SWMBO still wants a Freelander - (Sensible) Advice please !

[ifc63]

Being big into the horsey scene, the other half is desperate to get back to a 4x4 since we got rid of the early Disco we had for towing the trailer 10 years ago. Since then the horses have had the luxury of their own 'shite' Cargo horsebox with the missus having had whatever car I found at the time for the right money. From memory, these were Avensis, Corsa B, Corolla EE100, Astra G, Mk1 Focus and a couple of others I've probably forgotten. After the Corolla she was sniffing round Freelanders for the driving position and minimal light off-road work (farm drives etc.) but I put her off with OMGHGF and 4WD horror stories. Same again after the Astra but this time she almost got to looking round one.

Fast forward to this week, and she knows of a 2001 Y-plate Freelander TD4 with the BMW diesel engine for a grand. Am I right in thinking that if she really wants one then this is probably the least troublesome of the ones available in that price range. Also would an average MPG of around 25 be about right as less than this and she can stick with the Focus !!! 

Thanks in advance for any help and here's a suitable 'shite' Cargo pic next to one of my cars.

[forddeliveryboy]

I'd choose a British (L-series) diesel any day over the BMW unit, I think they changed to them for 2001MY. Check when the 4x4 system was last replaced, too. There are loads riding around with just the front wheels coupled to the power.

 

See this for more - http://www.arrse.co.uk/community/threads/freelander-1.187996/

[panhard65]

I would avoid freelanders but if she insists just make sure that on full lock backwards that it rolls freely. When they are on the way out they will lock up and need a bit of revs to get them to move. Diesel is better than petrol but that is like saying a Peugeot is better than a Renault they all have issues. A bag is top money for an '01 unless it is super clean with loads of history including recent clutch and prop

[CHRIS1980]

I know 2 people who had them,one had the L series and another had the TD4. Both were bags of shit in their own right. The TD4 blew all it's oil out the dipstick in the end but not before it lunched its 4x4 system. The L series engine was far better but also trashed its 4x4 system. For awhile our local Land Rover specialist would not touch them as he just hated them,but then realised what a money spinner they were. My advice would be by a good used series 1 Discovery and coset it with care and attention...and rust prevention. There are stil good ones out there and if you keep it long enough in good nick it will still be worth something.

[Mr A Lawrence]

Having had 3 freelanders I'll offer my advice.......

 

The BMW diesel unit is superior to the old L series unit being more powerful and refined.

 

Get the car on a gravel car park and put it on full lock and set off in a circle, if it drags its rear inner wheel then the viscous coupling is on its way out.

 

If it's a 3 door check the cubby box in the boot for water ingress. All 3 of mine had the problem which is down to the hardtop seal failing where it meets the body.

 

The maf sensor can fail and needs to be a genuine part at dealer prices!!

 

I had it fail on my td4auto but got round it with pierburgh one for £30 and a tuning box from eBay, cost a fraction of what LR wanted.

 

I had a 1.8 petrol, 30mpg, a td4 manual, 38mpg and a td4 auto, 32mpg. So 25 to the gallon is reserved for the 2.5v6 which is best avoided.

 

We pulled a caravan which weighed around 1350kg with relative ease.

[Joey spud]

As above check to see if the rear prop is still attached.

 

Over the years i have removed a few at the side of the road to get people home after the viscous coupling unit has started to drag excessively which if not attended to can knock teeth off the front diffs crown wheel / pinion.

[ifc63]

Thanks for the input, it might slightly strengthen my argument to avoid at all costs. She is of the opinion that if it's cheap enough, then if it breaks then it can be fixed. What she hasn't factored in is if it breaks again....and again....and again (repeat ad infinitum)

[barefoot]

Fuck her right off & get a younger one.

[DVee8]

Buy a Nissan X-trail

 

Job jobbed

[scruff]

You can get freelanders super cheap. Not my cup of tea but they are almost in "use it till it dies then frag" territory. Not sure the TD4 is "superior", yes it has more guts and is quieter but the old L series is a bombproof thing and can be b00sted to get some more go.

Nice Cargo, more picz please

[dollywobbler]

I love the looks of them. But that's about it. I'd echo X-Trail support though. They seem pretty good. 

[Noel Tidybeard]

x-trail

crv

hi-lux

ranger

[KruJoe]

RAV4 all the way.

 

But if you want a Freelander, petrol, new MOT, my brother has one for sale cheap (N Yorks).

[Alan_Green]

Never mind about the Freelander. That red car isn't a Subaru Brat. It's a convertible L Series/Leone, right? That car doesn't exist!  Well impressed. Those L Series are one of my fave cars of all time.

[dollywobbler]

I thought it was a Toyota Celica...

[Honey Badger]

Another Vote for a CR-V or if you want a smaller cheaper car some of the old HR-Vs have a the same 4 wheel drive system with a wee 1.6 engine.

[Alan_Green]

I started off thinking it was a Celica....then decided those were Brat wheels/Brat features....but now I think it's a Celica again. Celica Sunchaser?

[KruJoe]

 

That's his 1981 Celica Sunchaser convertible.

 

[CHRIS1980]

You can get freelanders super cheap. Not my cup of tea but they are almost in "use it till it dies then frag" territory. Not sure the TD4 is "superior", yes it has more guts and is quieter but the old L series is a bombproof thing and can be b00sted to get some more go.

