Stay away from any 1.8l petrol freelander - sooner or later it will bring you grief - design problems with the heads that result at best new heads required - worst is new engine as cylinder liners may drop if engine gets hot.
Also any pre 2000 freelander that has not had an upgraded IRD (transfer case) fitted will cost you big money sooner or later. The IRD causes the viscous coupling to fail (locks up) and the resulting transmission windup then fails the IRD and or rear diff. This happened to me last year - big $ but now fixed, I find my car is great.
Freelanders are great - just buy a V6 or a TD4 - there doesn't seem to be any unusual design issues and reliability seems on par with most other cars. My pick would be a TD4 engined car with an auto - the auto helps make up for the lack of low range when offroad.
A pre 2000 L series diesel (Di and XEDI) that has had the IRD upgraded would be a very good alternative. The upgraded IRD means 3000rpm at 120kph vs about 3500-4000 at 120kph for a standard car.
Go the TD4 - if you are patient they do come up for around $16-$18K. The I and XEI (both 1.8is) are cheap - less than $11K for good reason.
Garry
REMLR 243
2007 Range Rover Sport TDV6
1977 FC 101
1976 Jaguar XJ12C
1973 Haflinger AP700
1971 Jaguar V12 E-Type Series 3 Roadster
1957 Series 1 88"
1957 Series 1 88" Station Wagon
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