So we are looking to replace the Cockmobile, and we fancy a Freelander.

Does the STW hive mind have any reasons why this could be a terrible idea?

Sensible reasons appreciated.

Ridiculous reasons also appreciated 🙂

Test drove one last year and found it too small inside for carrying stuff compared to say a Honda CRV which seemed a much nicer drive and far more space for a similar sized outer body, just my impression

Series 1 – the viscous coupling unit can fail and bollox things up, listen for clunking under full lock in reverse gear. However, remove it, and turn it into a 2wd with decent tyres and it’s excellent. Not very roomy, but I liked ours mostly. Mum has the same, and again no real problems. Her VCU is still in place.

Series 2 – rear haldex can sound like an angy bee stuck in the boot, and not cheap to deal with. When test driving listen out for rear transmission noises. Apart from that Dad has liked his.

Small for class of vehicle, expensive, don’t look very good..

What are your reasons for buying one? And what are the alternatives?

I had a series 1, when they work they are great but they are a bit fragile. Don’t touch the 1.8 petrol.

My mate has one, I always offer to take my Mondeo if wer’e sharing fuel costs. It aint economical & has less capacity than mine!

Had a 2 since 2009, it’s been great.

They can’t be that good if you’ve had 2 in the space of 7 years?

We’ve got one. Gets used for the OHs commute and for towing our sheep trailer.

Nice and high, facelift TD4 Auto (HSE so all the toys) so not bad through the gears.

VCU is a constant worry and i am keeping an eye on it (£300-350 for a genuine GKN one but if it goes it takes out the gearbox). Also injectors on the TD4 are very much an eventual and expensive consumable.

Fuel isn’t great, expect 28-34 mpg on average.

Very capable off road and has surprised me towing, especially off road. But we will be getting something with a higher tow rating soon as I don’t want to kill it towing.

If you are looking for a series 1 then things to check:

Windows – front, rear and tailgate. Put them fully up and down and listen for any twanging noises. The cables are well known for snapping. £50-70 per side window and £130 ish (parts) for the tailgate. You can repair them for less but not worth the trouble.

Door locks – a common land rover problem for some reason. £70 a lock so check all of them.

GPS – if fitted make sure it actually locks on and works. tbh the maps are out of date anyway by now but it’s a haggle point. The problem is the GPS antenna eventually fails. £50 for a new one but not much point with the out of date maps.

Driver seat bolster on leather seats.

VCU – as stoner mentions do a slow full lock reverse and feel for dragging and listen for knocks.

Auto box is a bit sluggish but in sport it’s not too bad. Just make sure it sounds good, kicks down and isnt slipping. Check for oil changes as despite what the book says they DO need changing every now and then and it will thank you for it.

Tyres – check the wear. They should all be the SAME size, SAME make (preferably) and worn similar amounts. Size differences will overwork on the VCU, especially on road/motorway cars and trash it quicker.

VCU bearings and rear diff mounts – the VCU sits on two rubber mounted bearings. The rubber eventually goes and the VCU slops around like a 16 year olds first time with a hooker. Genuine GKN bearings are about £50 or so + labour. Rear diff mounts worth checking too. Not expensive but get decent ones.

Front end wise the track rod ends can take a battering

Heated windscreen and seats – lovely additions depending on model. Check they work.

alternator can be a weak point on most land rovers so check history for this.

Also check for mention of injectors being done (good thing)

Check for smoke when booting it. Black is to be expected but lots hints at bad injectors and/or turbo.

Check the exhaust back box, especially the top of it as water sits up there and rusts them. Only £50 but again a haggling point.

Rust – it is still a land rover. Check all wheel arches, check any side step mounting points.

On the TD4 see if the history mentioned changing the crank case breather for the updated vortex one. It’s a bmw engine and they issued an update replacing the horrible foam breather for a fit and forget plastic one. Foam one clogs and causes high crank case pressures and can lead to smoke and poor starting etc.

We like ours. It’s a nice place to be. The boot is not great but it is high. The driving position is good (but if you are over 5ft 6 you wont be able to see the top of the speedo so I have to use the tom tom for speed normally). The HSE has a hint of Range Rover luxury with the full leather etc. Feels safe like a tank and people get out of your way, especially a nice black one like ours.

If you are looking for a Freelander 2 I have just wasted my time.

