movement. I tried various terrain response postions which made absolutely no difference. I un hitched the caravan and tried again, all the car did was bury itself deeper into ground.

I did get out eventually after being rescued by a man with some hessian sacking.

So, what was the problem, was I expecting too much of the car in the first place, the caravan weighs about 1200kg. Acknowledging that, shouldnt it have performed better off road once the 'van was un hitched?

Is it a real "off roader" or just a shopping car with a gadgety dial on the dash.

Not impressed at all!!!!

fundamental laws of physics

no grip = no movement

There was a guy over on D3 who had the same happen to him and he had MTRs on, with all the rain we have been having wet sodden grass can be just act like ice, even off road style tyres can't cope if they fill with mud and technically become slicks

then 1200Kg of caravan will have just added to the bad situations and made it worse  Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

because it has rained for weeks and vehicles should avoid fields of all kinds, also wet grass is as slippy as a slippy thing, try turning the DSC? traction control off next time.

Seems odd that you would be directed across grass when it is so wet? sure the guy giving directions wasn't a chicken farmer in disguise.

Also let your tyres down next time?

read for a similar story:-
http://www.freel2.com/forum/topic1356.html At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

turning the dsc off in this type of situation,as helped me out of bother loads of times.

ashtons99 wrote:

I dont know whether I was asking too much of the car but Im not really impressed at all after a poor off road performance on a caravan site at the weekend.

I was towing my caravan at the time which obviously had a bearing on things.

The site owner directed me across his manicured grass field/lawn, half way across it the car came to a halt and everything spun up with no forward movement. I tried various terrain response postions which made absolutely no difference. I un hitched the caravan and tried again, all the car did was bury itself deeper into ground.

I did get out eventually after being rescued by a man with some hessian sacking.

So, what was the problem, was I expecting too much of the car in the first place, the caravan weighs about 1200kg. Acknowledging that, shouldnt it have performed better off road once the 'van was un hitched?

Is it a real "off roader" or just a shopping car with a gadgety dial on the dash.

Not impressed at all!!!!

The problem was obviously due to several factors, the weight being pulled, driver inexperience but mostly in this case the wrong tyres for the circumstance.

This year I managed to get stuck in snow (in June) with nothing on the tow bar but using normal (summer) tyres, which would probably not have happened using winter tyres.

LR drivers must not forget that a FL2 is not a supercar that can do anything or go anywhere and that the drivers consideration is very important before tackling ANY off-road situation – they teach you that on any LRE course.  2007 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Manual with Premium Pack & Moonroof.
Stornoway Grey with Ebony Black Pleather, Clear Indicators, Body Side Mouldings etc.

Did you use TR 'grass/gravel/snow'?? Or at least tempering your R foot application?

Even tractors dislike wet grass, as many a driver has found to his grave cost after steering so the tractor points directly down a steep hill. They loose all grip and sledge unstoppably down the hill  At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

gilfishman wrote:

turning the dsc off in this type of situation,as helped me out of bother loads of times.

I agree, this does help occasionally also in snow  2007 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Manual with Premium Pack & Moonroof.
Stornoway Grey with Ebony Black Pleather, Clear Indicators, Body Side Mouldings etc.

First roule driving on snow and ice (which I guess is similar to drive on wet grass) is to be very gentle with the pedal.
Gently, gently giving gas as long as you have a grip. And if you loose the grip and wheels start spinning, then let go of the pedal to recapture your grip.

Were you gentle while pulling the gaspedal, or was it "peddle to the mettle" (pedal to the metal).

Tyres is also important, but I dont know what effect winter-tyres has on wet grass. 2008 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Automatic, Caspian Blue, Alpaca, Moon roof, Exclusive pack.

VIKING wrote:

First roule driving on snow and ice (which I guess is similar to drive on wet grass) is to be very gentle with the pedal.
Gently, gently giving gas as long as you have a grip. And if you loose the grip and wheels start spinning, then let go of the pedal to recapture your grip.

Were you gentle while pulling the gaspedal, or was it "peddle to the mettle" (pedal to the metal).

Tyres is also important, but I dont know what effect winter-tyres has on wet grass.

I went through a ploughed field which was soaking wet with no problem. I did it just to see if I could. The car sank more then 20 cm is the mud but I never felt worried as long as I was moving. Did not try to stop an start from it as there were too many people looking at me and didn't want to embarress myself.

I have zero experience offroading and I drive a manual (auto would even cope better I heard).

So I AM impressed by the cars abililties.

What I think you risked was that the tyres got clodded up with grass which basically turns your tyres into slicks. Mud on the other hand is much more running and would be pressed out of the profile while grass wont.

So I think you'd get stuck with just about everything, especially with saturated grass as it comes of the ground so easily.

Last year I towed a friend's motor home off a wet field where his front wheels had sunk up to the axles with my manual GS and this was up a slight incline. My tyres were Wranlers and although they did have some slip they kept traction.

I then towed my 1300 kg trailer van out without any slipping.

TonyJ Remember there are never problems, just new challenges

I dragged about 200kg of stone in a trailer around a waterlogged field a week ago. I was in mud/snow mode - didn't notice any slip. Job done.