Blog : Why I hate the Land Rover Freelander
March 4, 2013
· 
Mike Humble · 
60 Comments
Mike Humble
Part of me feels guilty for writing this article on the Freelander, Land Rover’s baby 4×4. This is, after all, a site in which we cherish our fading British car companies and celebrate some of the great names that once pounded the highways and by-ways of England.
But there again, we all differ in opinion and whereas some consider the Allegro to be a disgusting swine of a car that reflects everything that was wrong with BLMC during the 1970s others consider it to be a sweet little tool which today brings a smile to the face upon spotting such whining along the road.
Following the launch of the Range Rover in 1970, it seemed Land Rover could not put a foot (or rib and lug tyre) wrong after such models including the V8 powered station Wagon or Discovery came on line. I will confess to owning a 2001 TD5 Discovery 2 which looked stunning in Java Black, falling head over heels with the Disco – a model which perfectly complimented the range. A car that was able like a Defender (tyre equipment permitting) yet offering creature comforts of a luxury saloon at a fraction of the cost of a Range Rover – the Discovery, and rightly so, deserved its success and continues to do so.
After much fuss and hubbub, the Freelander was revealed to the public in a blaze of glory in 1998. It was a British-built and designed mini 4×4 aimed mainly at the leisure market with pretty styling. Permanent all-wheel drive and a model to suit all pockets and seemingly showcasing the abilities of the Rover Group - it was bound to be a hit and it was. Brand-conscious buyers almost fell over each other to get behind the wheel of this award-winning car and features such as the hill decent control (HDC) were revolutionary, as well as brilliant to use.
Powered by K-, KV6- and L-Series engines, it was a pure British design which looked cute, able and stylish. So where did it all go wrong? I shall explain: following the historic events of 2000 when BMW sold off Land Rover to Ford, in my opinion, quality took a dramatic nosedive. Tales of the 1.8 K-Series engine exploding like a firework had become legendary; and the punchy 2.5-litre KV6 drank fuel like it was going out of fashion. But none of these faults seemed to have any impact on sales. For me, it was the disgraceful drop in build standards that shocked me like no other car once Land Rover became part of Ford.
Not a bad view on the eye but quality is shocking for what is perceived as being a premium brand.
Our Disco TD5 was part exchanged for a 2005 Freelander HSE which looked stunning in it’s shade of Alveston Red, starfish alloys, smart black leather interior and Becker sat-nav with Harmon-Kardon audio gave it all the eye candy it needed for us to fall hook line and sinker. I never wanted to get rid of the Disco – it was manly, imposing and slightly intimidating in stance but, on the flip side, was a sod to park, took half a day to clean and was cumbersome to pilot in heavy congested traffic. We did the deal on the Freelander and a cracking deal we gained, but it marked a time where my patience (of which I am far from being blessed with) was tested to the limit.
Soon after taking delivery, the intercooler pipe split, covering everything in the engine bay in a fine oily mist, the indicator/side lamp lenses constantly filled with water, the handbrake was awful and stiff in action, requiring two hands to hold the damn car on a severe gradient. The gearchange was akin to an LDV van and staying on the subject of gears, the lovely stitched-leather knob was ruined with the nastiest vinyl gaiter I have ever seen this side of an FSO. The neat, dual-action tailgate window leaked water when washed, the centre console creaked like an old barn door if you glanced it with your knee and the plastics of the console and upper dash felt horrid to the touch and very sub-standard.
Around two months later, the intercooler pipe split once again and back to the dealer she went to be repaired. I spoke to the service dept and played merry hell to be told that a suitable modification would be applied. After picking the car up, they had simply stuck a foam pad where the intercooler pipe rubbed against the head of a locating screw on the inlet manifold.
After a few weeks, the aforementioned foam pad fell off and I applied my own mod by means of removing the screw and using a cable tie which gave the 10mm clearance needed for the pipe not to touch – job done. Other faults included a heater cable which came adrift once the warranty expired requiring a monumental number of screws, clips and fastenings to be undone along with a healthy appetite for sidelight bulbs.
The famous IRD unit – everything you see bar the casings is made of liquorice.
Not entirely the car’s fault, but the dealer could have tried harder too. I remember `er indoors calling me at work on the morning of dropping off the Disco and collecting the Freelander almost in tears. It transpired something had gone wrong behind the scenes and the salesman we dealt with was not present to do the handover.
