Thanks! I was trying to keep the video as close to 5 minutes as possible.
I wanted to keep this trip mild because most everyone in the group was new to off-roading. I'm pretty sure a couple in the group could have tackled the harder stuff, but the newer Fozz's would have sustained some body damage. I scraped up my rocker pretty badly going up or down the big hill, not sure when, but it's just black plastic.
The X-mode worked great on the large downhill into the park at 1:50. He's using the speed control the entire way down. The SJ's performed just as good as my SH did. They were scraping bumpers in a couple sections because of their lower approach angle compared to mine.
We didn't have a lot of mud on the trails to truly comparison test. It was all dried up by the time we got there. The mud that was available was too deep and too close to a body of water. Some of us thought it was too risky to attempt.
The SG Forester outclimbed the SF on the big hill. The SG was an automatic on Street tires, the SF was a manual with mud-terrains. About 3/4 of the way up the engine stalled out on him every time. He was equipped with front/rear limited slip and a locked center. A low range would have definitely helped him there.
One of the SJ's was a manual. His clutch didn't like him at all that day. In conclusion, US market automatic/CVT is better than manual. We're going to have to scrutinize X-Mode our next trip this summer.
Next trip, I'm just going to have to get out and take some close-up videos of us negotiating the rocks. The Gopro doesn't do it any justice.
