MK1 Freelander really as bad as reviews make out?

[Kentish]

fat freddie said:

Kentish said:

Funny how all the doom and gloom Meister's on this thread haven't actually owned one

WHAT???

Have you actually read the thread? Look at the post just two above yours, among others.

Typical hilarious PH flame war. OP has asked for an opinion, opinions have been received, OP has made his decision, yet the opinions just keep coming....

I read the first 2 pages, all pretty much saying that the FL is absolute c-r-a-p so had a quick look at what those people have actually owned.

Surprise surprise, no FL listed in the car histories

Not a perfect car by any means but there is absolute garbage posted by some here.

[B3ALP]

Kentish said:

Not a perfect car by any means but there is absolute garbage posted by some here.

Agreed

[grayze]

I owned 2, first one as a company car 10 years ago 1.8 petrol, no problems until 90K miles then HG went and it was written off by my company. I had a 04 model diesel from new for 2 years, and had no problems with it. but it only had 30K miles when it went.

They were both quite agricultural to drive but felt robust and capable of what they were designed for, road use with some capability off road.

Personally i would avoid the petrol.

[CraigyMc]

Kentish said:

Surprise surprise, no FL listed in the car histories

I removed my garage from public view. Do you suppose everyone on here lists all their cars?

C

[liner33]

Kentish said:

I read the first 2 pages, all pretty much saying that the FL is absolute c-r-a-p so had a quick look at what those people have actually owned.

Surprise surprise, no FL listed in the car histories

Not a perfect car by any means but there is absolute garbage posted by some here.

LMAO I joined PH in 2007 and bought my FL in 1999 and sold it in 2002

[MartG]

Had one for 3 months in 2003 - in those 3 months it cost more to keep on the road than the Fronteras I had before and after it combined:

Highlights
HG went ( on Christmas Eve )
Idle control valve failed
Drivers door mirror delaminated due to mirror heater sticking on

+ lots of minor things

[Dave200]

Jaldi said:

Dave200 said:

The freelander came 167/182 in the 2001 jd power survey. That's not a coincidence, you know

What's not coincidence? Not a coincidence with what?

Being dense is very unbecoming.

The supposed 'coincidence' would be lots of people reporting poor reliability, and it scoring poorly in an impartial reliability study; or so I'm sure 300 would have us all believe.

Anyway, I doubt we'll see him post on this thread again.
He's done his usual process of shouting people down, pretending to know better, making unsubstantiated claims, asking everyone else to substantiate their claims, and ignoring any 'evidence' that contradicts his shouty opinion.

The JD Power results for 2000-2004 pretty much all tell the same story for the Freelander - but then, I'm sure that 300 knows better than them...

[Dave200]

300bhp/ton said:

Dave200 said:

Evidence, you say?

The freelander came 167/182 in the 2001 jd power survey. That's not a coincidence, you know... but I'm sure you will manage to shout this down somehow.

And that proves what exactly????

That it's an unreliable POS, old boy. That's what. in fact, it's more of an unreliable POS than 166 of the 182 new cars available that year. That's what.

Although, I'm sure you know much better.

[HorneyMX5]

Holey thread revival Batman!

I often find myself mulling over different cars. Sometimes I bite the bullet (Current Civic TypeR) othertimes I don't (Volvo V50 has been a recent musing).

THis week I am thinking I would like to own a Freelander TD4. This one in fact: http://www.3dcarsales.co.uk/used-cars/land-rover-f...

I do circa 25K miles a year around a 3rd of which is paid at 20p mile by my work as I get a car allowance. This would be used for the daily grind (40 mile round trip), customer visits (400 miles in a day not uncommon) and general out and about with the wife duties. It would also be used to occasionally tow my track car and a race car I have a share in.

Am I mental?

[anonymous-user]

HorneyMX5 said:

Holey thread revival Batman!

I often find myself mulling over different cars. Sometimes I bite the bullet (Current Civic TypeR) othertimes I don't (Volvo V50 has been a recent musing).

THis week I am thinking I would like to own a Freelander TD4. This one in fact: http://www.3dcarsales.co.uk/used-cars/land-rover-f...

I do circa 25K miles a year around a 3rd of which is paid at 20p mile by my work as I get a car allowance. This would be used for the daily grind (40 mile round trip), customer visits (400 miles in a day not uncommon) and general out and about with the wife duties. It would also be used to occasionally tow my track car and a race car I have a share in.

Am I mental?

I had a late Freelander following me today and was thinking how good it looked. A colleague of mine had a late TD4 and his experience wasn't too bad. I'm not sure I'd want to put £4500 into something so dated and potentially risky though, it's enough money that you're pretty much committed to keep spending if it keeps chucking up bills.