So my missus went through the handover process with the business manager in seemingly breakneck speed and was, literally, thrown the keys to the new car. No ‘ask me and I’ll explain’, no form of demonstration of features and barely a thank you for our repeat business. So overall, our Freelander was spoilt by either shabby build quality or shabby customer service – though the salesman did get in touch to apologise after I went wild.
On the plus side, the ride and handling was nothing short of superb, the BMW sourced M47-Series diesel effortlessly cruised at motorway speeds, fuel consumption seemed reasonable too, even if lacking in bottom end grunt. The car was practical, good looking and spacious.
What made me angry was the plethora of squeaks, rattles, the downright penny pinching feel to the otherwise good looking interior and that horrible loose feeling gearshift quality. The build quality of the post-2003, facelifted Freelander felt comparable to a Lada Niva, but when the Lada costs the equivalent of a packet of sweets, you can forgive the Niva for feeling a little bit gimcrack. With the Freelander, it’s a different matter – Land Rover’s meant to be a premium brand, something to aspire to if you like.
Tales of woe included dud viscous couplings in the propshaft and IRD (intermediate reduction drive) units attached to the gearbox that were as hard wearing as custard shoes. It’s such a problematic item that you can buy a kit to bypass and turn your car into front two-wheel drive!
Occasional minor worries such as rampant corrosion in the chassis members, faulty window regulator cables and snapping tailgate door handles and hill descent control devices that fail without warning all add to some of the misery that Landie owners have to endure. Add on crippling repair costs from some main dealers who seem unable to offer value for money or aftermarket care and the end experience is very sad. Quite why the original Freelander remained so popular and still does on the used circuits continues to baffle as well as amaze me.
Dealerships are true dream palaces yet ours was a nightmare at the service desk.
It’s not all doom and gloom though, it’s a pretty looking thing, had bags of standard kit in the right spec including a basic, but not too bad, sat-nav and the seats are comfy. The ride comfort around town or at speed seems to be placid, the headlights are powerful and the heater (once the engine is warmed if diesel) keeps you toasty warm or ice cold thanks to an excellent air con unit.
There is plenty of oddment storage, the off road capability (tyre equipment permitting) makes for some good fun and its chassis and external structure feels strong and rugged – as you would expect of the Land Rover brand. It just seems like a raft of cost-cutting, ripped out any real feeling of quality – and I find this both unacceptable and saddening for what is, in effect, the world’s most famous 4×4 brand.
So, would I entertain another Freelander? Well, I can admit by experience that the Freelander 2 and 3 are finely crafted cars that befit the marque’s prestige image, the current Discovery and Range Rover regardless of the fact they attract the rich and famous rather than the rural or farmer seldom see a 45-degree mud bank, are equally none the less untouched for ability and appeal.
But the original Freelander post-2003? No ta! That model is a prime example of how to ruin a good car by swapping the micrometers and set squares for an abacus. Crappy dealers also come in for some stick too, seemingly more interested in being a fashion statement rather that a far-reaching brand of vehicle for those unreachable parts of the world.
All AROnline blogs are the personal opinions of their contributors and not necessarily the editorial viewpoint of the website.
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60 Responses
At the risk of being given more abuse.
Well written…and sadly true.
My ex had one of these, in Auto with the beemer engine.
Auto box died 4 years old…the thing shown in pieces went, and it creaked and rattled like my old mini.
It put me right of owning a landie….and I earn my living from the Agri market, I hear lots of tales of woe, including the later freelander/disco/rangie.
If the disco 4 was hasstle free I would buy one tommorrow….it is my fav car ever to drive.
Sadly I fear not to own
I think a certain M is going to give me some more abuse now!
“Following the historic events of 2000 whereby BMW sold off Land Rover to Ford, the production was switched to Merseyside and it is here, in my opinion, quality took a dramatic nosedive.”
The first generation Freelander continued to be built at Solihull right up until the final example, a 3-door Hardback finished in Rimini Red, left the assembly line in the late summer of 2006. The second generation Freelander, which went on sale in late 2006, was built at the Halewood site in Merseyside. None of the engines from the first generation model were carried over for use in the second generation model.