Nice Cargo, more picz please

People think because it's a BMW engine, it's better but in this case it's not. The reason my mates blew its oil out was because of a filter inside or near the cam cover that no one at rover or Land Rover thought/knew should be changed. Then there's the injectors failing and hoses blowing up or collapsing ,which I might add does happen to the L series too. Land Rovers as a whole are not the last word in reliability but the Freelander took them to new lows,I love landys but I would not give a Freelander house room. There isn't many cars in the same class that are any good TBH. They are mostly just for posing and lack any ability that needed from a real 4x4.

[Tayne]

My sensible advice would be to buy a P38 Range Rover as its a much nicer place to sit whilst you wait for the AA patrolman*.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*Other breakdown services are available. 

[rainagain]

My OH also fancied a Freelander, managed to persuade her to get a Hyundai Tucson in the end. It's a 2 litre petrol manages about ~36mpg on a run, less round town. I thought it was a pretend 4x4 like the CRV but from reading the factory service manual the clutch unit that sends drive to the back is actually quite clever, and it sends power depending on a variety of inputs, speed, steering angle, etc. There's plenty of videos of russian people doing silly things with them on youtube so they must be quite tough. 

[ifc63]

I thought it was a Toyota Celica...

As KruJoe rightly points out, it's one of the Celica Sunchasers that I own. I've got 2 weeks off work now, so should really buckle down and get the rear brakes/wheel bearing done and get the rest of the summer out of it.

The other half isn't in yet, but I'm going to point her at this thread and the links contained therein. When she goes out and spends the cash on a Freelander, at least I can bring out the old saying of "I told you so!" whilst wearing a smug look !!! ( With my Toyota leanings, I've tried to get her into a RAV4 but she doesn't like the looks of them - what the hell have looks got to do with it ! ). Saying that I nearly got her a Tercel 4WD that came up on the bay a couple of years ago, just think it could be a decree nisi by now

[KruJoe]

YES! to the Tercel idea.

Our very own "DodgyTom" has one on eBay just now:

 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/191622710962

 

In "Sunchaser* Red" too, for his'n'hers appeal.

[Mr A Lawrence]

No good off road??

 

When I bought my td4 manual new in 2003 I was treated to a days off roading in Bala LR experience centre.

 

The only place we couldn't go was in the deep water where the defender drivers could go!!

[dave21478]

Well, I am going to go against the opinion here and say they are pretty good.

 

Mine is a 2001 model td4 that I bought from a salvage auction years back for under a grand with dozens of previous owners and no history at all. I have abused the ever-loving shit out of it over the last five years or so and its still going strong. In fact its the car I have owned for the longest in my life!

 

I have never had transmission problems with mine (I did change a sticky VCU as a precaution a while back but did so before it killed anything else, £200 for a recon unit).

I have had injector trouble and it needed a new turbo, but thats hardly unusual for a 15 year old high mileage common rail diesel engine no matter what car it might be in.

I have also changed the clutch, but again thats hardly a freelander-specific problem.

Its had other stuff go wrong, but given the mileage and that every other day I am ploughing it through brambles and overhanging branches, through mud and up very steep hills, I can forgive it the odd failure like ABS sensors or an alternator.

My only real fail-to-proceed was a shredded aux belt, which runs the water pump so I stopped rather than try to drive it home and risk cooking it.

 

I have a tuning box, pierburg MAF and blocked off EGR and it fairly shifts compared to standard - never gives less than 36mpg even when towing close on two tons every few days at work and will give more on a run.

 

Its comfortable enough and car-like on road to drive everyday without problem and it will hold its own offroad, only let down by ground clearance that is lower than discos etc.

 

The only thing that annoys me is that I seem to have bought the only rusty one ever. See my welding thread on here for gory picks of me elbow-deep in its sills.

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Don't know much about them, but I'm impressed at the mpg figures mentioned ,Mrs N has got a Mondeo engined 6 speed Manuel Freelander 2 and the only time the OBC shows more than 30 mpg is on long gentle M-way runs ,when it might creep up to 34mpg. If I'd known how bad it would be I'd have got a Disco3. Although in 2 1/2 years and 30 odd thousand miles the reliability has been exemplary,probably not something I'd be saying about a 4 th hand Disco with a V6 Pug engine.

[Taff]

rather than start a new thread...

 

2002 petrol Freelander, so I suspect it's the same kettle I have in the MGF?

 

Using water, funny noises, overheating.... is it what I think it is?

[Dick Cheeseburger]

A couple of people I know had/have Freelanders and haven't had issue. Having said that, friend number one was persuaded to buy his by his wife. They're divorced now. Colleague number two was my ex boss and the worst person I've worked for in my entire 40 years. Even if you buy a reliable* one, you may need to change your name to Damian.

[Bobthebeard]

An elderly (75 year old) friend has one. A 2002 1.8. He has owned it since new and consistently abused it in terms of not servicing it until it broke. Low annual mileage. Five years ago the OMGHGF resulted. The coolant level had been dropping. I warned him of the result. He ignored me. He paid £££££s to have it fixed. Now the coolant level has started to drop again.... Result? He ignores it. It started banging and clanging on the M6 last month. Had to be rescued by the RAC who removed the propshaft. He reckons as he never goes off road it doesn't need fixing and soldiers on regardless.

The mileage is around 85,000 IIRC. The thing has been totally abused in terms of maintenance but still keeps going. Ok, it will fail big time soon I am sure. But it does keep on going.

 

Edit. Just noticed that the OP started this thread in July.. So has probably forgotten all about it now and bought something else.

[Lacquer Peel]

Buy an older Suzuki Grand Vitara, choice of Mazda and Peugeot diesels, fairly cheap to run with a proper 4x4 layout.

 

If anybody has a reliable Freelander they got lucky.