Thinking of Freelander

Looks like depreciation could be a big issue, my mate has just been offered GBP8K for his

I'll shortly be getting rid of my 2001 Td4 GS with 60k miles on the clock. Hasn't put a foot wrong in 3 years and has covered just about everything from a bit of off-road to lots of motorway, A- and B-roads. My previous car was a Scorpio - the wide mouthed toad - and very comfortable but the Freelander has been just as good, even on journeys from the Midlands to Scotland.

I've had it on a lease so can't comment on service costs although it has needed nothing more than scheduled services. It's averaged 33mpg (its an automatic) and is on its second set of tyres (Wrangler HP). The Td4 does seem to be the best engine option - the 1.8 is underowered and prone to destroying head gaskets and the V6 is reputed to be *very* thirsty. It was my first opt-out from a company scheme and I've been really happy with it - so much so that a new SE Td4 is on order!

On or around Fri, 28 May 2004 15:11:49 +0100, snipped-for-privacy@despammed.com enlightened us thusly:

TD4 is the only worthwhile engine choice. It is very good as an auto, and I tried very hard to persuade Mandy she wanted one.

The facelifted model has definitely improved the cabin.

Many of the reliability issues seem to stem from the 1.8 engine, but also the IRD which is known to fail early (don't know if this is now fixed). Get a fairly new one and the warranty will look after you for a fair while in any case I suppose.

It's way out of my league but he said it cost him 22K (or maybe that was the replacement cost?).

Yes I should have said this is a V6 (and it's had 2 engines and a gearbox ;-)).

AJH

Freelander has a much nicer ride that the Discovery and is car-like to drive. The TD4 is a good engine, doesn't miss a beat. (IIRC same model to the BMW 3 series?)

If you're a high milage driver you might want to consider the up-to-2003 ES models which have leather seats. There's not a bit of wear on my GS's fabric seats, though it's still low mileage (20k) and we use custom made fitted covers (£100 for the whole car).

For long journeys these are things I note: - Surprisingly quiet for a diesel with roofbars. - Air con's good, not as effective as quickly as a car but it has a larger cabin to cool. - CD player is OK, with steering column controls - Firm seats and a nice driving position. Rear seats are a bit bench-like but have good head room. - Wrangler tyres seem to shrug off nails and screws. IME 1mm wear per 10k miles. on the rears, 1.5mm wear on the front. - Easy, forgiving drive, adequate high-gear acceleration for motorway driving, effective brakes. - Hilariously good off road.

Mine's returning around 33-40 MPG mixed driving put predominantly daily short journeys, often with heater / lights. I think that's pretty good and from that I would expect 36-39MPG for steady long distances. Servicing has been a bit pricy with 12k/1 year about £300 and 24k/2 year about £400 but that will vary from dealer to dealer.

Bad things: - I think the servicing is a bit pricy, but I can only compare it with previous cars which a friend serviced for me. - Keep a listen out for fascia squeaks, which affect most non-prestige cars, but might encourage you to reject one individual Freelander for another. - The boot is a bit small - Steering wheel adjusts for rake but not reach.

4x4s sometimes seem like an odd choice for high mileage drivers, but the Freelander is surprisingly good. You might like to compare it with the newish X-Trail which is OK for on-road use.

Cheers

Blippie

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