I had for a brief while a Y plate 3 door freelander. I’m in the farming line of business. Oh dear. what a mistake it was to buy it. I bought it in 2005 and after 2 months of constant repairs and hassle and lack of help from the dealer I bought it from, I sold it onto another poor unsurspecting person, who equally had a lot of trouble with it. So what did it replace? a K plate maestro van, and what did I replace the freelander with, a K plate maestro van! I still have the maestro van and what a perfect farm van it is, can get almost everywhere on the farm with it, holds twice as much stuff in the back, runs on a sniff of diesal fumes and is cheap to run. Ok she is getting long in the tooth, but perfect for what I need it to do. Its becoming a well known famous vehicle in the local area!
Just replaced bearings on a TD4 IRD at only 80k miles. The cause, a faulty viscous coupling – a very common problem! In fact just like the picture above!
At the risk of more abuse, a former work colleague was considering buying a Freelander. He had a distant relative who ran a Land Rover dealership and his brother a Jaguar dealer.
When he asked for advice he was told “It really is the best off roader you can buy, as it’ll spend more time off the road in the garage being fixed than you’ll ever spend driving it”. He then went on to explain the only Land Rover he still rated was the Defender for it’s mechanical simplicity and lack of electronic gismos that can and do go wrong. To add insult to injury he chose to drive a Honda CRV as his personal transport and his wife drove a Kia as they were more reliable.
To top it all off his brother wouldn’t drive a Jaguar and he owned a Mercedes as his daily driver. You can’t get a much worse recommendation than that.
If you go on quite a few Landy forums, these are known as ‘Gaylanders’, and basically any S1 is to be avoided like the plague, thanks to the drivetrain basically being pants, and the whole things built so badly. And Mike, if they had actually used liquorice in the running gear, it probably would have lasted. Signs of severe cost cutting at it’s upmost. I did sigh when a few years back a colleague bought a used one quite cheap. I warned him about the chocolate head gasket, and weak 4×4 system. Within a week of ownership the head gasket popped, and in true Landy style, it left a puddle of oil wherever he parked it.
A strange company indeed! Jaguar regularly come 1st in the JD Power customer satisfaction survey in the USA. Land Rover despite selling huge numbers are often near the bottom. Some people are put off by the quality issues but many are not. How successful would LR be if they had the reputation of Honda? Rover 75 was always more rleibale than a Land Rover but the sales did not support this. Most people buy the image not real quality. Durability is a different thing. LR is very durable and long lasting but faults are high. Must be to do with design, not assembly as Rover SD1 was even worse. P6 and P5 were fine though and built at Solihull.
I was seduced by a brand new Freelander in 2001, (so under Ford ownership) and bought it new in for the March plate change. It was the K series model, which was to me always under-powered in the “little” Freelander. Roomy and versatile yes and being the Hardtop three model, we could take the roof off. we did once but never again, it was so heavy and cumbersome.
The tailgate leaked and had to be repaired twice under warranty in Beadles and before 50K miles the engine head gasket blew, even though it was always serviced by main stealers (sorry dealers)….. and it was sold just before depreciation hit it big time. On the plus side it completed numerous trips to Wales, once to Germany, several to France & Germany and provided comfortable transport for four…. And I even used the Hill decent once, which was great fun. Would I have buy another Landie? Yes but it would have to be a Range Rover or not at all…
@Grant P – That made me chuckle. My brother, who does a fair bit of consultancy work for JLR, has plenty of stories about various company bigwigs and others attached to the company who drive Jags or Discos/Rangies when ‘on company business a-la flying the flag’ but jump back into German metal as soon as they possibly can!!
He did some work with one guy who swore by his series 1 XJ that he’d inherited from his father and simply laughed when asked why he didn’t have a new Jag.
Shame isn’t it…
@ Grant P
Great, a stealer you can beleive in!
@Jeremy – A rare breed, a straight talking dealer! To be fair he was advising a relative not a punter and this was nearly six years ago.
I think this article sums up the FL pretty well. People often ask me if they are ok, I generally tell them to buy a disco and put up with the Extra fuel comsumption (or buy a RAV4). What surprises me is that they still make the free lander and the evoque. I think if any land rover needs to be buried in history it’s the freelander. nice car but what a pain (and only 5 seats). I think the Freelander if it continues needs to take on the AWD Honda Oddessy (Shuttle) 7 seater head on. alex
The IRDs only explode if (when) the VCU seizes, these are the exact same parts built to the same standard throughout the original Freelander production – The units were underspecified in the first place (by Rover) and all eventually go. The Freelander 2 (Ford inspired) is a much better car. As for head-gaskets going, perhaps if BMW gave Rover some money to sort out the K-Series and didn’t pressurise them to stretch the engines way beyond their original applications – we wouldn’t be having this conversation. SAIC gave Ricardo engineering a pittance of a budget to sort out the K-Series issues – the result – a (finally) fixed K-Series. There have been no stories whatsoever of either of the Chinese K-Series derived engines giving trouble in service. It’s now the superbly reliable lightweight engine it always should have been.
