Freelander - is one viable with huge dogs?

Too small, I think. A Discovery would be better, or seeing as it's a company vehicles the Range Rover would be quite nice :-)

In article , Llandrovers! writes

A Feelander was no use for our two German Shorthaired Pointers, but a mate gets his large German Shepherd cross and a Viemeraner in a V40 no problems

Having met Renny's dogs on previous occasions, I feel the need to point out that one of them (Lazer, I think) was so madly over-active that he'd have filled a triple-axle bulker trailer on his own!!!! FWIW, we have a rotty and a collie, they both fit in the back of our Vectra hatchback with ease. Badger.

P.S. Renny, heard the latest adventures of Bob and "fords" recently?

Yuck! As crap and outdated a new car as you can buy these days - amazed it's still hobbling along in production.

Not a huge boot - is he going have the seats up or down?

Why not a Discovery? They start at £18,995 now you know, which makes Freelanders look expensive IMHO.

Short of a 90 or 110 Landrovers don't really lend themselves to dogs. I've two German Shephards and they are big'uns to. Theres more room for them in a Sierra Estate than a Rangie Classic....and try holding them back when they are chomping at the bit to get out whilst lowering the tailgate.

Speaking of which on our last ranie the top tailgate sprung open with the dogs in the back...no that was a tense moment...but then they were pinned against the dog guard by moderate to heavy breaking which kind of took there mind off the escape hatch. Never trusted that hatch again.

Lee D

On or around Tue, 30 Sep 2003 23:08:22 GMT, "Exit" enlightened us thusly:

The sunday times driving thing reckons the Freelander Sport version is the saving of an otherwise getting-elderly design. revamp improves the look and feel, sport suspension (30% stiffer, mostly, it seems) makes it a much better road car, and let's face it, probably 95% of freelanders never get off tarmac, and doubtless less than 1% get used seriously off-road. and for all onroad or mild off-road use, 30% stiffer suspension is not gonna cause problems.

They're probably right.

but still with the superdog, I'd look at the disco. fine motor.

Parked at a cafe on the old A34 north of Oxford having lunch yesterday only to be surrounded by 10 new shape US-spec Freelanders on trade plates in the car park. Apparently some last minute testing before release - nothing changes at LR!

I can't see the stiff suspension affecting off-road performance as it has no axle travel to start with and relies on waving wheels in the air and electronics.

Agreed, my new labrador puppy won't travel in anything else.

The new cabin design echoes the Range Rover and the next Discovery. But the bootspace is still very small.

Predominantly up

Tax implications, I think.

Richard

Is the tax on a TD5 Disco much higher than a TD4 FL?

On or around Wed, 01 Oct 2003 13:15:41 GMT, "Exit" enlightened us thusly:

well, yeah, but it does have more suspension travel than a typical car. But what you say is true, if you've got traction control and HDC, then keeping all wheels on the ground is less critical.

Apparently so. I queried this with Andy after the many suggestions that he order a Disco. Because they are sought after, the fleet buyers that supply his employer are not able to secure much of a discount. The tax is calculated on (IIRC) 25% of the list(?) price. Thus no Disco for Andy. I seem to remember that the TD5 engine is pretty grim on emmisions as well?

Richard

PS he seems to be veering towards a V40 and hang the back seat passengers.

R ;-)

In message , Llandrovers! writes

IME most if not all 4x4s have very little boot space and the Freeelander and even the Disco is no exception. When I moved from Volvo 940 estate to Jeep Cherokee and Grand Cherokee the old piece of carpet from the back of the Volvo was bigger than the floor space in the boot of both. The only way to comfortably accommodate my 3 medium sized dogs was with the back seats permanently folded down. This made the RR impractical cos in that configuration the rear seats obstruct the rear door opening making it difficult to use it e.g. to lob the shopping in, or to let the dogs in rather than use the tail gate.

On or around 3/10/03 9:17 pm, hugh using , in article ID

True, which is probably why one of our LRC members uses a 110 H/T for transporting his large hound!

In message , Llandrovers writes

Must be one hell of a hound to need a 110!! I have a 90 now to transport my Beardies. It is a 50th Ann so it has a few creature comforts, but at the end of the day its still a LR so who cares if it gets a bit mucky.

Based on the V40's I've driven he'll want one of the dogs to pull it - the engine isn't up to much. A truly awful car IMHO. Why not a Mondeo, or better still, an Omega? A massive boot, and though not inspiring to drive still a thousand times better than the V40.

Some older dogs can struggle to get into 4x4's (I watched a guy lift a big Afghan cross into a 110 this afternoon). My three lab-collie mutts leap into the Disco at a moments notice (a real pain when all you want to do is unpack it!) and have plenty of room for moderate journeys.

Tim Hobbs

'58 Series 2 '77 101FC Ambulance '95 Discovery V8i

passengers.

Don't know about struggle. My 15 year old lab cross can't get into my 110 at all. She can just manage to get her front feet onto the step and waits to be lifted in. Mind you she can get from the back, over the seats and into the front when I'm not there!!!! Amanda

On or around Sun, 5 Oct 2003 02:06:07 +0100, "GyroLady" enlightened us thusly:

you seem to have a sigsep (dash-dash-space-[return]) at the top of your post.

but what I was really going to say is about the dog, it's down to how much they want to be places.

Hi Tim,

He has a V40 booked for a 24 hour test next week sometime. It'll be interesting to see what he thinks about it's pulling ability after the grunt of the V6 Vectra. Re the Mondeo - he took one out and conluded that the Baco foil in his kitchen is thicker than the metal used in it's bodywork. I think that the Omega costs too much to 'trade up to' from his grade - he's already paying extra to have the Vectra. You're right about getting the Pyrenian into anything with a high rear sill. Being brutally honest, she (hopefully) does not have much longer above the green stuff - she's 10 and has had all manner of medial problems, including a snapped cruciate (sp?) ligament that involved rebuilding of her rear offside knee joint that cost 4 figures!!!!!!

Richard