Whenever you cede control to a vehicle on undulating terrain it is always a bit disconcerting.  Here are my experiences of the Land Rover Traction Control System Terrain Response.

 

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Terrain Response

  1. Special Programs off
    1. The truck will still lock and unlock center and rear locker and is often a nice way to traverse off “dirt roads”
    2. As soon as a Special Program is selected we will see off road information in the Dash Board
  2. Snow, Grass, Gravel
    1. This slows down the throttle response
    2. Breaking is slower and designed to not break free from loose or wet surface.
    3. Starts the car in 2nd
    4. keeps the truck in lower gear during descents
    5. HDC is not on in this mode (but can be turned on…)
    6. I would suggest this is a great mode if you are worried about driving over your lawn.
    7. The power with DSC on in this mode can be cut significantly, so I would use it in Snow provided you turn DSC off.
  3. Mud and Ruts
    1. The throttle response is turned back up
    2. one of the best overall offroad modes in my opinion
    3. more aggressive in locking the differentials then in Grass Gravel Snow.
    4. Mud Ruts in 3rd Low is pretty good for just tooling around in your basic dirt road with rocks and ruts.
    5. Too aggressive for light snow
    6. A good choice for uphill ascents without many rocks
    7. HDC is on in this mode
  4. Sand
    1. I haven’t driven on sand yet so haven’t used this mode yet — I will post a report later.
  5. Rock Crawl
    1. So rock crawl is very good for rock crawling. It is very good.
      1. whether the rocks are loose or just crawling over some embedded.
    2. Rock Crawl is very aggressive though, you have to be in low range and in high EAS setting to use
    3. Rock Crawl will inhibit the automatic gear changes as much as possible, you will have to select your own gears.
    4. Differential Lock up action is very aggressive but also smart.  Very little wheel spin, almost every wheel is in control on the rocks.
    5. Rock Crawl in 3rd Low is good to move between one rock obstacle and another, if kept in automatic Rock Crawl is so aggressive it isn’t suited for not crawling.

Read more about Land Rover off road technology.  Read more about this in our first Range Rover Book on Amazon.