any good or best avoided – second hand of course

Dont buy one with the rover k series engine they overheat quite fast and are ruined.

They do head gaskets with that engine dont they?

The new ones look like they have a bigger boot. They don't.

Get a decent second hand Disco instead if you need that sort of thing.

K series is pretty good once sorted with a decent HG.

need a 4×4. Get a proper one. Need an estate car? Get a proper one

Avoid, go jap.

TandemJeremy – Member
need a 4×4. Get a proper one. Need an estate car? Get a proper one

Stop the press!

TJ in talking sense SHOCKER!

This is just my opinion after having driven a couple on and offroad for a year.

Average on road,lean far too much, rubbish off road.Intelligent full time four wheel drive effectively makes it front wheel drive. disco is the way to go if it has to be a landy with comfort.

I wouldn't get another petrol,deisel, k series or otherwise, I've gone back to Diahatsu fourtraks. other opinions may differ.

I had the Freelander 2 as a complimentary vehicle while my car was being repaired. I was quite impressed by it despite my preconceptions. It seems well built and the 2.2 diesel gave decent performance and over 40 mpg. Not a very big boot. Servicing is expensive apparently.

The Freelander 1 was widely regarded as very unreliable.

Rubbish off road unless you know how to drive one:

Maybe you forgot to wear a pink, fluffy top ?

( I do agree with you about the diesel though )

My mate had one, looked nice. Shame it needed a replacement engine and a few £1000's spent on it.

I do know how to drive one, I've been driving comp safaris for about fifteen years. that's not off road, thats a muddy puddle. This is off road.

though I do oddly enough have a pink fluffy top:)

Ours goes off road pretty well. We use to tow a trailer out of farm fields, never missed a beat doing that. Its generally pretty unreliable. TD4 BMW engine is supposedly better than the K but its not impressing me. Few other niggles, too. Boot is OK but not massive. Its OK on the road, much, much better than a defender.

I assume they're made in India now?

Rubbish off road unless you know how to drive one[b] Compared to a proper land rover[/b]:

Fixed it for you 🙂

And jahwomble love the 2nd pic!

Compared to a Defender it is pretty average off-road but compared to other soft-roaders it is still one of the best out there. Well, i can't vouch for the freelander 2 but I had a Freelander 1 diesel for some time and that would perform extremely well off-road. Good wade height, attack angles etc. HDC is a bit of gimic but works.

As others have said avoid the K-Series engine unless its had a Head Gasket overhaul.

Very good I've found! Excellent in snow. Get between 35 and 40mpg on my Freelander 2. Its for sale as well, 07 reg, 30k miles GS spec with warranty til Jan. anthonyleesATgooglemailDOTcom.

Compared to a Defender it is pretty average off-road but compared to other soft-roaders it is still one of the best out there.

^^^^ What I should have written last night.

The traction control is very good, but they do suffer, to a lesser degree than other softroaders, from having a lack of clearance underneath.

the official wading depth of a freelander 2 is 500mm; same as a defender ironically.
quite tempted by a freelander 2 for mrs fg; test drives make it a far more car based vehicle compared to the upright driving position of a defender; because of that i'll stick to my 3 different 90s.

RUNAWAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Japanese.

need a 4×4. Get a proper one.

Freelanders are actually very capable offroad – like others have said, you just need to know how to handle them.

On the road, the Mk 1 does the job but with a slightly agricultural sound. However, it hauls a fair amount of stuff, is perfectly reliable (ours has been) and does what it says on the tin. Using it in manual/sport mode means it the acceleration is surprisingly good for car of its shape and size. Eats up motorway miles effortlessly.

InaTrance, our 2006 TD4 HSE Auto (35000 miles) is for sale if you're interested. Absolutely mint except for a couple of very small 2-3mm marks on the front bumper. I would post a link to our AutoTrader ad but that may be against the rules. Email me if you'd like to know more.

sjp03uk at yahoo dot co dot uk

We're based in Surrey.

