Land Rover Freelander - any good?

We had several 4x4s at work: Defender 90, 110 crew cab, Freelander, Mitsubishi L200 crew cab and elsewhere I used a L200 pickup and Ford Ranger.

My vehicle was the 110, very reliable, great off-road although a bit cramped with a few people in. Our Freelander was very unreliable and was constantly 'off-road' i.e. in the garage being fixed. The L200 was very capable but somehow didn't inspire the same confidence as a Landy and has a terrible turning circle. The L200 pickup was very light at the back and you had to really adapt your style to contain the rear end. I only drove a Ranger a couple of times but would put it ahead of the L200.

Personally I have a 110 Hardtop and a 90 prior to that. Excellent in snow but the problem is finding a road that isn't blocked by abandoned cars. I did the NPTC Off-road Driving course and I'd recommend this or the Lantra alternative for around £200.
 
Splog said:
I'm looking for a second car as a runabout and one that should be able to cope okay with the winter snow? It also needs to have a reasonable size of free space for carrying stuff, not huge, just better than the average car boot. Does anyone have any experience of these cars and what to look out for?... It won't be new and won't be doing much more than about 50 miles a week.
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The CR-V is utterly gutless. A friend has one and I've driven it on occasion doing retrieves for ballon flights. It drives much closer to a normal car than some 4x4s though. The boot is average sized I'd have said, although I don't know what you consider average. It's smaller than the boot on the Morris Marina I used to own, but bigger than the boot on a BMW Mini.

I'd get a 90 with a v8 with your requirements. I'd have one myself (I have a VW T25 Syncro at present), but I need a 4x4 with Transit type load carrying capability and sadly Landies don't have that sort of space. Used to have a SIIa with a retro-fitted 3.0l Ford V6 and overdrive. That was fun, but extremely noisy over 50mph :naughty:.
 
woof woof said:
I have to say that I ran an Elise with a K series engine, and I ran it hard, and I had no issues, neither did my mam with several Metro's / Rover 100's she had.

AFAIK the original K series was a wonderful piece of kit. It was years ahead of the competition and remained so for years. In later years it was spoilt by penny pinching but AFAIK all of the cost cutting issues were known about and could be reversed should the owners wish to do so. Also AFAIK many of the "head gasket issues" were actually just the end result of other problems that had gone unnoticed or ignored by the owners, the gasket just ended up being the weak point that blew and in fact some owners had multiple failures as they never fixed the underlying cause.

Having said all that I don't know if I'd want to own a pre owned one as maintenance seem to be the key and you just don't know the history of used ones. I'd have a new one though.

BTW. Last winter my MX5 got stuck on a snow covered bank and a guy with a Freelander came to tow me out. Sadly he was a bit of a twit and drove straight into my MX5 caving the wing in and doing hundreds of pounds worth of damage to my car and none at all to his.

Anyway, if going 4x4 I'd be tempted to look at the car like ones... Subaru, Audi etc.
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if i remember rightly the problem with the K series was overheating causing the chocolate gasket to fail.

again if i remember rightly lotus solved this by moving/updating the thermostat housing and/or uprating the gasket. they never had too much of an issue with the K. at least the ex's brother in law ran a 200bhp elise on DTA bodies etc with no bother.
 
What about MLs? Theyre pretty cheap on the sh marker now for an older one.
 
Consider Korean. I've been running a diesel Kia Sorento for 6 years now reaching 62,000 miles.
Nothing has ever gone wrong and starts 1st time. Pulls loads like a train.
Pulled a heavy caravan up into the Alps this summer without skipping a beat leaving posh Lexus's panting by the roadside. Older models cheap now.

Downside, poor fuel consumption. It may also be too large for your needs as stated in your post so consider its smaller brother the Sportage.
 
Splog said:
Thanks for the info, I'll certainly bear it in mind (y)



Thank you, I really don't have space for the snow tyres. I'll look into the other cars you've suggested.

It's looking like the Freelander isn't too popular then.
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Get the tyres swopped out and the "old" ones stored by whoever fits the new ones, Quickfit did that for me, £50 to store the ones they took off, worth every penny as I dont have storage space either. Snow tyres on a 2 wheel drive car are the doggs danglies.

