Freelander 2 Review

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Always good to see some positive reviews of the FL2 especially when it comes to their off road abilities.

YouTube - Land Rover Freelander 2 HSE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVdauXLUMZM)

[djhampson]

I think they liked it :D

[TyGras]

Very impressive. Wish I could afford a newer one right now...

But then again if you ding up a new one you would be in the wifes dog house. If the old one gets some dings..it isnt as big of a deal.

[adz70]

Hi there Freelander owners. This is my first post here, bought a Freelender 2 close to 1 year ago but aside from very pleasant city and freeway driving nothing to report...

Until now!

Over the weekend I joined a group of off-road enthusiasts for a day trip to the North of Melb. A fantastic bunch of people, very experienced and really went out of their way to make me feel welcome. That said, there were 3 Patrols, 2 Landcrusers, 1 Hilux and my little Freelander - the only car without low range.

We started easy enough with some muddy and rutted tracks and one deep bog-hole. All of which the Free-o handled with easy. I started to build up a bit of confidence...

Then we arrived at 'the hill.'

This was the kind of hill that even the most experienced off-roader takes a good long look at. It was long (over 500m) steep and rocky. I took it slowly at the start and hit trouble on the steepest part where the engine revs dropped too low to keep moving. I put that down to my inexperience, backed up a bit and tried again.

Traction control into 'grass, gravel, snow', HDC on, left it in drive (1st attempt was in 2nd). Gave it a bit more to get speed and revs up and away we went. You could hear and feel the traction control kicking in when needed and we crawled up to the top without much trouble. This was to the amazement of the rest of the group who really didn't think we would get to the top.

We continued on for the rest of the day taking on everything the bigger cars could with little trouble. Steep, rocky descents where the Free-o crawled down comfortably over large rocks and very unstable ground. The HDC worked like a charm and I had fun adjusting the decent speed with the cruise control buttons.

All in all everyone, including myself, was blow away with the competency of the Freelender 2. In the cabin we were totally comfortable and felt 100% stable despite having 2 wheels off the ground during some of the downhill crawls. The traction control and HDC compensated for the lack of low-range and the only thing that I felt was missing were tires with better grip (I was in the standard Wranglers) and a bit more clearance.

Will try and get the video of the hill climb and post it here.

Cheers,

[TyGras]

Very impressive. Would love to the video of that.

I am looking forward to my first outing with my 2000 freelander 1.8 litre 3 door on the 14 Dec when I get back to WA from Sydney.

I will hopefully remember the video camera and digital camera.

[SuperMono]

Everyone I have spoken to that owns or drives a Freebie 2 loves them.
Only two things put me off.
1: Driving through the bush leaves scratches, I wouldn't want to scratch a Freebie 2.
2: The money that is being asked is not far off a Disco 3, if you want to take an expensive vehicle off road, why not step up one more notch and get the extra gear?

Everyone I have spoken to that owns or drives a Disco 3 2 loves them.
Only two things put me off a D3.
1: Read 1 above.
2: Just a little more will get you a Rangie Sport.

Only two things put me off a Rangie Sport...............

[adz70]

Everyone I have spoken to that owns or drives a Freebie 2 loves them.
Only two things put me off.
1: Driving through the bush leaves scratches, I wouldn't want to scratch a Freebie 2.
2: The money that is being asked is not far off a Disco 3, if you want to take an expensive vehicle off road, why not step up one more notch and get the extra gear?

Everyone I have spoken to that owns or drives a Disco 3 2 loves them.
Only two things put me off a D3.
1: Read 1 above.
2: Just a little more will get you a Rangie Sport.

Only two things put me off a Rangie Sport...............

Fair comment, but I'd rather fix a few scratches and dents than drive an old ****-heap or have a 2nd car for the occasional off-road adventure.

[SuperMono]

It's always the first scratch that hurts, not so bad after that.

Not criticising anyone’s choice and certainly not recommended driving something that looks like it has just done 10 laps of a giant tumble dryer.
My choice has been to run the 2nd car (3rd really as my wife has a Renault Scenic) using some of the money I would have had to spend on upgrading from the Freebie 1 to a Freebie 2 or Disco 3 (which were the chosen upgrades).
The 2nd car was chosen for a totally different set of requirements, low fuel consumption and as much fun as you can have in a car while keeping your pants on.
Some of the remaining balance has gone towards some minor improvements on the F1 to see me through for another 12 months when I will go and revisit the same questions again.

I would be happy to have a Freebie 2 TD4 parked in my driveway and would use it off-road, but probably with more caution in regard to tree branches and rocks than I currently do with the Freebie 1.

[inside]

2: The money that is being asked is not far off a Disco 3, if you want to take an expensive vehicle off road, why not step up one more notch and get the extra gear?
Because my next car was going to be a diesel. The diesel D3 is 20K more expensive, only has 40Nm more torque, enters far into the luxury car tax zone so every factory extra you add is taxed at 30% or whatever it is now. You can get a few extras on the FL2 and pay minimal LCT.

[SuperMono]

I don't buy new cars anymore, the drastic initial depreciation is just to painfull.

I was comparing 6-12mth old cars.

[atelierqcj]

I am very impressed by FL2, I did some off road with friends, and FL2 was awesome. love it

[Dorko]

I take my FL2 out all the time. Its great offroad, I've got 19's shoes, which is a pain. But they still do the job minus the chucks from hitting rocks.

I'm getting some after market 17's so i can get AT tyres. Shoudl get it by the end of the month. Then i can go into so mud and stuff :D

But i would recommend the FL2 to anyone! However must go a diesel if you want to offroad. 400nm of torque gets you up those hills with ease ;)

Dorko

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Here's another that compares the FL2 with the new Forester.

Fifth Gear - Landrover Freelander 2 VS Subaru For- Video (http://videos.streetfire.net/video/Fifth-Gear-Landrover-2-VS_184072.htm)

[djhampson]

That didn't tell us anything we didn't already know :D

But its still nice to hear it! Thanks Inside