Well I started off with a quick reply but it's become more... It's nice to see that you're going to stick with the Series but thought I'd point out some things that you might not have thought of.
First of all, I'd say that ~80% of off-roading is the driver, 15% the choice of tyres and 5% the vehicle. Ok I might be slightly exaggerating but that's how I view it.
Looking at the first point (the 80%) one thing I was given for my 18th by my parents was a day off-roading with
Jumbo at Woodpark Offroad. I would have said that I learnt almost everything worthwhile I know about driving off-road from those few hours I spent with him. It's just a shame I can only remember a few things although I think quite a bit was absorbed into my subconscious. Of those things I can remember 3 which are invaluable and 1 which would be but never had to use it yet (in a proper situation).
- Low second will get you everywhere
- Almost never used the brakes off-road
- How to get out of thick, gloopy, porridge-mud as he called it most times without the need for any recovery equipment
- How to restart a stalled vehicle after a failed hill attempt in a way that will always keep the engine braking.
Going to the second point (the tyres), in the week or so while I've been back from London it's been highlighted numerous times how the choice of tyre makes a difference. I do have a set of very
off-road biased tyres on my S3 but I have to say that I've been up a 1 in 2 on sheet ice with those and with hardly a skid, the only times I've skidded have been when I've deliberately tried to make it slide to see what the limits / feel is like and that took some doing. It's a shame you don't seem to be able to get those anymore.
The third point (the vehicle):
We've got three 4x4s at home, mine (the S3), my sisters (Defender 90, Td5) and Dad's (Mitubishi Shogun, LWB).
The advantages of my sisters are that it's more powerful than mine so more pleasant on the road and it's a bit comfier in general. It's also got the advantage of slightly taller tyres and combined with the coils got a bit clearance than my setup at the moment on the Series.
The
huge disadvantage (perhaps only with hers) is that it's more complicated, we've had the engine management blow up and render the vehicle useless, it's spewed oil all over the M4 because of a bung that isn't held in properly, the front prop has gone (although that was partially our fault) and there now appears to be an issue with the turbo. It's still a fantastically capable machine, just not simple (although that's compared to mine).
The huge advantage of the shogun with respect to off-roading is that it's got 3 lockable diffs. Other pluses are that it's more powerful, more gadgets and waaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy more comfortable. Although more things to go wrong (but they tend not too). We treat this one as more of a comfy car though and thus hardly gets used off-road properly because basically we don't want to damage it. And everything's a PITA to get at because it's so crammed full of stuff (e.g. to get the alternator off requires the removal of the power steering pump, an oil pump, an oil filter and something else (forgot for the moment).
So the point of that rather long comparison is that I wouldn't trade my Series for either because basically it's a no-frills vehicle but because it's no frills there's nothing to go wrong and if it does it can be fixed easily, quickly (most of the time) and cheaply. I reckon with another person I could strip the major bodywork off mine in an hour or two. Try doing that to the Shogun (or the another japanese car for that matter).
Just got back from doing Soar y Mynydd and Strata Florida with fenby1978 and a couple of others and put it this way mine's a "standard" vehicle. I put that in quotes because the configuration's the same but things have been "upgraded". E.g. galved chassis and there's a winch on the front. John had a Series III as well but now with a 200Tdi engine in it (road tyres) and the other two were a bob-tailed Rangie and a Disco both with 2" lifts (from what I gather) and decent tyres all also had raised intakes.
John got stuck once or twice because of the road-tyres, the rangie dislocated itself temporarily and the Disco lost a light in the bomb-hole, I got stuck once which was completely down to me, after getting tugged back out of the hole I went though it no problem at all 2nd go around.
Basically what I'm getting around to saying is that the two Series led the way and did everything that the more modified Rangie and Disco did (although I did decline the bomb hole, long story but someone I was towing reversed into my back door and the glass is now bent and under tension so I didn't want to shatter it as a climbing trip is relying on my vehicle being available in a few days). The winch was never even uncovered.
So there we go:
- Practice off-roading (would highly recommend Jumbo and he's "kind" of near to you)
- Decent tyres
- Series are best
Hope there were some useful tit-bits in there.