Matt
 
I'm onto my 2nd Freelander 2 now and really like it! Takes everything I throw at it, can swallow pretty much all the luggage I need to and get a respectable but not earth-shattering 43 mpg on long drives, 37 around town.
I wouldn't touch a first gen one with a bargepole!
Joe
 
much more better priced than the new evoque, having owned a discovery before, lr are very well built and nice to drive
 
A 1990s pajero or shogun 3 door would be my choice. Solid and still loads of them about, good choice of motors too, diesel 2.5 and 2.8, petrol 3 and 3.5 litre v6.

We have a 2.8 3 door and it's decent, the 2.5s are generally regarded as a bit gutless and don't seem to be very popular, and they generate quite a bit less horsepower than the 2.8, so you may feel the struggle if you were carrying a lot of stuff or if you bought the 5 door version. The cam on the 2.8 is also chain driven whereas it's a belt on the 2.5 - which puts me off straight away.

Just don't overfill the crank case with oil too much. Mum did that on our last 2.8 (because the mechanic told her to, idiot) and a few weeks later ended up with a runaway. Miraculously the engine wasn't totalled though and continued to run afterwards problem free.
 
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Suzuki vitara I've had 3 bulletproof and great fun .
 
The freelander boot is tiny.
Get an Xtrail! Im selling mine currently to buy a defender, it end on ebay on Friday ;-)
Fantastic car though, tons of room, drives well and coped superb in the snow last year.
 
TCR4x4 said:
The freelander boot is tiny.
Get an Xtrail! Im selling mine currently to buy a defender, it end on ebay on Friday ;-)
Fantastic car though, tons of room, drives well and coped superb in the snow last year.
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I've been thinking about an X-Trail are they decent to drive? Something 4wd is going to be needed before the snow comes, so I can skirt round all the BMWs abandoned on the hill outside the house :LOL:
 
Flash In The Pan said:
I've been thinking about an X-Trail are they decent to drive? Something 4wd is going to be needed before the snow comes, so I can skirt round all the BMWs abandoned on the hill outside the house :LOL:
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Yeah, its great to drive, big enough to feel big, but small enough to still be car like. Pulls really well, the torque is very good. There is a notorius road on the ring road outside Gloucester that is a truck killer, a very long steep climb.You'll hear it on radio 2 all the time if you listen to the travel news, the Air Baloon roundabout at Birdlip. The Xtrail does it in 6th gear at 80mph and is still pulling for more.

They are pretty decent off road with the right tyres too.
Im stupid to sell mine, but I just really want a defender! :bonk:

I took the Xtrail up a very steep road last year that was under 2 foot of snow and it didnt miss a beat. The boot is massive, and with the seats down, its practically a van.
 
realspeed said:
I get 33mpg around the houses and about 45 motorway driving. Considering its a 4x4 and not a normal 2 wheel drive car I don't think the mpg is that bad.

Realspeed
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joe1978 said:
get a respectable but not earth-shattering 43 mpg on long drives, 37 around town.
Joe
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must of been an issue with mine then, I would have to make a real effort to get 35mpg on the motorway and 27mpg round town. Was a TD4 owned from new.
 
Hi Splog, I've had my Freelander from new, 06 plate.Fantastic vehicle. Just make sure that if you get a diesel that it has not been using bio diesel, as this tends to gung up the injectors(£200 + each) and the fuel pump(£170+):eek: I've always had Landrovers, simple reason being you can do alot of the work yourself, if required. (y)
 
Thanks everyone for all the advice and suggestions, appreciated (y)
 
Get a td4 freelander one - BMW engine and pretty much bombproof.

The petrol v6 version is very delicate - I had one but the engine went and was irreparable but I had no hesitation buying a td4 straight away
 
We have lots of different 4x4's at work, which are abused daily by drivers pushing them to there limit's and beyond, but anything Japanese just keeps going.
 
Splog said:
:razz: ........ ;)
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Don't knock 'em. Loads of Froggie farmers swear by them and they get treated as catch all utility transports in the back of beyond. Being so light they actually fair very well on XC! :D
 
My 2p worth.

A friend of mine has had a couple of Freelanders over the last two years...her dad was a main dealer LR mechanic before he died and she has loyalty to the brand.

First one was a 57 plate diesel automatic. Nothing but trouble. It stalled at random, had problems with the gearbox, suspension, alarm, central locking and reversing sensors. The dealer had it in for investigation three or four times but never fixed it properly. Eventually she threw it back at them as not fit for purpose and they admitted it was a Friday afternoon job and offered to trade it for a newer one. (She actually got more in trade in than she paid for it, lol).

