I like the look of this (even though it appears to have been designed by Lego) and all reports seem to be good.

General short commute duties, with dog/caravan haulage on a regular basis and the odd skiing trip.

Looking at the 2.0 or 2.2 CRD versions, so any owner experiences welcome.

Cheers

Two mates bought new 2.0 crd ones in 2009. Engines are great and pull like a train. Unfortunately everything else fell off them. Shocking build quality. One mate still has his but he hates it with a passion. I reckon its worth about £1.5k tops.

Avoid.

Is the 2.0 diesel still the VAG unit?

Still VAG AFAIK. Model I’ll be looking at is 06-08.

Surprised at that Bregante as the reviews I’ve read have been pretty good. I was also considering a Disco but the reviews/problems with those are horrifying and mpg isn’t as good.

The main issues with both my mates cars have been electrical gremlins and poor trim quality. they both rattle and squeaked like mad (I’ve done plenty of miles in both of them as a passenger on various biking trips)

Both had ball joint failures and air con packed up on both. Other than that stiff like electric windows not working and the radio also packed up on one of them. My 10 yr old Honda is in far better condition despite having done twice the miles.

Hmmmm will have to check out the CRV and X-Trail too I suppose and have a trawl through the various threads on here again.

Anyone got anything positive about them or other options?

Cheers

I know someone who changed a perfectly good Freelander 1 for a new one a while back and regretted it, more issues than the Freeby ever gave, mainly electrical and poor build quality etc.

jeep

Epic appalling build quality. I had to change a door on one last week and the fit and finish was atrocious. And for the love of god whoever signed off on the design of bolting the door trim to the window regulator needs a sharp stick jamming up their arse. Hateful cars.

Big fan of CRV’s. I have an old 2001 one used for commuting and bike duties and she’s done 300k and still going, brilliant bit of kit. We had a 2010 one and again superb build quality. Just bought a 2015 Jazz for the mrs and the first thing i did was get in the back to see how many bikes i could get in haha.

As said, shocking build quality. The diesel engine is okay, avoid the petrols and autos.

I’m on my third Freelander 2 I really like them , good and solid no problems so far apart from one wing mirror and door lock on the first one 40mpg + on a long run

I have a 2008 CRD Limited model.

Plus points – economical, pulls well, loads of kit and massive inside. Much bigger than the Freelander.

Bad points – poor build quality, alloys get water under the lacquer and corrode, rear windows stop very occasionally.

To give a true reflection of cost to run it I bought mine in Oct 2012 with 78k miles on it. It was a 2 owner vehicle with Jeep being the first. The second was a company and it had a tow bar fitted (read on)

83k miles a wheel bearing failed. This plus new front discs/pads was £400
84k miles the clutch failed. £600
90k miles timing belt replaced at Jeep recommended mileage. £400
102k mikes (April 2014) it cost £800 to get it though the MOT. Rear discs and pads and nearly every suspension linkage joint on the car.

Being honest I wish I had bought a CRV but the Jeep was £2k cheaper at the time.

Don’t dismiss one but make sure you really know what you are buying.

I had one for 4 years.
Great car – no issues – other than the gearbox that went at 40km and was repaired quickly under warranty. It is a very common problem

It was a great load carrier , it went up anything – even in deep snow. I loved it

Now, it’s cheap, they are plasticky, it looks like action mans car, and the welding that you can see looks like it has been done by a blind man ….

I got a Suzuki Grand Vitara 2.4 petrol 2010 model with Auto , its not exciting to drive but very comfortable , its my 4th Suzkuki after, 1 jimmy , 1 swift and another vitara 3 door some years back years back. Its big inside reliable ect goes off road great , mpg around 28-32 in general depends on how heavy i am on throttle , i like the Jeep patriot cos of the shape ,but i wanted a big engined one then i saw a Grand Cherokee thing with a SRT V8 and thats all i wanted but imagine the petrol 12mpg ,hmm maybe one day ????

If you’re also looking at X trails, do not buy one with the 2,2 diesel engine, I have a friend who specialises in just rebuilding them, he’s made a fortune!

The later 2.0 engine is much much better!

It will all depend on how deep your pockets are – I would be ok with a Jeep as a workhorse again. It was also comfortable of the 1000km drives back to the UK.
But it you can up your budget to the X Trail, then the build quality will be better …

Thanks all. Some of those repair bills for relatively minor issues are horrifying!

I’ll have a look at the x-trail but a guy at work had his turbo go when it was just out of warranty – I’ll check what engine it was but he swore he wouldn’t buy another.

Kia Sorrento and Hyundai Santa Fe look ok and I suppose a sorted Freelander (is there such a thing 7 or 8 years old) is a possibility. My Father in Law has a ’11 model and hasn’t had any trouble but the one before that was never out if the garage!

The Santa Fe is well worth thinking about

For the same money in the jeep range youd be better looking at the cherokee, 2,8crd unit was mercadies, and for a big lump of car get really good mpg.

We currently get 34mpg, no matetr what were doing towing or loaded roof.

its on 90000miles now and appart from services all we have changed is a prop shaft and a diff(that we screwed up off roading) its fan only works on 4 but apparantly its an easy fix we just cant be bothered.

Another punt for the Santa fe model. 2010 7 seater. 35 mpg urban 40+ motorway. 4wd when you need it. I have one so biased I guess.

Cheers guys. Anything else I should be looking at around the £5-6k mark?

You won’t get much for your budget, you may get a td4 freelander II but probably one of the last freelander I’s. Don’t get hung up with diesel for your budget. Any savings in fuel will be wiped out by any diesel related problem you’re likely to get within your budget. A nice spec Honda Crv 2.0 petrol would be my choice. Lovely to drive on the road and good enough offroad 99% of the time. Rav4’s aren’t bad but a bit small and not as reliable as you think. If I wanted off road capability and reliabilty it would have to be a Nissan Terrano with the 2.7D. Bullet proof but a bit agricultural and mpg not so good. In this category you have to compromise, can’t have everything.

That’s useful inbred456. Current car estate is Saab 9-5 estate which I bought at £1.5-2k cheaper than the equivalent diesel version. That buys an awful lot of fuel and some of the repair costs on diesels are pretty scary.

It towed the caravan for the first time last week and one of the reasons I’m looking to change was the 21 mpg on trip to The Lakes. Some of the figures on a big diesel engine don’t seem much better!