I was driving down a narrow road today in my FFRR when I came across a large truck cleaning out a drain and blocking the road. No problem, I thought, my FFRR is designed to go offroad so I flicked the terrain response to Mud/Ruts and headed off onto the grass verge. Big mistake. Within a couple of yards, all the wheels were spinning uselessly and the lorry driver was laughing his head taking photos of me on his mobile phone. What did I do wrong?
PS my car has Conti Crosscontact tyres fitted. I take it these are useless on grass/mud?

mikef wrote:

PS my car has Conti Crosscontact tyres fitted. I take it these are useless on grass/mud?

Terrain response is only a driver aid, not a magical tool to overcome the laws of friction...all it does is desensitise throttle input to try to reduce the chances of wheelspin with a heavy right foot.

Slick road tires +too much throttle = no progress.

Low range and let it crawl on idle is about your only chance to get going again with your pride left intact... '08 Audi S6 Avant 5.2 V10 with Milltek non-resonated. Vrrrrrrmmmmmph
'59 Ford Kuga Diesel (boring but AWD and 40mpg...)
2007 (07) Subaru Forester XTen 2.5 Turbo. (Roundabouts are fun again!)
2007 (07) 4.4 V8 Vogue (gone)

allycraven wrote:

all it does is desensitise throttle input to try to reduce the chances of wheelspin with a heavy right foot

I've said it for a long time but te michelins are useless unless your on Tarmac or gravel.

For grass and mud the only option you have is to keep some speed up to effectively stop the car digging in.

The opinion above is my own based on my own experience of situations and tyre combos. FFRR MY06 facelift With TDV8 Alloys Zeros/ATR's
Mantec Sump Guard, Rigid Load liner, MY10 BT upgrade.

mikef wrote:

I was driving down a narrow road today in my FFRR when I came across a large truck cleaning out a drain and blocking the road. No problem, I thought, my FFRR is designed to go offroad so I flicked the terrain response to Mud/Ruts and headed off onto the grass verge. Big mistake. Within a couple of yards, all the wheels were spinning uselessly and the lorry driver was laughing his head taking photos of me on his mobile phone. What did I do wrong?
PS my car has Conti Crosscontact tyres fitted. I take it these are useless on grass/mud?

OK. You see a part of the problem? The fact you have Grass/Gravel/Snow on the TR, yet you chose Mud/Ruts for a grass verge. That won't have helped.

However, even gadgets like TR cannot overcome the laws of physics. It's a great vehicle but has no magical or divine powers. (except the power to empty your wallet quicker than a -off divorcee)

The fact you're asking what you did wrong suggests you don't know the capabilities of the car. Why not book a day at LR Experience and get some proper tuition and advice form the people who know these vehicles more intimately than they know their spouses ??? You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Oh and it's a load of fun too.

a tool is only as good as the person who is using it Mike and it does sound like your inexperience
and the wet grass both contributed to this failure..
wet grass is notoriously hard to drive on and even the best get stuck...its all a learning curve..  ... - .- -.




Y. O. L. O.
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How did you finally get off the grass?

Thanks for the replies. I have already done a L-R experience day (in a Defender) but no I am not an experienced offroader so probably another experience day in a FFRR would be a good idea. However I am an experienced road driver and I'm not stupid enough just to sit on the grass revving the engine in the hope of getting traction. I did try very gently feeding the throttle in but the wheels started spinning immediately. Luckily the grass verge sloped back down to the road gently so I was able to just about reverse off. With regard to the TR, is muddy grass Grass/Gravel/Snow or Mud/Ruts? Would I have been better using the former?
IMHO, the problem is the tyres. I'm no expert but the Conti Crosscontact UHPs look very much like standard road tyres to me. Maybe I should be asking this on the Tyre forum but is there one tyre out there for the FFRR that gives reasonable traction in mud and snow with acceptable road manners? I have been fitting winter tyres to previous vehicles I've owned because we live up a long narrow road high up in the Chilterns which doesn't get gritted and therefore snow/ice is often a problem in winter. One reason for buying the FFRR was the hope that it could be fitted with one set of tyres that worked all year round

As another owner that lives in the Chilterns I run my Range Rovers with Winter Tyres all year round. I am a big fan of the Kuhmo KC's and Nokian WR3. Great all year round grip and not bad off road either. Otherwise Goodyear Wranglers will work better than the IMHO awful Cross Contacts.

My experience of tyres is that the Pirelli Scorpion Mud & Snow (M&S) would be the ideal tyre combination for you, either those or a decent all-terrain such as the General AT2.

I use Scorpions pretty much exclusively and have no real issues. Like you I live on an un-metalled road and winter is interesting sometimes. She's not let me down yet though.

the bonus I find with Scorpions though is that it is a really good road tyre as well. Lower noise than all-terrains at motorway speeds.

Gazellio @ Prestige Cars wrote:

As another owner that lives in the Chilterns I run my Range Rovers with Winter Tyres all year round. I am a big fan of the Kuhmo KC's and Nokian WR3. Great all year round grip and not bad off road either. Otherwise Goodyear Wranglers will work better than the IMHO awful Cross Contacts.

MikeF you have just found out the embarrassing way that of all the surfaces we drive on that wet grass is pretty much (maybe with the exception of black ice) the toughest surface. Just look at any horsey event with 4x4s sitting spinning in the paddocks. I recall as a rookie off roader, some 25 years ago, attending an off road tuition session. We assembled at the bottom of a grassy slope/hill and the instructor challenged us to get to the top and he would refund our money! Needless to say he kept the fee. It was hoot watching failed hill climbs, Defenders, RRs et all spinning back down. ATs/MTs etc may be better but only if they can break the surface of the grass and dig in. It seems that wet grass generates a lovely low friction mud. 2019 D5 HSE Lux SDV6 Indus
55 D3 SE
98 MX5 1.8 RS
gone 17 older variants of FFRR

mikef wrote:

Gazellio @ Prestige Cars wrote:

As another owner that lives in the Chilterns I run my Range Rovers with Winter Tyres all year round. I am a big fan of the Kuhmo KC's and Nokian WR3. Great all year round grip and not bad off road either. Otherwise Goodyear Wranglers will work better than the IMHO awful Cross Contacts.

Gazellio, which one of those 3 would you recommend as the best? I read good things about Vredesteins on this forum too. What do you think?

Gazellio @ Prestige Cars wrote:

I like Vreds but they are not bias towards offroad in any way. The reason I praise the Nokians is that apart from being a terrific Winter they have a decent tread as well. Unfortunately they do not come in 20" RR size but they do in 19". The great value Kuhmo KC can be sourced in 20".

If price no option then the Pirelli Mud & Snow or even Goodyear Wranglers if lower temperature tyre not required.