akshay67

I need to sell the scoob as becoming a family man has taken its toll.

Been looking at the 4x4's and had eyes on a Rav4 before checking out Land Rovers (Freelander) and it seems like a hell of a lot of car for the money.

Does anyone have any opinions/experiences on these?

My budget is 9k.

Cheers!

Nevetas

Get a defender

teknobod

Avoid the petrol Freelanders, they suffer from the common Rover head gasket problem !!

Iwan

^^^ Agreed.

s70rjw

iTrader: (2)

Avoid Freelanders full stop. 2 people I know have had them from new. Electrical faults, head gasket went on petrol one as did air con. V6 does 18 mpg and uses litre of oil every 1000 miles. Diesel one is noisy. Honda CRV or RAV 4 is where the wise money goes, or a Defender

akshay67

Information much appreciated - thanks. I guess I will be reverting back to a Rav 4 as I have read this elsewhere too. The only thing with CR-Vs are their shape is a bit boxy, although so seem ok.

pete1977

My mates a Land Rover nut and the only one he wouldnt buy is a freelander.I dont think any of the die hard land rover mob were very impressed with them.

pslewis

Land Rover??

Land Rover??

When there are decent Japanese 4x4's about??

MADNESS!!

Land Rovers are, and always have been, UTTER CRAP!!

I have been around for a long time ....... Land Rovers have always been a luaghing stock!

Pete

Luan Pra bang

sister has had one from new W reg problems in the first 6 months under warranty and nothing has ever broken on it since not even leccy windows etc. its the non turbo diesel version though.

billythekid

We had a couple (TD4s) at work. They were quite good. I did not manage to break one so they must be quite strong.

Iwan

AFAIK the TD4 versions had BMW engines/gearboxes, so are supposed to be a lot more reliable than earlier versions.

zxr750Nick

Don't even think about it. Colleague of mine bought one, two weeks later the head gasket thing........

Nick

struv

get a rav cos they go like buggery

Jamescsti

If you want a decent 4x4 avoid the CR-V, it's pretty crap really, however if it will see nothing more than a puddle then it's not a bad car

CrisPDuk

Get either a Rav4 or a Landcruiser, there is a very good reason why Toyota took and continue to retain the majority of former Land Rover markets in countries where 4x4s are actually needed!

Flatcapdriver

Actually, it had more to do with Toyota actively targetting Land Rover markets and exploiting them by offering local manufacturing and licensing arrangements, cheaper parts and to be fair - better marketing. The Series/Defender products have never really suffered from the reliability problems that the Range Rover, Disco and Freelander have and whilst the Land Cruiser is a fantastic product I know what I'd prefer to be working on out in the bush, if my 4x4 broke down. The bakkies that Toyota produce are excellent but I'd prefer an enclosed vehicle in that environment.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

As above avoid the Freelander. They aren't nice to drive, not the best built, usual k-series gripes. slow, thisty and horrible brakes.

If you "have" to have one (usually due to a nagging female spouse ) get the diesel

We had one on the company fleet. It was only outdone on costs by the Rover 25 and 216s (anyone see a link? ).

cookstar

iTrader: (6)

Get yourself a vauxhall Frontera

Brendan Hughes

Recently raised here (week or two ago). There was a link to the Channel4 website with reviews. Almost all the Rav4 reviews were "great!", but almost all the Freelander reviews were "It broke".

Big a1

Guy at work runs an 04 diesel one.

Reliability seems to be ok - he's had no problems as far as i'm aware. However I think an accurate summary would be that it does absolutley nothing very well i.e. performance is average, as is fuel economy, handling etc.

Much better cars out there that i'm sure would meet your needs better - imo obviously

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

LOL...the company Freelander's predacessor was a Frontera

It actually went wrong less....only major problem was a stripped thread in the head which caused a sparkplug to blow out whilst driving down the by-pass (blame heavy handed vaux mechanics for that).

Still crap though

Senior_AP

My brother had a Range Rover 2.5DSE. P reg, immaculate.

Still **** and he sold it.

Gotta agree, Jap are better motors...

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Range Rovers are good compared to Freelanders though

Senior_AP

The 2.5DSE was a shocking car. I couldn't imagine anything worse.

Loud at speed, painful performance (40bhp/ton anyone??), had to brake 2 miles before junctions, creeking dashboard, loud juddery rumbley tyres.

My god it was ****e.

My bro's new Golf TDi is however a lovely motor. Thank god he saw sense!!

MY97_Toy

Just picked up Rav 4 last week was looking up to the same value as yourself. The freelanders were absolutely slated in reviews.

I started to look at them myself as it was becoming difficult to source a private 2nd hand Rav for the correct money. They do hold value very well. However when looking at the reviews of owners I would not even consider one.

Our Rav is a Second car for taking family and the dog out in one go. However I just saw the pics of the New Freelander in Autocar and if the problems have been ironed out I think I will buy a diesel to replace my Golf V. I will wait till the new year or so as my experiences of early production new models have been a bit hit and miss (Mercedes) read ......crap!

The Freelanders do look good and are tempting. The new one I hope will tick all the boxes as does the Discovery which I love, but, cannot afford at the moment.

RoShamBo

iTrader: (1)

There is a new Freelander out later in the year. Looks very good.

MikesWagon

Just to offer a balanced view.

We bought a hippo (freelander) to replace a my99 wagon a few months after our daughter was born. Although we had enough room in the scoob, I was fed up with the boy racer attention, running costs, and the customer service from our dealer. This was about 3 years ago and it was a 5dr 1.8 xei.

2 things went wrong in the time we had it: 1) the throttle body was sticking so LR sent a courtesy hippo out to us that night, and picked up ours the following day. 2) The gasket was on its way out, they spotted this at a service - wasn't noticeable to me, and replaced it under warranty. They actually fitted the newer design of head at this time.

Of course this was from a LR dealer. One of my workmates wives had a 3dr, gasket went, think about £1k to sort.

The after sales service was excellent, funny since both Subaru and LR dealers are the same franchise in Aberdeen.

We couldn't afford a TD4 at the time, and felt the 2.0D was a bit noisy.

£9k should now get you a TD4, no problem. If you do go for a 1.8, that should get you the later cylinder head, but check if the gaskets been done.

We've since sold it due to the wifes work, but I'd have another 1 without hesitation, miss it much more than the scoob too. I almost rolled a workmates CRV, I've never been in a RAV4, but consider both of them pretty bland.

Mike.

RESSE

iTrader: (1)

http://www.overfinch.co.uk/?node_id=1.3.3&vehicle_id=21

Brendan Hughes

Considering it doesn't include a full rollcage - No Way. Grossly overpowered, high CofG, and a body of aluminium which will flatten to the dashboard level if the car rolls. Death trap.

JackClark

That's pornographic!