I end up Manually shifting both of my Rovers and past LR3, as I have manual transmission withdrawal symptoms, and I like being in the right gear for the particular situaion. When going downhill, I place it in a gear that keeps the RPMs at about 2.5K - 3K RPMs, and use the occasionally brakes to "bleed speed" rather than ride them.
One feature that works like a charm off road for Land Rovers is that when combined with HDC you can speed-up or slow down by shifting, as the HDC keeps you at a steady speed determined by each gear. So you never have to touch the pedals to speed up or slow down - love this. Prior SUVs with HDC or the like still picked-up speed to the point where I had to use the brakes - which was occasionally dicey.
Speaking of brake wear. We have a road bypass that is 0.6 miles long at about a 30 degree grade on the family ranch. It is usually a mix of grass/gravel/brush. I have an open rear diff on all of our Rovers, so there is a big reliance on the rear traction control. As a result my rear brakes wear out much faster than my fronts.