New to these forums but....

[Darryl Butner]

not new to landrovers.

Hi all.

My name is darryl and i am in the market for a small 4cyl 4x4.

My father has had landy's as long as i cam remember and as such i am currently looking at the freelander as a daily drive for my wife to take the kids to school and as an occasional weekend beach truck for us to head up to either D.I or fraser.

Now i have found it nigh on impossible to get decent info on these cars off the net and as dad is a big bus fan,defender's and county's, he knows naught about them.

So.......are the freelanders alloy skinned like the other landy's?
Are they reasonably reliable?
Any nasty habits?
Or anything you think i might need to know in advance before buying one.


Or should i just buy a rav 4.

Thanks in advance for your help lads.

[101RRS]

not new to landrovers.

Hi all.

My name is darryl and i am in the market for a small 4cyl 4x4.

My father has had landy's as long as i cam remember and as such i am currently looking at the freelander as a daily drive for my wife to take the kids to school and as an occasional weekend beach truck for us to head up to either D.I or fraser.

Now i have found it nigh on impossible to get decent info on these cars off the net and as dad is a big bus fan,defender's and county's, he knows naught about them.

So.......are the freelanders alloy skinned like the other landy's?
Are they reasonably reliable?
Any nasty habits?
Or anything you think i might need to know in advance before buying one.


Or should i just buy a rav 4.

Thanks in advance for your help lads.

Freelanders are steel but the front guards are plastic.

1.8 litre 4 cylinder and some V6 models are not reliable so stay away from them - all the diesels are pretty good - early ones had some drivtrain issues. If you can get a TD4 auto - best reliablity, best diesel, and the auto makes them pretty good offroad for moderate stuff.

The petrol models have a nasty habit of taking your money and the diesels have a nasty habit of making you get hooked on them.

RAV 4 - wash you mouth out with soap

Don't believe the stories except if it refers to a 1.8 - they are true.

Garry

[beforethevision]

There are endless amounts of info we can give you, but i agree with gary, the petrol ones are waaaay more fun to drive, but the diesel ones are waaaay more likely to not break. The early (pre 2001) diesel is meant to be a better engine, the L series, but is mostly manual. The td4 is more powerful, but perhaps a tad more delicate, and comes in auto. The auto boxes do have a history of solenoid failure with leadfooted drivers, but its still pretty rare.

The best combination for reliability would be a pre 01 diesel manual.

Either way, i have a 1.8 petrol, and when its working i love it. Its just not always working .... lol

The 1.8 and 2.5 petrol engines are both meant to be sporty engines, used for cars like MG's and lotus's. When put in a freelander, they are still fun, but have to be worked harder to keep the heavier car nimble.

Rav4s, esp newer ones, are pretty good for around town, i would say better, but less competent offroad.

Cheers!

[WhiteD3]

Either buy a new FL2 or a manual (has low range) Forester. Great car, safe and dependable, good resale.

[Xavie]

I agree with the Forester comment. I thought mine was great and beach work is easy, no issues doing a small raise on some models and reliable, also reasonable on fuel.

What sort of price range have you got for a Freelander Darryl?

I think the only thing you need to know is don't buy a rav4 hahaha.

Xavier

[davesq]

Hi Darryl,
I have a 2005 TD4 manual freelander, 73000 k's of trouble free motoring. Gets 7.5L/100 k's towing the small sailboat & a car load of junk away up the freeway to South West Rocks no worries. Let the tyres down & trip around on the beach while I'm up there, uses a bit more fuel then, but doesn't blow out the mileage too much.
Only issues I'm finding is it wears the front tyres quick, and when we're stuck in the sand, by the time I get it out the smell of burnt clutch is quite strong. Sometimes I think traction control maybe a bit of a hinder in the loose sand, doesn't allow much wheel spin, but hey, we eventually get out.
Overall a great vehicle, comfy driving to work 5 days a week & versitile enough for us to do the occasional beach trip.

Dave