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Eric Caterpillar

Member Since: 17 Jun 2024
Location: West of Scotland
Posts: 77

My half day LR experience at Butterstone

Went to Dunkeld last Friday to do my new owner experience drive.

Arrived at 9 am to see a row of Pangaea green Defenders 110 and already had a big smile on my face. My own Defender is almost exactly the same spec, bar rear diff, black interior and Goodyear Wranglers.

Click image to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Haven't really had a chance to take any more photos as I was alone, without my second driver.

It was really good to see these cars put to the test in their intended environment.

To summarise my experience, the car was more capable than I were, but that's why I'll come back to do the second half day upgrade and take it to some more challenging spots.

The main thing for me was to be able to learn how to work with the car taking into account it's size and manoeuvrability and to see how different drive modes work in real life

Pretty much didn't use the Auto mode as my instructor said it's behaving retrospectively, rather used GGS, M&R, RC or Wading from the outset.

Did try the off road cruise control, however, as much as it's entertaining, it takes away from doing the drive yourself.

Did deliberately bottom out to see the additional lift on the air suspension, would be great for washing the underbody.

The Defenders available on the day we're a mixture of 90s and 110s, mine was a D350. Asked if I could do the trail in a Disco or RR, but only Defenders were suitable to that trail due to their off-road clearance. As I said, the car is so capable, haven't even scratched its limits, but it made me even more happy that I bought something a bit special.

Thanks for reading. Cheers!

25th Mar 2025 7:08pm

falkster

Member Since: 12 Nov 2023
Location: Sutton Coldfield
Posts: 69

1988 Defender 110 V8 Petrol CSW Trident Green

They are fantastically capable cars.

Due to my job I had the chance to drive the pre-production prototypes and more recently some regular ones on team day out's.

As much as I love my '88 OneTen V8, I would prefer the new one as a daily drive for sure.
Off-Road though, this is where the old Defenders are much more engaging as there are no computers to do the work for you.

But anyway, the new ones are still impressive to move around and see what tech can do nowadays.

Glad you enjoyed the experience.

1988 Land Rover OneTen County SW, 3.9l Petrol V8 (serpentine), original "Santana" LT85 gearbox

25th Mar 2025 8:20pm

Chicken Drumstick

Member Since: 17 Aug 2020
Location: Near MK
Posts: 856

Re: My half day LR experience at Butterstone

Eric Caterpillar wrote:

It was really good to see these cars put to the test in their intended environment.

Glad you enjoyed it, but do bear in mind that the course is a "demonstration" course. It isn't designed to get you stuck or really push the vehicles all that much. Out in the wilds you can certainly find the limits of any 4x4 much easier.

Eric Caterpillar wrote:

To summarise my experience, the car was more capable than I were, but that's why I'll come back to do the second half day upgrade and take it to some more challenging spots.

The main thing for me was to be able to learn how to work with the car taking into account it's size and manoeuvrability and to see how different drive modes work in real life

Biggest thing to learn with modern LR's is which Terrain mode to use for the ground conditions. Specifically on if you need or want wheel spin, some modes will kill the throttle and get you stuck. Even if the mode would appear to be the correct one if you go by the simple descriptions of mud, grass, snow etc.

You can also use the terrain modes to smooth out the throttle, e.g. the snow mode works really well if you are driving over a ploughed field, as it'll make the throttle pedal a lot less sensitive.

25th Mar 2025 9:17pm

Moo

Member Since: 01 Oct 2021
Location: UK
Posts: 1466

Glad you enjoyed it. I let my daughters do the experience. Best take aways, other than its capability, were using the rear wash to clean the camera and how to switch off ACC. Eiger Grey MY23 D250 SE with bits. Known as Noddy.

25th Mar 2025 11:02pm

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