Land Rover Freelander - any good?

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Splog

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Hi all

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.

Any other car suggestions appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
 
Yep, dont get one with a K series engine, nothing but problems, and pretty well documented at that. Head gasket went on mine when only 2.5 years old and again 9 months later.
 
cant be 100 % certain but the k series is that the one they put the same engine in the rovers or same head as they had massive problems with that engine and i remember there was a big thing about them going back to main dealer with no mileage and rover said it was a fault but landrover said there was no such fault and was charging full whack to repair them if so stay away unless you want a hefty bill
 
Prone to problems which is why you can pick them up so cheap!

There are plenty of 4x4's available which would be better, x-trail, cr-v, rav4 etc.

If it is just for the snow you want the 4x4 why not consider a normal car and get a set of cheap spare alloys with some snow Tyres on if you have the storage.
 
wisemen said:
Yep, dont get one with a K series engine, nothing but problems, and pretty well documented at that. Head gasket went on mine when only 2.5 years old and again 9 months later.
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wegotitugetit said:
cant be 100 % certain but the k series is that the one they put the same engine in the rovers or same head as they had massive problems with that engine and i remember there was a big thing about them going back to main dealer with no mileage and rover said it was a fault but landrover said there was no such fault and was charging full whack to repair them if so stay away unless you want a hefty bill
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Thanks for the info, I'll certainly bear it in mind :thumbs:

TheNissanMan said:
Prone to problems which is why you can pick them up so cheap!

There are plenty of 4x4's available which would be better, x-trail, cr-v, rav4 etc.

If it is just for the snow you want the 4x4 why not consider a normal car and get a set of cheap spare alloys with some snow Tyres on if you have the storage.
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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.
 
TD4 with auto box is the way to go, its the best engine, call it 2nd generation. All cars have generic problems the freelander had it's share, I believe the usual water getting in and computer generated problems are an issue ( what car is not these days).3rd Generation freelander will have brought the td4 down, full service history and check the owners forums.
I am a former landrover /offroad enthusiast and getting rid of the magazines and replacing with photography ones.
I would suggest you go german or japanese though.
 
The wife has a CRV, superb bit of kit Steve, very well made.....:thumbs:

I have a Hilux, bit of a tank but it does what it was made for.
 
my only experience with a freelander was a hire car through work which wor paid for on a trip to Bristol back in about 2006.

Thirsty. Bloody hell it was thirsty. If I remember, back when petrol was about 85p a litre I got through £120+

The only cool thing about it was you could put the back window down.
 
For the love of God, just don't :lol:

A CR-V or something like that will be far more reliable, if a bit heavy on the fuel. Even old ones seem to drive pretty well. Owning an old Freelander would just be like standing by the side of the road ripping up £20 notes.
 
Okay, The Freelander won't be on my shopping list :lol: Must admit the Crv and the Rav4 look promising, but the Hilux..... :cool:
 
fracster said:
I have a Hilux, bit of a tank but it does what it was made for.
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I agree with Frac ( A worrying trend - can i get treatment do you think ? ) we've got a ranger at work currently , but i'm swapping it for a hilux next budget year (the ranger is okay tho a bit gutless towing heavy loads) but the hilux is definitely my non landrover 4x4 of choice (that said if its purely for snow rather than taking off road the subaru forester isnt a bad compromise between a car and a 4x4)

IMO the only decent landrovers are the defenders (and related series) - I'd recomend an ex army lightweight - they are a bit spartan so swimbo wont be too impressed , but they arent that bad on the fuel and they are rugged as ****
 
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Flash In The Pan said:
For the love of God, just don't :lol:

A CR-V or something like that will be far more reliable, if a bit heavy on the fuel. Even old ones seem to drive pretty well. Owning an old Freelander would just be like standing by the side of the road ripping up £20 notes.
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and that's ONLY because you stood by the side of the road earlier ripping up the £50's and ran out of them.
 
is it actually possible to kill a Hilux? I had a good go in a summer job when i was 19 and failed. Top Gear failed.
 
