Freelander 1

[chrismaher]

Hi Guys,
I have just joined up even though i have been quite a loyal Landrover owner for the past 20 years. I am looking for a new car for my beautiful wife and was contemplating the purchase of a Freelander 1 of 2003/4 vintage with auto. However, after looking a various reviews, it would appear that this may no be such a good idea but i do need a definitive answer. So please - someone out there - tell me whether these vehicles are any good and which motor is best - i was originally thinking of the 2.5 V6 but now i'm not sure. Over to you

[SuperMono]

I have a V6 and although it goes OK if you stir it up that also results in largish buckets of fuel being consumed.
General consensus seems to be the Diesel is a better bet.

As to suitability, my wife and daughter both enjoy driving our Freebie and a number of the 'other halves' among the LROCV have Freebies (F1s) and seem to enjoy them.

Pretty good on the road (better if you go with 17inch wheels and sticky tyres), a capable tow vehicle and better off road than any other soft roader excluding the F2.

A few service and reliability issues to be aware of, but I think I have heard horror stories about almost every make and model available, so eyes open and decent service/maintenance history is the go.

[101RRS]

The various reviews apply to pre 2000 models one possible exception is the V6.

In 03/04 go for a TD4 - no basic design issues and if it has been looked after you should have no issues - certainly no worse than any other car and in many cases better.

Garry

[BrendoR6]

I did quite a bit of reading before I got my 04 Td4 Auto and from what I found it is definatly the pick of the bunch. On a nice straight Hwy run I can get about 7.5 - 8 L/Km and about 10.5 around town with a light foot. The Td4 is a BMW motor so the reliability should be good.

[Jojo]

I bought my sweet wife a Freelander Td4 (2003 MY), and overall we are really pleased with it. In fact, though I never liked the Freelander previously, I am considering buying one for myself as daily means of transport. There were a few troubles, though. as said the engine is a BMW, so reliability is not the worst, so to speak. Unfortunately, the Lord of Darkness and his staff went over it, so you may expect some sensors to fail every now and then. Most of these are remedied easily enough, but I had to change the fuel lift pump on ours recently, which seemed to have caused most of the trouble. But overall, yes, I can wholeheartedly recommend buying one!

Cheers

[PaulP38a]

I had a '00 model XEi 1.8L for a while and thought it was a great little-ish car. By comparison to a V8 Rangie it was brilliant on fuel and had good performance for what it was... a very capable AWD vehicle with good visiblilty and very reasonable handling... and I am also strongly considering buying another for my (much) better half as her '00 Astra is getting a bit long in the tooth.

Depends what your wife wants to do with it... shopping, commuting, kids to/from school?... a 1.8 is great... towing?... perhaps the V6 but with a V8 fuel bill. TD?... sure, great torque but do you need it?.

Gotta love the Freelander as a second car/toy. Wish I hadn't sold my targa/convertible FL. So much more comfy than the Suzuki Sierra...

cheers, Paul.