TRIARII
Adventurer
TRIARII you just stated in the winter romp thread that you , quote "have never done any off-loading before" and want to learn how capable your vehicle is. It's great that you are looking to get out and use your rover and learn but I find it interesting that you decided to post a thread with your opinion about land rover abandoning its roots when you admittedly have never even driven off road in one.
I think you will change your tune after winter romp weekend, and I hope you have a great time and learn a lot about the different capabilities of all land rovers. There will be a great group of people there and everything from heavily modified trucks on 37's, to bone stock 2012 range rovers with 20" street tires.
Its nothing hypocritical. I bought my truck back in late 2012 and with a tight budget Ive been tinkering at her for a couple years. Getting most of the mechanical things addressed and slowly adding things that will make her good off-road. Im not the type to immediately drive a truck off-road just because I can. I like to make sure everything is up to spec. When I first got her she was running on 18" wheels with street tires and stock brakes. No underbody protection, no lift etc. Ive seen enough judgement errors by fellow offroad enthusiasts that resulted in them either breaking their truck, rolling it over or getting it stuck in water.... take this guy for example: http://landroverforums.com/forum/discovery-ii-18/deeper-than-i-thought-now-wont-start-71380/
My pockets probably are not nearly as big as some of you so it takes me alot longer to get all the useful things for my vehicle. Lift, tires, protection, lighting, maintenance etc.