WIth all this white stuff causing chaos I was look at autotrader for a cheap 4×4.
There seems to be quite a few X/W/Y plate 1.8 petrol Freelanders for sub 1500 notes.

Why so cheap – should I run away now. Are they truly awful or would I get a winter out of it.

Any horror stories?

You might get a winter out of it but basically the 1.8 litre petrol engine is the weak point. It’s a stretched and enlarged K-Series engine: they’re well known for headgasket failure and are relatively over-stressed in the Freelander.

The same year with a diesel engine is a better bet.

I’d be very wary of first generation FreeLander. Had a horrific reputation (there was an expose in CAR magazine based on internal docs of all the faults that LR were aware of). If you want a cheap reliable 4×4 and aren’t worried about being fashionable, I’d suggest a look at second generation Vauxhall Frontera. Just my pov.

My dad has had 3, 2 1.8’s and a 2.0 litre (or 2.2, can’t remember)Freelander 1’s from new, all spent more time in the garage than on the road. Avoid mate. Last one was the Freelander 2, that was even worse. Personally I would not have one given. I agree with The Fopster, I loved my Fronty. It was a daily driver and off roaded every month. Never missed a beat.

I bought one a few months ago for £1400 and it was fine…. till Friday when I knackered two exhaust valves, now it needs a fair bit of work….

By all accounts it was £1400 not very well spent

Stay clear of the petrol engine, its under powered, thirsty and prone to blowing head gaskets (it was a fault in the 1.8 petrol engine used in all Rovers).

My TD4 however has been bomb proof so far, i’ve got a 4 year old one with 80k miles on it and it’s never missed a beat. Just make sure it’s been regularly serviced and had the breather filter replaced each time (this wasn’t in the LR service schedule but saves the turbo from being clogged with oil I believe.)

Cheers folks – I guess I now understand why the 1.8 petrol version are so cheap. Best avoided ehh!

Off to have a look at other cheap (disposable) 4×4 on autotrader.

Ta much

I have a TD4 as well, and it is great. I tested a 1.8 petrol and didn’t like it. The TD4 seems to suit it better, and as has been said, the 1.8 is bad for head gaskets.

My wife had a first gen one as a company car. It was absolutely fantastic and we both loved it, but crucially were only able to love it as we weren’t the ones paying to get it repaired. Unhelpfully, I can’t remember if it was diesel or gasoline.

Scariest was losing all power (and a heap of engine bits) after a con-rod decided it wanted to see the world and exited through the bottom of the engine while we were doing 70+ in the middle lane.

First gen? Great little truck, but I wouldn’t want to own one.

1.8 K series – the only Land Rover to have more engines than owners 😆 . I think my sister called it a day on the third engine after a couple of head skims and new gearbox. Run away!!!

Get a diesel or, for that age, get a Honda CRV.

TD4 is a better bet, if you get a cheap 1.8 petrol , you can fit modifieyed head gasket and a head saver shim, pitting around the ring were the head gasket fitted caused the old type head gasket to keep failing,( of course it was a crap design gasket )with a head saver shim you can skim em right down to get rid of the pitting .

Head gasket went on mine too, terrible engine.

had a couple of td4’s since 2003. a little quirky electrically, tiny boot, apart from that excellent.

try an off road session in one and see what they can do. that land rover badge is on there for a reason..

My mate runs a big landy business in falkirk (gemm 4×4). His free advice to all – dont buy a petrol – never.

Simple.

Fortunaly lot of folk dont listen to his advice. Makes him a wealthy man 🙂

EDIt – I should try and reiterate his words more exactly: Never ever even if your life depends on it and even if I fall out with you and hate your guts and you rape my wife and in your maddest dreams would I ever recommend you buy a petrol – I’ll just have to shag you up the ass….. but I’ll make so much money etc

I’ve never owned one but you should get the drift…..

Edit – his name is George: if you need impartial advice give him a ring

lookout weirdo on the forum alert

subaru forester – bulletproof and good to drive

lookout weirdo on the forum alert

ok – true – but if you ever met george such language is tame – even highly edited to meet the strict standards of this forum.

Is his common sense weird – yes. Based on experience – yes. Will everyone follow it – no. will his kids ponies and horses go hungry this winter? No. Why – someone will buy a petrol freelander – fixing it keeps his family of 5 and 3 horses in food and holidyas in Florida!

Stay well away from any early freelander. Made of tissue paper and you will be injured or killed in an accident. Structurally as strong as a wet paper bag, Top Gear showed how badly the safety cage deformed in an NCAP test. I have family experience of how bad they are too.

Suzuki vitara a good option? Can be had for very very little money.

Vitara will be tougher and probably better in the rough.

the Freelanders are getting on now so go for the most basic to avoid silly problems. LR now have a kit for the headgasket but its would be a bit of work and expense unless you find one already done.

The rear axle also has a problem with one of the couplings if never used in 4wd mode due to oil starvation.

Also bear in mind that the rear drive on Freelanders (think the latest gen might be different), and most similar “4×4’s” only engages after the front wheels have started to slip. It is therefore pretty good at getting you out of trouble, but not so good at stopping you getting into trouble in the first place.

Part of the skill in driving in difficult conditions is to avoid getting into trouble….

Even a lot of bigger 4×4’s can’t run in 4wd on good surfaces – they need some loss of traction to compensate for the lack of centre differential (allows for the different length paths travelled by the front and rear axles).

Our 1.8 was at 85000miles when we sold it and we had no engine faults.
I would say the diesel option better though.

We sold ours at 18,000 miles and already the tell-tell signs were showing aroudn the head gasget. Nice car to look at – build quality was awful.