@6 between roughly 1995 and 2003 Mercedes cars (S class aside) were awful, nowhere near as reliable as X300-X308 Jags and they rusted like Alfasuds. In that era (After the Ford influence at Jaguar finally paid off) only the Lexus LS bettered the reliability of XJs. Okay the X-Type and S-Tyre weren’t as good – but rather them than a rusty 1995-2003 Merc.
Jeremy, I will not give you the pleasure because you do not read my emails properly.
Maestro underpinnings, K Series Engine, a Rover not based on a Honda. What could possibly go wrong?
Myles #3 – pics of the Maestro van please – preferably working on the farm!
The original Freelander was potentially a great car hampered by low investment in engineering and production, that resulted in the tails of woe above. This had been the problem with BMC > MG Rover. The Ford based current Freelander is a much better car, mainly because it benefitted from serious investment and platform sharing with the Ford Maverick. At last JLR are being properly financed by Tata and previously Ford. This is now bringing success in sales as detail engineering and quality has improved greatly.
@Alex Scott:
“I think if any land rover needs to be buried in history it’s the freelander. nice car but what a pain (and only 5 seats). I think the Freelander if it continues needs to take on the AWD Honda Oddessy (Shuttle) 7 seater head on. alex”
Why bury the [current generation] Freelander when it isn’t related to its predecessor in terms of running gear or platform design? Why get rid of a vehicle that has been a consistent sales success for Land Rover, with the current generation model racking up nearly as many sales annually as its predecessor, despite being limited to just one bodystyle?
Sorry, but when you consider the vast improvement that the current generation Freelander represents, its important contribution to Land Rover’s (and Jaguar Land Rover’s) commercial success and its consistently good sales from both new and repeat customers, the sentiments that it “needs to be buried in history” don’t make sense.
Merlin, at least you are being polite today. I do read your comments…you just seem always to pick holes in mine.
I did drive the ex freelander, and I found it comfy and easy to drive…but it did rattle and creak. We hired a Honda CRV on our hols in Ireland and that was in a different (better) class.
Sorry this car was one with too many excuses.
I was incredulous when the Freelander 1 came out to hear that man Gerry McGovern actually boasting about the FR1 having external screws holding on the rear lights! Why on Earth would anyone want external screws, which will fill up with mud and be a bugger to clean, on something pretending to be a premium offroader? Even Peter Mandelson would blush if he’d tried to spin such an obvious piece of cheap, poorly engineered crap as a deliberate design feature!
The FR1 always looked like it was done ‘on the cheap’, and almost made the Vitara look classy by comparison.
Hilarious article – love it!
Just got to say though, that I drive a 100,000 mile + 2007 LR2 (Freelander name in North America) all through the Canadian winter and it has never had a serious problem (touch wood), is as solid as it was when brand new, goes over snow banks like they weren’t there and lets me laugh pityingly at anyone stupid enough to have bought a Bimmer X3. My kids love it (they have named it Polar Bear Joe) and in the town where I live, Land Rover are now outselling Volvo. That has to tell you something.
Chris – external screws on light lenses: to me they sound great. Just a screwdriver to swap a bulb, no more ferreting around behind “carpet” and cardboard, broken nails and plastic clips.
No one has mentioned the dismal NCAP results of the freeloader MK1.
MKII dissapoints with no 3 door, no truck back versions, body versatility part of the reason the MK1 did so surprisingly well. No petrol engines either in the UK anymore. Nothing that costs so much money is acceptable with a 4 cylinder engine, let alone a Diesel 4 cylinder.
External screws to rust up and snap off when you try and remove. Anyone who has ever tried to replace numberplates or mudflaps held on with seized screws will know this.
Freelander 1 and Freelander 2 are night and day.