Lynton said:
is it actually possible to kill a Hilux? I had a good go in a summer job when i was 19 and failed. Top Gear failed.
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Mine is a UK 4Runner, 1996, 180,000 miles on it, uses no oil nor water, goes off road over moors,fields and everywhere else I go,never been close to getting stuck. I keep promising myself a nicer/newer one when it dies......could be a long wait.........:lol:

The CRV is a damned good bit of kit Steve, shop around and you can get older ones nice and cheap.Also, because they are Honda, they work,simple as that.

I would never buy anything other than a japanese car in the budgets I work to regarding cars.
 
big soft moose said:
I agree with Frac ( A worrying trend - can i get treatment do you think ? )
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I`ve noticed this worrying trend of agreeing with each other as well, could it be the lack of sunlight and vitamin D..................:suspect:
 
Japanese it is :thumbs: .... Thanks again :)
 
CRV has a built in picnic table in the boot as well, that must be a deal clincher.................:lol:
 
wisemen said:
Yep, dont get one with a K series engine, nothing but problems, and pretty well documented at that. Head gasket went on mine when only 2.5 years old and again 9 months later.
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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.
 
fracster said:
CRV has a built in picnic table in the boot as well, that must be a deal clincher.................:lol:
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Poof! :lol:

(that's more than the original Range Rover Vogue had!)

CRVs are good, as are X-trails and in more modern terms the Mits Outlander is fantastic (I've owned both of the latter); but if you are only doing 50 mile a week I'd be using it as an excuse to play around in an LR Lightweight/Airportable/ 1/4 tonner (whichever you want to call it). Great toys!
 
Don't ever get a Honda CR-V, I had one and its got no guts, couldn't get up a hill in anything but low gear, and it was bought new.
Just bought a year old freelander and its very very good and would recommend one every time.


4x4's are my thing having had 3 Toyota Landcruiser Amazons- Ford Explorer - Honda CR-V -2 Lexus RX-300SEL- Isuzy Citation- Toyota 4 Runner- Range Rover- Kia Sorento- to name a few. So I have some experience with 4x4's over many years

Tip

Avoid anything with air suspension well known fact the outside edge of the front wheel wear very heavily due to the camber on the turn and you will be lucky to get 18000 miles from them

The Toyota Surf is the import version of the 4 Runner a 4x4 pickup with a fixed back, terribly light on the back and will slide on the slightest bit of wet road one to seriously avoid, as the police officer who was going to book me found out when I invited him to try it out on the same roundabout and he did the same as me and lost control.

Try and avoid ones that are 2 wheel drive with transfer box to make it 4 wheel drive- transfer boxes arn't that reliable plus going into 4x4 mode makes it heavy on fuel compared to a full 4x4. Also you can really feel the drag in 4x4 mode.


Some 2x4's have strange ways of getting out of 4x4 mode ,like having to reverse for a distance in one instance.

Realspeed
 
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woof woof said:
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.
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The design of the engine, iirc, won an award but the execution was woeful, almost every one I came across in the early 90s had a weeping or blown head gasket and many self destructed within months of first leaving the showroom, I think Rover ended up recalling a huge amount of Rover 200s because of head or camshaft issues and Ford had nothing but headaches when they inherited the K-series LR models.

It even ended up on Watchdog - Ford admitted there were problems and fixed them, but Rover refused to and owners of their products were left to foot the bill themselves for engine rebuilds when it all went bang.
 
I had a 52 reg Freelander, a petrol one.

Never had a single breakdown or fault in nearly three years, and my wife walked away with bruises and a sore neck after a drunk driver in an old Shogun hit her head on (and drove away - scumbag).

Fuel economy was reasonable, always the right side of thirty to the gallon, and very similar to the Mini Cooper we replaced it with.

