This is a follow-up to Land Rover Freelander 2 GS TD4 Review and Freelander 2 Update

I was lucky enough to take part in a Land Rover Experience day recently, where I got to see and try out some of the off-road capabilities first hand. First of all I took my own car on a basic off-road drive around some fields and through a wood. Nothing too difficult but fun nonetheless for the first time in my own car.

After this I went out in a Freelander 2 and a Discovery in order to compare the capabilities of the two. Freelander first – the Land Rover Experience driver explained when to use the different off-road modes on the car and then proceeded to demonstrate the Hill Descent Control (HDC). This was hugely impressive to see in action. The car takes control of braking and giving as much control to the driver as possible, always trying to ensure that they have the ability to steer the car. Letting the car go down a 40 degree drop, the brakes kick in, and it was good to hear all the noises that it’s meant to make as it would otherwise have been quite alarming the first time used!

Next we went on to driving across a muddy terrain, the Dynamic Stability Control (DSC) fighting to keep the car straight whilst we kept enough momentum to keep going – again, very impressive at keeping the car going straight.

On to a climb up a 40 degree mud rut hill. The Freelander, with 3 of us on board, went straight up without a problem, although the Experience driver did say that it was struggling up the same hill with 5 in the car. I found this perfectly acceptable – if you were going to be regularly driving up something like that fully loaded, then you should’ve bought a Discovery!

The Discovery was noticeably different, mainly due to the extra ride height. You could drive slightly faster across the terrain and going up and down the inclines it could be driven more aggressively, it also had much more flexibility with the different modes available. It is a different vehicle, but the Freelander 2 was more than capable for what most people would use it for. One thing is for sure, once you try it off-road, you’ll want to go again!