Freelander 1 was developed on a typical Rover budget of 75p, a bag of crisps and what was lying around whereas the Freelander 2 was a clearly planned development of the Ford Mondeo platform.
Would I buy a Freelander 1 – No
Would I buy a Freelander 2 – Yes
Basically Mike shouldn’t have bought a (Land)Rover with a BMW engine fitted. The L Series Freelanders seem to go on forever.
Dear Nick S
You are very very lucky.
Ive got a Subaru Outback, and there is no way I would buy a Freelander if I was driving on challenging terrain.
Or if I needed to get home somewhere…
@Phil I find your statement difficult to believe. Most managers and all senior managers and above at JLR run at least one Jag or Land Rover, many run a second car that’s a Ford, but that will often be because the JLR insurance conditions rule out young drivers. Being interested in cars, quite a few JLR employees will have another car that may be a Porsche, BMW, TVR, etc, but these are rarely something you might drive on a daily basis.
The Freelander 1 was done on the cheap (as befitting Rover’s budget at the time) and didn’t have Honda’s input to make sure it was properly reliable and durable.
But it was a brilliant creation. It was DESIRABLE in the way other more lauded Rover creations of the 90s weren’t, and gave the public what they wanted, hence the MGR runt of Rover being given away by BMW when Land Rover was sold to Ford for £1.6bn.
Ford got it right with Freelander 2, but at the expense of its slightly conservative style, without the ‘funky’ 3 door versions, something solved by the Evoque.
I’m not sure any Freelander 1s were built very well, maybe Rover should have built them in Longbridge or Cowley, plants much more used to a volume product?
Oh, just to put the cat amonst the pidgeons.
My ex who had said Freelander…he Father has a very early one.
It too was an auto, it was a diesel, but not a BMW diesel, and it had done a lot of miles.
This was his work car (Farmer) and it was well AB(USED)
Towing what ever it would move. hard off road use, servicing…dont be silly.
It all worked.
An alternator in 180K. thats pretty darn good.
It was a sort of van shape (no back seats) and had very industrial looking yellow switch gear.
So, I still wouldnt buy a Landie, despite how nicely the Disco 4 drives…but one old car works v well. (W/X/Y/V reg sort of old)
My last university landlady bought a brand new Freelander (Y plate) diesel to replace a Toyota pickup. She regretted the decision almost immediately. It was in and out of the dealer for attention mainly electrical gremlins that never seemed to be sorted. It’s a shame that such a good vehicle on paper has been beset with reliability issues. I understand the later ones aren’t much better.
I must hereby admit to looking at post-facelift V6 Freelanders with a bit of envy. They’re a great looking vehicle. However, I’ve never actually got as far as the interior of one, and now after reading this article and all the comments I think that’s perhaps fortuitous. Maybe I’ll just stick with my (surprisingly to some) reliable 75.
Do why do I find myself wanting an early Freelander?
Still?
@David 3500 you are probably right
its still missing two seats though (just like the BMW mini is missing one seat), (and the MG6 needs a body kit)…. (and a nice tidy Rover 3500 Vitesse needs me) 
alex (LR110 V8, DiscoIIV8). previous cars, Rover 827 Vitesse, XJ40 4.0, Disco IV8. LR Stage 1 V8(ex NZ army). LR Series IIA.
As per my post @ 30, it was an “02″ plate in burgundy, diesel but not BMW diesel and auto…and good.
Keith….NO…avoid the pain…
So Rover asked Honda to partner in the Freelander project, Honda rejected this proposal and developed the CRV.
Why was this the case?
Did Honda know that BMW were on the horizon?
Did Honda get their fingers burnt with warranty claims on the Crossroad?
How many people with failing IRDs have a: rotated their tyres regularly, and b: replaced a damaged and very worn tyre with a brand new one, but left the others at a significant difference in tread depth.
Loads of 4x4s, from Golf syncros to Jeep Grand Cherokees, with viscous couplings and variants thereof will end up with trashed transmissions due to mismatched tyres. Yet people seem unwilling to accept that part of running a sophisticated 4×4 is to maintain it – including that onerous moment when you’ve got 3mm on the tyres, and one gets damaged; all four should be replaced. Cheaper than a transfer case…
I always found our Landie dealer in Kelso to be good on the sales side and flipping awful on the service side.
@37, that’s a very good and much overlooked point.
16: “Maestro underpinnings, K Series Engine, a Rover not based on a Honda. What could possibly go wrong?”