Obviously, we've seen sense now, and got a Navara. Now that's a nice car!
 
realspeed said:
The Toyota Surf is the import version of the 4 Runner a 4x4 pickup with a fixed back, terribly light on the back and will slide on the slightest bit of wet road one to seriously avoid, as the police officer who was going to book me found out when I invited him to try it out on the same roundabout and he did the same as me and lost control.


Realspeed
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How very odd, having had for one three years I have never lost control on a road nor off road, but then again I don`t drive it like it is a road car.Simply because it is not one nor does it handle like one, if you want to drive fast get a sports car.
 
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might not be a popular choice but the nissan pathfinders/Navaras are great workhorses
 
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No one mentioned Fronteras yet? There's one going cheap in N. Wales apparently!
 
wisemen said:
Yep, dont get one with a K series engine, nothing but problems, and pretty well documented at that. Head gasket went on mine when only 2.5 years old and again 9 months later.
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Mine managed 42000 miles before the head gasket went. :(
100 miles before the air con lost all it's gas.
10000 miles before the sunroof running mechanism broke.

Personally I would never touch one again. It's Japanese or German 4x4 for me now.
 
Go Japanese or German.

Our CRV is faultless - and has been for 6 years now. It has never missed a beat and never let us down. The local Honda dealer is also superb.

A CRV would seem ideal for what you suggest - take one for a test drive and see what you think.

Prior to the CRV we had a Subaru Legacy Estate - zero problems as well but if you pushed the pedal too hard, men in blue uniforms, sitting inside cars with blue flashing lights would chase you..........................
 
I feel the need to come in and say something positive I've driven lode lane(land rover) products since before I had a driving licence and if you maintain them properly they're great :thumbs: I would avoid the k series engine they were not the good, but is you want a car that you can rely on take a look at a series 2 freelander I have a few friends that drive them and have no problems :thumbs:

Matt
 
fracster said:
How very odd, having had for one three years I have never lost control on a road nor off road, but then again I don`t drive it like it is a road car.Simply because it is not one nor does it handle like one, if you want to drive fast get a sports car.
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I resent you insinuating that I drive fast because I don't. Having held a driving licence and been a car owner since 1962 and never ever got a speeding/parking ticket I think proves my point. That includes having to drive for a living for 20 years as part of my last job.


This slide happened on a roundabout approach in the wet going downhill. All the weight under braking was on the front and the back end just broke away.

Realspeed
 
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MWHCVT said:
but is you want a car that you can rely on take a look at a series 2 freelander I have a few friends that drive them and have no problems :thumbs:

Matt
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yep I ha a freelander 2 for 3 years. No issues in terms of reliability. If I had to say a bad word about it they are still thirsty and the load space isn't as good as you'd think considering how big they are
 
Less than 50 miles/week? Why not go the whole hog and get a Defender? a 90 TDi will return around 25mpg if driven reasonably sensibly and will get you places a Freelander will never see. Properly maintained, it should be reliable and not too noisy. IIRC, the non intercooled 2.5 diesels are to be avoided though.
 
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
 
My parents have had a range of 4x4s over the years including defenders, freelanders and a CRV. All the land rovers they've owned have been unreliable and expensive to run unlike the CRV which was very reliable. The land rovers go better off road though and they keep coming back to them so there must be some draw to them. If it was my money and I needed something for countryside duty I'd probably go the pickup route and get a Nissan Navara or something similar.
 
realspeed said:
I resent you insinuating that I drive fast because I don't. Having held a driving licence and been a car owner since 1962 and never ever got a speeding/parking ticket I think proves my point. That includes having to drive for a living for 20 years as part of my last job.


This slide happened on a roundabout approach in the wet going downhill. All the weight under braking was on the front and the back end just broke away.

Realspeed
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Well there was either something wrong with the vehicle or your driving, quite simple really. If you lose control, then something/someone is to blame,no?

If it was a 4Runner I would suspect a seized load compensater on the back axle.
 
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