[22Rgt]

Absolute dog of a car, usually driven by geeky beardy types. Most survivors will be well farted out and mechanically shagged. Certainly no kudos for having one stand on your driveway and now an embarrassment, its only use is for passing tramps to p1ss in..

[HorneyMX5]

I'm a geeky beardy type, sounds ideal then!

[IanMorewood]

Being the five door version it will be more civilised on road than the swb 3dr version but it's still not something I would want to drive let alone pay four grand for. If you are serious about a softroader Honda CRV or Toyota Rav4 would be much better ways to waste your money.

[Mr2Mike]

22Rgt said:

Absolute dog of a car, usually driven by geeky beardy types. Most survivors will be well farted out and mechanically shagged. Certainly no kudos for having one stand on your driveway and now an embarrassment, its only use is for passing tramps to p1ss in..

Frankly I'd be far more embarrassed by pretending to be ex-SAS and having a stty Audi or BMW on my drive in a sad attempt to appear wealthy.

[luckystrike]

HorneyMX5 said:

Holey thread revival Batman!

I often find myself mulling over different cars. Sometimes I bite the bullet (Current Civic TypeR) othertimes I don't (Volvo V50 has been a recent musing).

THis week I am thinking I would like to own a Freelander TD4. This one in fact: http://www.3dcarsales.co.uk/used-cars/land-rover-f...

I do circa 25K miles a year around a 3rd of which is paid at 20p mile by my work as I get a car allowance. This would be used for the daily grind (40 mile round trip), customer visits (400 miles in a day not uncommon) and general out and about with the wife duties. It would also be used to occasionally tow my track car and a race car I have a share in.

Am I mental?

You've seen some of the cars I've owned previously Nick so you know what I'm capable of convincing myself is roadworthy, but even I've managed to avoid a freelander. They always crop up in my 'ooh what could I buy for £XXX?' eBay searches and I've referred to this thread several times but the potential bork is too strong.

As someone said on one of the earlier pages, you'd probably be alright with a late diesel that you can verify the entire history of and that you know has been driven and maintained with the kind of sympathy required to protect the transfer box. It's whether that car actually exists that's the problem, and whether you'd be happy taking a £4k risk on it. Running a £1200 car to the end of its MOT, breaking it for bits and chalking up an early failure as experience is one thing but putting a decent wedge on one is a different matter.

If you want a British 4x4 for tow type duties I'd say that money would be better spent on a disco, and it's easier to check them for rust. If it's just a tow wagon then a subaru legacy would probably be my shout.

[HorneyMX5]

Lol.

Went to view the one I linked and another they had in stock (an HSE). The Sport was in bad shape, clearly abused and missmatched tyres all badly perished. Interior was ruined. The HSE was in better condition but still not brilliant. Both smelled badly of damp, exactly the same as my old MG ZT when it had a boot full of water.

First time I've ever sat in one though and I actually liked the design of the intirior and the seats were comfy. Didn't take either for a drive.

Not put off yet but suspect finding a good one could see my interest in owning one vanish long before finding the right car.

[leemarkadams]

toppstuff said:

Yes.

HTH



I could write you a list as to why but it would be very long. It's a badly designed car on so many levels that just breaks a lot for many, many, many owners.

Buy a Honda CRV. Nothing short of an RPG will stop them and even then it wouldn't surprise me if the Honda shrugged that off too...

Except for the Honda CRV we had.....timing chain snapped.....luckily did not bend any valves etc

[anonymous-user]

22Rgt said:

Absolute dog of a car, usually driven by geeky beardy types. Most survivors will be well farted out and mechanically shagged. Certainly no kudos for having one stand on your driveway and now an embarrassment, its only use is for passing tramps to p1ss in..

You seem a nice chap. I don't think the OP seemed the sort to be pitiful enough to worry about the "kudos" or "embarrassment" of his car.

[Rincewind209]

I thought about buying one last year, I went to look at a few but they all had things wrong. Shame because I really liked the look and thought maybe fun for a little gentle off reading.

[HorneyMX5]

Went to look at two today.

First. A bit tatty outside and needed some paintwork seeing to where a bad repair had been done, looked like someone had opened the door into a post. Drove beautifully though and I really quite liked it.Was a Freestyle with good spec. Just missing full leather and heated windscreen. Little used car place was a pleasure to talk to as well, no pressure and you felt you could buy a car from them with confidence.

Second. Looked near enough new which was a good start but it drove like a bag of nails, no power at all. The salesman told me as it was a diesel I needed to really rev it up to 4K to get it to go. Confidence looser right there! Suspect it ha a boost related issue. A shame as it was in great condition.

Both had one broken electric window on the rear doors.

Passed on both but the 1st was touch and go, may even go back and take another look.