Well, in terms of chassis dynamics the Maestro was easily the best car in its cars at launch and remained competitive (in those term) until it was killed off. There were build and reliability issues but the basic design was very sound indeed.
The K-Series could have easily been fixed for the want of a small amount of investment which Rover didn’t have and BMW didn’t want to supply – SAIC have since done so. And on that subject BMW, Vauxhall, Honda – the whole field were complaining about the MG6 (powered by a Ricardo Engineering tweaked K-Series) toasting them down the straights and got their boost levels dropped significantly until the ’6s were strangled – which arguably denied them the BTCC title – yes the world’s best motor manufacturers and their generously funded teams were being beaten by a 25 year old Rover engine in a car running on a shoe-string budget.
@37
Actually you don;t need to replace all 4, but you do need to repalce 2, and not on the same axle, must be on differnt axles, ideally diaginally opposite
@Keith
Because along with other idosyncrasies you are an automotive macoschist!
Michael– sorry, John Edwards is hinting at a sub-Freelander entry level Land Rover.
http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/entry-level-land-rover-under-evaluation
Seems that they’re falling into the trap of the entry level car getting upgraded over time, leaving them without an entry level car.
cf. Ford – Escort, Fiesta, Ka; Renault – 5->Clio, Twingo, Dacia Sandero; LR – Disco, Freelander, new model
The Freelander or something else was doomed to fail post BMW era even more than it did under initial ownership.
Had BMW sold Land Rover to the Phoenix Four as well as MG Rover, the vehicle would probably become victim to Project Drive.
If hell had frozen over & BMW sold the business including the MINI at all, I doubt that would be the sub brand it is today since Freelander warranty claims would have eroded its profits making all the derivative models seem like a pipe dream.
Now there’s a thought.
@ Will M:
“Seems that they’re falling into the trap of the entry level car getting upgraded over time, leaving them without an entry level car.”
Unfortunately this has long been a common practise of Land Rover, although the onwards and upwards approach is what most of its rivals also do. Entry level models in each range aren’t the volume sellers, hence the reason why the current ‘entry’ level Discovery GS costs £38,000. Ten years ago the base model Discovery Series II was about £22,000 while the mid-range GS model (which is the spiritual descendent to the current model) was about £28,000.
The entry level 5-door Freelander ten years ago was circa £18,000 but is now more than £22,000 for a front-wheel drive model. The lack of a three-door version shows the obvious gap in Land Rover’s arsenal, hence the reason why there is nothing considered to be an ‘entry level’ car costing below £22,000.
The moral of this approach is that, the more you advocate an ‘onwards and upwards’ approach to your models, the bigger the gap you leave behind for others to pitch in with their own cheaper offerings. This then results in you having to fight back by designing, engineering and building a larger number of model ranges, in order to be adequately covered in all sectors of that market, namely the SUV market. Ten years ago Land Rover built four model ranges; today they currently build six.
@David 3500
An excellent analysis!
The onwards and upwards approach can be harmful as we’ve seen with Renault’s decreasing market share, who are now pitching Dacia as their entry level models.
For a while, the Clio was a strong seller.
@David 3500:
Most manufacturers are guilty of their entry level car getting upgraded. For example the Ford replaced the Anglia with the Escort. The Escort increased in size so the Fiesta was introduced and now we have the Ka sitting below the Escort. The current Mondeo is probably bigger than than the original Granada.
@Mark
Mk3 Granada
Length 186.4 in (4,735 mm)
Width 69.5 in (1,765 mm)
Mk4 Mondeo
Length 4,844 mm (190.7 in) (saloon)
4,778 mm (188.1 in) (hatchback)
4,830 mm (190.2 in) (estate)
Width 1,886 mm (74.3 in) (ex. mirrors)
2,078 mm (81.8 in) (inc. mirrors)
Mk1 Granada is tiny in comparison
Length 180 in (4,572 mm)
Width 70.5 in (1,791 mm)
At the risk of it going ‘POP’ in a big way as soon as I post this reply, I have to defend the Freelander based on my own experiences of ownership.
I’ve had my 2005 TD4 3dr Sport since early 2007 and so far had to replace nothing more than front pads, fluids and perished intercooler hoses. The Freelander was certainly a victim of some poor quality and design along the way, but the number of old ones still around indicate that all isn’t as bad as the stories suggest.