She's since had a 59 plate diesel automatic for coming up two years. This hasn't been entirely troublefree either, but it's only had some minor irritating faults (mirrors not folding automatically and dodgy reversing sensors again, but both were sorted under warranty). It's well built, feels very planted on the road, handles well, is nicely trimmed and has lots of toys..heated seats, climate control, satnav etc. Downsides are: the boot is tiny considering the size of the car..much smaller than the earlier version, the fuel consumption isn't that great...she gets about 28mpg from mixed driving and the servicing is very expensive. She's just had bills totalling £1300 for an annual service and four new tyres (at 24,000 miles). Gulp.

You'd think she'd be put off LR for life, but she wants an Evoque next.:D
 
plain and simple if it is fitted with a land rover or range rover badge don't touch it,i have spent many years working on 4x4's and landrovers have always been dreadfull ,i'm considering a kia sorento (korean) as a tow barge or jap /german
 
There you go Steve, loads of advice from both sides of the fence, everybody has different opinions, end of it all it`s your brass, so buy what you want.......(y)

But if you buy a freelander and it goes pear shaped,don`t post about it on here, much merriment would be had............:D
 
fracster said:
There you go Steve, loads of advice from both sides of the fence, everybody has different opinions, end of it all it`s your brass, so buy what you want.......(y)

But if you buy a freelander and it goes pear shaped,don`t post about it on here, much merriment would will be had............:D
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footman said:
Consider Korean. I've been running a diesel Kia Sorento for 6 years now reaching 62,000 miles.
Nothing has ever gone wrong and starts 1st time. Pulls loads like a train.
Pulled a heavy caravan up into the Alps this summer without skipping a beat leaving posh Lexus's panting by the roadside. Older models cheap now.

Downside, poor fuel consumption. It may also be too large for your needs as stated in your post so consider its smaller brother the Sportage.
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Never ever get a Kia Sorento, nothing but trouble. mine from new when put into 4WD low would not go and it made the ABS light come on, garage found it was corroded wiring underneath. 4 times it went back to be fixed and all they did was cut out and patch the corrosion. Terrible service and poor backup thats Kia. My wifes Kia Ceed estate is even now in the garage with corroded wheels- door handle replacement-seat belt lights faulty as is the radio. Her car has done 18000 miles and not yet 2 years old. She has had to fight Kia to get it all sorted, the 7 year warrantee is rubbish and just a come on and buy gimmick. Oh nearly forgot they want to do a mod on the turbo as well although whats on it works well

Realspeed
 
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realspeed said:
Never ever get a Kia Sorento, nothing but trouble. mine from new when put into 4WD low would not go and it made the ABS light come on, garage found it was corroded wiring underneath. 4 times it went back to be fixed and all they did was cut out and patch the corrosion. Terrible service and poor backup thats Kia. My wifes Kia Ceed estate is even now in the garage with corroded wheels- door handle replacement-seat belt lights faulty as is the radio. Her car has done 18000 miles and not yet 2 years old. She has had to fight Kia to get it all sorted, the 7 year warrantee is rubbish and just a come on and buy gimmick. Oh nearly forgot they want to do a mod on the turbo as well although whats on it works well

Realspeed
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I'm very sorry to hear of your Kia woes, you've got a right couple of lemons there.
Kia main dealer is often known to be a complete joke except that it's not at all funny when you're on the receiving end.
I wouldn't touch a Kia dealer with a very long bargepole.

However, among Sorento owners, both on the UK forum and those I've met travelling it's been a very reliable vehicle.
http://www.reliabilityindex.com/reliability/search/77

I can only speak from personal experience but then so can you.
 
Just been down to Kia main dealer to pick up wifes car and service manager said everything now fixed, well it wasn't. The seat belt warning lights on her Ceed still wern't right, he went out with the wife on a test drive and had to admit then the fault was still there, looks as if one of the seat belt stalks has a bad switch.
I notice the Kia Sorento is now a perminant 4WD so they must have had a few problems with transfer boxes as well.

Its such a shame Kia let themselves down with poor workmanship/quality control in the factories as the Sorento would have been still my car of choice.

Realspeed
 
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that does suprise me i haven't heard many bad reports about the sorento ,and being a mechanic i don't use dealers anyway benefits being able to do all my own maintenance,
 
i have an 04 freelander and love it. Have owned it for 5 years and done a good 100k in it. We are a land rover family with a 90 and another on the way - no complaints from here with the freelander. I am changing mine soon but probably for a freelander 2 but in no rush to get rid of my current one.
Thumbs up from me for the freelander anyhow
 
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