But they do have a much larger boot and we are planning to swap this one for one later in the year.

Stoner has it right based on our Freelander 1…the threat of a big bill if the IRD, VCU etc went was always a lingering worry but we always made sure there was even tread on the tyres and changed the diff and ird oil regularly. To be fair, we never had a problem and our 2006 was still on it first vcu when we sold it a year ago at 90k miles. Even if the final drive did go, its probably cheaper than if the DPF needed replacing on our current car 🙁 …plus cleaning the EGR on the freelander was a doddle (when it wasnt blanked)

Other than that, tight window seals results in scratches on all windows…common apparently.

Another is leaking into the boots lockable hideaway…ours was always damp in the winter

On the TD4 see if the history mentioned changing the crank case breather for the updated vortex one

^ this too. One of the first thing i did: easy diy job and im a numpty when it comes to car mechanics

IRD that’s the one. Couldn’t remember which bit it was the VCU takes out.

I did think about just changing the VCU anyway last summer but I did the VCU bearings the year before and there was no way they were coming off in one piece so I couldnt bring to waste new bearings with no real reason.

Going to get the auto box oil changed this summer as it’s been 3 years now. But probably going to get someone else to do that as it can be a PITA (have to get the temp right etc) and if it goes wrong it’s their neck not mine.

I guess the question is, what’s it for? What’s drawing you to a 4×4 and a freelander in particular.

The wife has a high spec 12 plate one.

Really good to drive, and feels safe and comfortable.

Fuel is heavy, but it’s a 190 auto so expected.

b r – SD4? Nice engine but is a bit more thirsty than the earlier 2.2 TD4 in the FL2.

If you don’t mind fuel bills then the petrol V6 in the FL2 is good and can be had quite cheap…due to the fuel bill.

Slow, thirsty, not particularly reliable.

Really good to drive

I drove my friends 11 plate and it drove like a blob of jelly…

Made my 51 plate rav4 feel like it cornered like a ferrari in comparison, I couldn’t believe it and thought it was me for a while but drove a few hundred miles in it and it didn’t feel any better. I would not buy one.

One thing that surprised me when I took up mountain biking.. I’m still a noob but I’m also a petrol head.. Is the choice of car people on remote farms choose.. You do see landys.. But the vast majority of proper working vehicles seem to be Isuzu and Toyota.

I was really tempted in the last two weeks to purchase one, but was turned off on the basis of fuel economy. Even the diesel I fancied was less than impressive in terms of its returns.

Would still like one, though.

They can’t be that good if you’ve had 2 in the space of 7 years?

I’ve only had one, it’s a Freelander2 🙂

When looking for a 4×4 a couple of years ago, a couple places mentioned a tendency for petrol models to blow cylinder head gaskets. Got a CR-V instead, big, bigger inside, reliable, probably not any thirstier than a Freelander.

An excerpt from honest John.

Unhappy Landing

Please advise me where I stand in respect of my LandRover Freelander 2.2HSE Luxury that I purchase some 2½ years ago from the Lanchester LandRover in Reading. It was first registered on 27 December 2012. It had about 6,000 miles on the clock when I bought it and currently has just under 42,000. The 3-year warranty expires on 26 December this year. Until December 2014 the car performed OK. Then it broke down just before Christmas 2014, requiring me to call Land Rover assistance to get it running again. It was taken to the nearest LandRover dealer, Strathstones of Aylesbury who updated the software relating to the steering angle sensor as it was at the wrong revision level. I drove the car 10 miles home and an error message came up advising me of reduced traction and that special programmes had been disabled. It went back to Stratstones for several days but they could not find the fault and stated they would need the car for a couple of weeks to try to pinpoint it. I returned the car to Lancaster Land Rover. By then it had errored again so Lancaster suggested I called Land Rover Assistance asking them to confirm the fault and book it in as a warranty repair. This was done and it went into Lancaster for several days. Lancaster said that Strathstones had loaded the wrong software to the steering angle sensor and went on to check the revisions of all other software packages. The car was returned to me and failed again with the same fault. It went back to Lancaster who looked at the fault code and concluded that the throttle control module was faulty and changed it. The car was returned and it failed yet again with the same error code. Lancaster again asked me to contact Land Rover Assistance and the vehicle was taken back again. Lancaster told me the throttle control module was faulty. I pointed out they had already changed this, so they said, can we keep the car for an extended period to fault it. Additionally, all the steering wheel switches started to fail randomly. The car ended up in Lancaster’s workshop for over a week. They ended up taking the dashboard out and found that when they touched a control box that interfaces between the cars sensors and the computer everything went haywire. So they changed the box. Everything seemed to work OK, but I started to hear a transmission noise, very quietly at first. The car then produced another error message: ‘gearbox fault, reduced traction.’ Land Rover Assistance again came out and the car went back in to Lancaster. They said they did a software update to the diff control, which Internet research suggested was to extend the error code parameters on the Haldex pump. A few weeks later the same gearbox fault appeared and the noise from the transmission became louder. The car went back to Lancaster again (last week). They had it for 3 days and changed the Haldex Pump and the Transfer Box. Lancaster agreed to extend the warranty for another 12 months, although they wrote to me today and asked me to pay for it. I have just written back to them pointing out their previous agreement. I would like to understand my future options. I guess that whilst the car is performing correctly I have no right of redress. However, if it should fail again, is they anything I can do to reject the car and, if so, can I expect anything other than the current second-hand retail value? I have advised LandRover that I am very disappointed with the vehicle. My biggest concern is that if the car goes wrong it will be excessively expensive to put right. I have never owned a car that has had so many faults. Any advice you can give me would be most appreciated. I have deliberately written and emailed to Land Rover on each occasion the vehicle has failed and all emails are in a single chain.