One thing in it’s favour is that it’s very REPAIRABLE – something which this site tends to view as a positive feature of a car. There are lots of second hand spares and knowledgeable specialists around. Hopefully I won’t be needing these anytime soon !
Very few early examples survive actually, because the cars are worth next to nothing, a minor repair will cost up to twice the value of it, so they got weighed in. Even second hand parts prices are not that cheap for them either. Everyone I know who has had a Freelander has had nothing but aggro with them. It just hasn’t been a quality product. And the 3 door shell is known to be very weak structurally, especially in the sill area
“Ten years ago Land Rover built four model ranges; today they currently build six.”
Maybe that’s why their sales have gone up?
Besides, how many models have BMW, Mercedes, Audi got in their bloated ranges?
With regard to the Fiesta and other FWD superminis – I think they weren’t so much a necessity of entry-level RWD cars going upscale, but rather an opportunity to fill a section in the market made possible by buyer acceptance and technological/production improvements. After all the Mk 1 and Mk 2 Escorts, from mid ’60s to very end of the ’70s, are pretty much the same size and the Fiesta was a new offering.
SUVs have been that growth market, and now smaller SUVs. Maybe VW’s XL1 will legitimise two-passenger economy cars and that will be the next growth area during a period of economic reconsideration.
#50 Yorkie
Not sure what you mean by ‘not many’. A quick search in Autotrader brings up nearly 500 for sale that are over 10 years old. That’s just the ones currently for sale, so that must mean there’s a far larger number not for sale. I regularly see examples with S, T, V reg’s still going strong.
The Freelander issues are well known but not every example was afflicted. It is a more complex beast than your average car and wasn’t intended to be a substitute for the ‘proper’ off roaders.
A better comparison would be the Vitara or RAV4. How many of Mk1s of those have you seen lately ?
So if they’d fitted the T-series and asked Steyr-Daimler-Puch to uprate the IRD a bit do you think we’d all be saying what a fine car the Freelo 1 was today?
Don’t know why but I still like them and check them out on ebay every now and again.
Did wonder the other day, though, that in development the car might have gone another way. Instead of starting with a transvers front drive engine and transmission I wondered how much better things might have been if they’d conceived the car around a longitudinally mounted engine (say the T-series, T-series turbo and L-series) mated to the R380 transmission in a transfer-box-less monocoque 4×4 with all independent suspension. It would at least have done without the IRD, I suppose.
The car would have been a little longer, no doubt, but still much shorter than the Discovery II which grew in length what with it riding on a 108″ wheelbase and all. And then I discovered that the Disco II’s wheelbase was actually unchanged at 100″ so that blew that idea out of the water.
Ignore my ramblings, then.
Except to say, that perhaps they should have left the soft-roader segment to the Japanese and built a Disco II with funkier styling instead, including a 2-door softback and hardback. I’m trying to say that Disco II was a bit of a let down in the looks department, probably because LR blew its budget on CB40.
Finally, if “Car” in the late-90s was to believed Rover did have another proposal for that troublesome IRD: a transverse front-engined RWD car to replace the MGF. A very interesting proposal for what would no doubt have been a very troublesome car.
@ JH Gillson:
“So if they’d fitted the T-series and asked Steyr-Daimler-Puch to uprate the IRD a bit do you think we’d all be saying what a fine car the Freelo 1 was today?”
The 2-litre T Series was offered in the first generation Discovery, known as the MPi, and mated up to the LT77S and later R380 transmission. It wasn’t well liked and sales were poor, although it did provide a useful compromise for those not converted to the ‘delights’ of either the 200TDi or later 300TDi turbo-diesels, or the running costs of the fuel injected V8 petrol engine. Its main downside was a lack of low end torque delivery and the need to rev it. Fuel economy was about twenty percent better than the V8 engine.
The T Series unit was also fitted in a number of Defender 90 models built for either the Italian army or police force in the mid 1990s.
@39, isn’t the race MG6 GM powered, wearing the entire front end of a Vectra?
Anyhoo the Grand Vitara is the thinking mans Freelander, trust me
@Keith. You know you want a KV6 powered one.
We have in our family 3 Freelanders (auto), the oldest have 300100 km and no IRD fault, no VCU fault, no autobox fault.
@39 – Yes no doubt if that mixed bag of spanners had been properly sorted it could have been effective, but it wasnt.
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