Wife wanted the car, so we bought in new and had to p/ex it a few years later as we couldn’t shift it privately.

So many things went wrong 🙁

Mate of mine bought a Y reg, cost around £1100, must have spent the same on repairs since. Cooling, electrics, a diff, driveshaft, water leaking through sunroof etc. Avoid.

Wideload – do you need much space? If not, I highly recommend a Suzuki Jimny. Cheap to buy, reliable, VERY good off road and in the snow.

Ours never missed a beat in three years – still missed even though a nice “puma” 110 Defender XS replaced it (about the only vehicle that is better off road than a Jimny).

I’d also look at old Fourtrak and maybe the Vitara. A Freelander of that price range will be ruinously expensive to look after.

My wife has a 56 plate face-lifted TD4. No problems to 70k, except it started to run rough last week. Took it to a pal, and two (of four) injectors had failed. Apparently its a known problem – thanks BMW.

The petrol engine is a K series and like all K series needs servicing properly, and all fluids kept topped-up.

I have the same TD4 (04) as b r.

Got it 6 weeks ago with just 20k on the clock. Put some nice new boots on it a few weeks ago all in preparation for weather like this and its been brilliant. Got it as we now live 1 mile of un-treated/un-ploughed track from a primary route.

It also has heated leather seats and windscreen, which frankly are the best inventions man has ever come up with. Even if the freelander blows up next week, my arse will be warm while it does it 😉

Stoner – assume that’s a Freelander 2? Bit out of budget for the OP methinks!

Heated seats and screen in the Defender too – flipping marvellous in these conditions!

The one actually called the Freelander 2 came out in 2007. In 2004 they released a less crappy version of the version 1 model. 1B if you like, or 2-lite.
But you’re right probably a bit over the OPs price range for a winter snow hacker.

How about getting a FWD small car with snow tyres instead? Could do that for £1k.

Stoner – that’s flipping low mileage then!!

yep. Its why I got it over a similarly priced CRV with 4x miles on the clock and bald pedal rubbers.

It looks like it was a posh missus’ car pre-divorce. It came with a vanity plate in the married name. Since he didnt want to keep the plate I can only guess he no longer had a need of it 😉

It did 18k in its first 3 years and about 1k a year for the next three. Obviously just sat on his drive as a spare car.

Tyres needed changing straight away though – originals. Loads of tread left but more cracks in the rubber than Keith Richards face.

Looking for a cheap 4×4? You could do worse than a £2k Shogun or Disco 2. The Jimny, as Surf-Mat mentions, is perfectly OK, though personally I just don’t like them.

Depends on needs/wants.

Oh, and to really put you off Freelanders, don’t mention IRD failure to anyone who’s faced it; a wallet-draining experience.

Spoke to a friend of mine who races landies offroad and he thinks that any landrover product as a main family car is a no-no. As a hack for green laning and the like or for getting around the farm they are great. He recommends the older Rav4 2.0 petrol. Reasonable Off road and snow capability and good on Tarmac.

Looking for a cheap 4×4? You could do worse than a £2k Shogun or Disco 2.

+1 for a cheap Shogun. I bought mine cheaply at auction. Best 4×4 I’ve ever used in the snow.

To echo couldashouldawoulda, what George at Gemm4x4 does not know about Land Rovers is not worth knowing. I’ve owned a Freelander TD4, brilliant thing, and upgraded to a Disco3 when I needed the extra room. It has pulled through snow up to the bumpers (18″ odd) today on its OEM tyres, cracking thing… and on a similar vein to Stoner my bum has been nicely warmed by the heated seats. The Disco has two settings for that… boil and simmer 😯

Inbred, I have to take issue with the contention that any LR product is a useless family car. If you can put up with the running costs (fuel, road tax, tyres, servicing – all expensive) then a Dicso 3 is a truly excellent all-rounder.

And the Freelander 2 is a good product, albeit sterile. I certainly didn’t like the loan ones I’d had when the Disco was in for service.

Also a few off road places aimed at LRs that don’t allow Freelanders. Discos, Defenders and RRs (not Sport) are fine Not saying it’s right but that’s the situation.

05 TD4 HSE here (the ‘1b’ I guess!). It’s been a godsend today, flying up stuff where mere mortals have come to a halt, and down stuff totally in control with the idiot proof Hill Descent. 97k on the clock, and purchased off a s/h dealer with warranty to put the ‘reliability’ fears to bed… in the 12 months since I picked it up it’s needed – new rad, new parking sensor, new boot handle, leak into boot fixing and some wear and tear stuff (pads, tyres). None of the above covered by the warranty 😈

So IMHO yes, unreliable, but great in the snow/mud, and a spot on for chucking bikes/gear/dog/wife in for weekends away etc. And yeah, heated seats that make you feel like you’ve wet yourself.

alaric

I was told by the dealer that Freelanders run 60/40 front to back through a viscous coupling, so were permanent 4 wheel drive?

But whichever, my TD4 works great. I had loads of fun getting home today!

Fred, they’re permanent 4wd in the respect that the system is always active and requires no input from the driver.

However, in normal conditions only the front wheels drive. Only when there is sufficient slip between the front and rear does the silicon fluid in the viscous coupling heat up and harden transferring drive to the rear.

This was the case on the first 2 generations, I’ve even been on a Land Rover experience and seen it demonstrated. You can work with the system by picking the revs up to 2000rpm or so when the front is slipping to help the coupling lock up. I think the newer Freelander uses a different system (probably more reliant on traction control type systems).

Alaric.