JF, Aylesbury

Barge Pole springs to mind!

if you put proper AT tyres on them they will go 90% of the places a Defender, Disco or RR will go and most of the time embarrass someone who thinks they can drive in one of the bigger siblings.

Ours has been a godsend for towing. It’s 800kg lighter than a Disco which means I can tow a trailer over 750kg without doing my B+E test and the 4×4 is traction control based so just let the car sort itself out when the going gets a bit ropey.

It’s more capable off-road than any other 4×4 in it’s class (Rav4, CRV etc) and I would rather a Suzuki than any of those if not the freelander. Just about to sort out my trailer test so I can get a larger land rover for towing. We might then get rid of it for something more efficient as we no longer need it for towing off-road but the OH does like being high up and unlike a lot of modern cars she can see over the bonnet.

Any of you series 1 owners concerned about the vcu, genuinely I recommend removing it and going 2wd. It drives much better and with good AT tyres is still capable off road – hell, I even towed the AA man and van out of the mud at mountain mayhem a few years back.

Reasons not to buy?

Colour.

I think they did them in a peus purple which I thought was not a good look, so if you don’t like the colour of one, my suggestion would be not to buy that one.

Colour is subjective of course, so you may like the purple.

We’ve had a series 2 for nearly five years and given it a pretty good thrashing off road and on outback dirt roads down here in Oz. Three problems so far:

1) Rear diff died – fixed under warranty
2) Fuel level sender had a wobbly – fixed under warranty
3) Throttle body started dying – fixed for a not insignificant amount out of warranty

It’s the first new car we’ve had, so no idea really on how reliable that is/isn’t compared to others.

Comfort-wise it’s far better than just about any other SUV I’ve driven, though others are sportier and handle a bit better (but we’ve got big A/T tyres on it). It’s been just about everywhere off-road our friends have in their Prado, and surprised many other 4wd owners at very remote camp sites. It’s out-performed just about any other car I’ve been with in soft sand. Its main problem is space if you can’t get the seats down because you have passengers. Retaining reasonable rear leg-room and good suspension travel means the boot space is eaten in to.

Would I have another one?

If I didn’t need to go on unsurfaced roads and much further regularly, then probably not. We need something bigger ourselves for all the camping gear, extra fuel, etc., now we have a sprog and can’t put the back seats down. But, there’s nowhere in the UK you can camp that requires you take a second spare tyre, 40L of extra fuel, and 100L drinking water!

I had a 2006 td4 hse, super comfy and felt luxurious, but niggles with bodywork, windows, doors, brakes just annoyed me. I got 38mpg average.

A mate has a 2, it’s quite a nice place to be. Feels to me, perhaps unsurprisingly, like a smaller, tighter feeling Discovery.

Reliability hasn’t been good though – his is still under warranty and it’s had some fairly major failures – gearbox and rear diff spring to mind. Not sure I’d want to own one post-warranty.