I find my auto fine off road (3.1 trooper). Nothing extreme, woodland tracks, wet, muddy fields etc. What I have noticed is how I use 4wd less with the auto. The gentle way the box brings the power to the wheels helps here. Mine has the torque on demand system with the dash display that shows how much power is going to the front wheels, on tracks that I used to apply 4wd as a matter of course I can now see that the 4wd system very rarely cuts in.