Worth buying or avoid?

[dah1505]

Hello everyone, I'm new here and just have a second hand buying question:

I'm looking round for a small 4x4 as a 2nd car to use daily to get me to work and back, then towing a trailer as and when I need to, and probably a bit of off roading seeing as I can.

Second hand freelanders seem comparatively cheap, a quick read of this forum suggests there may be reasons for that....

I've been to look at a car today:

2001 V6 Auto, 120k km's
Full service history, serviced at least every 10k with main dealers to about 90k
Generally tidy, a nasty scratch on the driver door but that doesn't worry me too much
Matching tyres, probably about 1/2 worn, even wear
Drives pretty well

Bad bits:
- Passenger electric window u/s - could just be fuse or more serious...
- No record of timing belt change, i think its due at around 120k?
- To start you need to turn on ignition, then pop the bonnet and press a botton to start!! Couldn't work out what the button was wired to, but i quess its bypassing an immobiliser or something??? The guy showing me the car for his friend said a proper fix was going to be $500 and this was the cheaper option....
- Oil leaking from rear diff, sign of IRD/Viscous coupling problems? didn't do the reversing test as I've only just read about it. Propshaft was still there.

The car is owned by a student who has gone home to china due to visa problems, seems like he may take a low offer.

So on the one hand the car is obviously not in A1 condition, but if it was say $5k, and then a couple of thousand to sort the starting situation and replace the timing belt would it be a bad buy?

Or should I walk away?

Obviously a TD4 would be nice but they seem to be scarce here in Perth, V6's this age seem to be advertised at $9k upwards.

Cheers, Dave

[Ausfree]

Walk away, take it from me, buy a diesel or nothing in a FL1!!!

[101RRS]

I have to agree - do not go near a petrol Freelander 1 - diesel is a different aspect all together - well worth getting.

Garry

[buzz66]

I have actually seen a Free 1 Petrol Engine with the head off.

I still to this day can't believe how ****ty it was.

Words cannot describe.

[SuperMono]

do not go near a petrol Freelander 1

I think that is a bit extreme as a general comment, but I think I agree this particular F1 is a by-pass case, sounds a bit lacking in care.

[buzz66]

Free one's Petrol's are ALL a big miss.

Buy a Susuki they are a good little truck. Or better still any Subaru.

Do not buy a Land Rover! They are crap.

[dah1505]

Thanks everyone, pretty unanimous there!

The only diesel i can find at the moment is this one:

Find Cheap Used & Second Hand Cars For Sale | Perth | Gumtree Classifieds

Which doesn't seem bad money but the 200k and boost gauge etc. is putting me off, might be worth a look at least.

And Suzuki Sierra or Vitara was my fallback option but I thought the freelander would be better on the road.

Cheers, Dave

[big guy]

If you want a small 4wd, I suggest a suzuki, if you want something a bit bigger, get a Disco 1 tdi. 96-99 and spend say $5-7k on purchase and than build it up.
10 times the car a Freelander is.

Thats just my humble opinion.