Cheers
SM

Landrover Freelander

……

Surrey

😆

Do freelanders have a low ratio box and diff locks?

I thought they did not and that these were essential for real offroad performance.

Easy now Hora…. I know quite a few people in Surrey that own Defenders, so don't go tarring all Surrey residents as Chelsea tractor drivers.

need a 4×4. Get a proper one. Need an estate car? Get a proper one

Obviously you've never driven one.

My wife has the facelifted older model with the BMW TD engine and an auto box. On road its reasonably quiet and quick enough, especially with her on/off auto driving technique… Off road it will do anything we've ever needed, including towing loaded horseboxes across paddocks/fields/muddy lanes etc. It was also superb in the snow.

We did a Land Rover off-road day in one just after we bought it, nothing stopped it – mainly due I would suggest to the 'electronics', not the driver.

I you don't need the 'size' of a Disco, the Freelander works – and go auto also.

And I get my (large) HT in fully built, just drop the rear seats.

In the wilds of the Surrey Hills..

I have driven plenty of real offroaders.

Does the freelander have diff locks and a low ratio box?

They are actually 6mm wider that a disco 3 believe it or not.

Does the freelander have diff locks and a low ratio box?

Dunno, it just works 😉

aP – Member
I assume they're made in India now?

Nope, Halewood, Merseyside – ex Ford factory.

@ OP, what do you intend to use the vehicle for?

TJ, the Freelander has a HDC Hill Descent Control system which partially does away with the need for a low ratio gear. Its been so popular that it was introdcued on the rest of the range as well as pretty much every other manufacturer copying it.

Rather than the on/off of a diff lock it has a Viscous Coupling Unit which is a lot more progressive.

Had a Freelander years ago when they first came out. It was OK off road for me; but the only time I took it 'off road' was when we went lamping so it was only farms and fields, nothing serious. Crap on the road.

It's an average vehicle at best. I doubt I would buy another. I'm sure you can get better for the money.

Freelander is probably the best offroader in it's "class" (smallish 4×4) in terms of off road ability.

Just check the history – all LRs can be very unreliable from old Defenders to brand new RRs.

I plan to get an RR TDV8 at some stage – it will go well with the 335d for hate factor…

Had a Freelander years ago when they first came out

I'd agree in that I would stay clear off anything pretty much pre 2002/03 unless unless you're very hands-on/mechanically-minded or want something you generally might have to tinker with.

IME they seemed to start refining them around that time and also made them a whole more reliable. If you check out the LR forums you'll find most people with issues have older models.

I also speak on behalf of having lived with an 03 TD4, 55 TD4 Sport, and now the 06 TD4 HSE. Mechanically, they have all been faultless. Other than that, just the occassional niggle.

Does the freelander have diff locks and a low ratio box?

No and No.

I thought they did not and that these were essential for real offroad performance.

No they are not – the Freelander has a viscous coupling instead of the central difflock. It also has traction control that uses the ABS system.

The first picture that I posted was of a "snake" course designed to test axle articulation and grip – a Defender or two got stuck on there and needed to be pulled out. A well driven Freelander ( sometimes with as many as 3 wheels in contact with the ground ) cleared the course.

As a Defender owner I was very dismissive about them until I saw one in action.

Get one with a Transit van engine in. Should run forever then 😉

We've still got a 2001 K series from new. Goes OK, never going to be a defender, but for where we live in the Malverns it's fine.

Good room for the kids in the back & dogs in the boot. Overheating is apparently caused by insufficient coolent within the engine, so don't get it hot (do't tow large trailer on hot day like we did)

But to be honest, it's not a bad motor for what it is it does what it's supposed to do. We use it round our fields for lightwt work plus good in the snow ride OK (much better compared with other similar types)

Just depends what you want one for. You want serious off roading by a serious off roader. Oh, & the HDC works pretty well on general loose stuff.

As we live not far from Eastnor, we see lots em in silver & mud along with the rest of the LR range.