Looked into doing this at Dunkeld, it's advertised on their website, so sent an email only to get a reply saying that it is not offered to Freelander owners but I'm more than welcome to do it in their Freelander. No thanks

I've spent £30k on a 4WD that I can't even take to a dedicated LR centre, to "see what your Land Rover can do" as LR put it, how can I do that using an auto when mine is a manual, they behave differently off road.

Not chuffed LR, us Freelander owners have the Land Rover oval on the grill as well as the bigger cars. 21MY Defender 90 S 3.0 D200

I looked into this earlier in the year. Following advice from members on here, I decided against it. It's far better to destroy one of their vehicles than risk your own.....do it in one of theirs so that you know what it can do, but don't knacker yours in the learning process. Manuals and Autos are much the same when the going gets tough, as it's not really the done thing to be off-roading in 'D' anyway. CommandShift/1st or 2nd/MudRuts/HDC on for the most part. Foraging near Gaydon....
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MY13 HSE Lux SD4, Baltic Blue - current, 30,000> miles without fault
MY12 HSE 2.2 SD4, Sumatra Black - gone after 10 months/43,000 fault-free miles

I've been up a few times, so not a complete novice but by no means an expert. I hear what you say, I just thought it would be more informative and relative in my own.

I suppose it will save me buying a new clutch  21MY Defender 90 S 3.0 D200

There's no evidence that I'm aware of that (sensible) off-road use damages clutches! And the FL2 is easily up to (sensible) off-road use. That said I'd be tempted to use LR's car too! Except that ...

Quote:

Manuals and Autos are much the same when the going gets tough

I did the Eastnor Castle Land Rover Experience with my Freelander 2 last summer! It was an interesting experience. At one point we went over a ridge and down a long hill! As I went over the ridge the back wheels of the Freelander were both up in the air, so I was informed by the Defender diver behind me. We then went down the long hill with traction control really showing what it could do, so many lights flashing and lots of noise from the brakes! The only damage was to the heat shield under neath that became a bit torn!
We also went through water that was rather deep! The only bits I was told to avoid were the very rutted sections!

Would I do it in mine again. No, I will stick to gentle green lanes! Got far too worried about damaging my baby! 1998 300TDi Auto Disco, never to be forgotten.
2008 Auto TD4 Freelander2, now gone?
2013 Auto SD4 Freelander!
A proud member of Landytown.com
Visit our blog at
http://paullizlifeontheopenroad.blogspot.com/ updated October 2017

That last paragraph sums it up, really. Few of us want to spend tens of thousands on a car and then risk damaging it, so few of us (me included) will ever take their cars anywhere near their limits. (Although I have had passengers worried that I'm going to break something ) Using the LRE car does mean that if you do break something, however unlikely that may be, you won't have to pay for it! But there is satisfaction to be had from doing something in your own car - it's a sort of shared experience!

I've seen people use their own Freelander 2 on the LRE site at Rockingham Castle on the regular Driver Training Days. Great thing about them is there is an LRE Instructor on hand to provide advice on how to tackle each obstacle and if you don't fancy a particular obstacle you can miss it out.

Details of when Driver Training Days take place can be found at http://lroac.com/Calendar.html

I think if I've to do it in an LRE car I will probably do it in something other than the Freelander, I've done it before in the SD4 which is why I wanted to do it in mine to see how they differ.

Probably do it in the Range Rover, see what the TR 2 with auto setting is like, plus it's my ultimate car but just a tad out of budget so perfect opportunity to try it.

Cheers for all comments 21MY Defender 90 S 3.0 D200