So any of you guys used one of these or have any good/bad stories....the misses is after one and I want to make sure it isnt going to be a lemon....


Ta

Sean

Mrs C had one for 2 years, fine, enjoyed it, easy to drive, no real problems - but dealer was crap. Go for an import, or if it has to be a UK, as new as possible.

....forgot to say, she replaced it with a MINI cooper costing 3/4 of the price, and is FAR happier with it. Really question if you NEED a 4x4, a lot of money for not a lot of car if you don't!

ta for the info gary, yeah shes looking for a 4x4 and this is the one she prefers.....anyone else got any info?????

Check out parkers.co.uk (if you haven't already done so). There is normally some sense on there.

From the limited amount I know about them (all gleened second hand) they were extensively revised after Ford got hold of Landrover and these would be the ones to go for.

The petrol V6 has a bit of a drink problem by all accounts (hic!).

Cheers for that about the softtop/hardtop, will avoid them if there that crap.....;0)


Ta

Sean (keep it comin people)

Sean,

Land Rover had to recall most of the pre 2001 models for various reasons (I think one of them was the front seat back mecahnism and something to do with the battery - the recall was announced the same week the Freelander was officially launched in the USA).

A very good friend of mine bought his wife a 2001 TDi4 and is very pleased with it.

There have been quite a lot of press reports about Land Rover build quality, but they still manage to sell alot of vehicles.

We have just bought a brand new Toyota Rav 4 NV (base model) from a main Toyota dealer for £11,000 and it has air conditioning, permanent four wheel drive, electric mirrors/windows etc.....

Great little car for "relatively" small outlay, and it goes like stink - 1800cc engine that blasts to 60 quicker than our 4600cc Range Rover Vogue!

Off Road Magazine has a very good table in the back (after the classifieds) on all the different 4x4 models, and they offer a reprint of road tests - well worth the couple of £s they cost.

Richard

Just bought a hardback for the missus.

Looks like a nice car, parkers report that the newer ones are the ones to go for, so I bought it brand new. The softback is the runt of the litter (sorry!) as the sales bloke said, but the hardback is cool... Nice and easy to lift it off and you have a convertible!

Sean, I've never been in one and don't know anyone who has one; however, a mate of mine who works in the Rover development/R&D section talked about them a bit a while back, a year or so after they were launched.

His only real warning was that if anyone got one, and used the HDC 4x4 system regularly, to make sure they sold it after a few years. Apparently the Rover guys all reckoned that the electronic gubbins for the Hill Descent Control wasn't going to be a long-life piece of kit! :(

As I say, all second-hand info, not first hand knowledge, but I know the guy said it was definitely a bit to keep an eye on. Can only hope that Land Rover have worked on it since then.

Cheers,
Steve

My sister used to have one with the MGF motor in and I found it fairly impressive in terms of the driving experience.

Handling/ride was much better than others on the market and it was resonably refined. The brakes were okay rather than excellent and it lost speed a bit on motorway hills but they were only minor gripes.

V6 is supposed to be horrendously thirsty. I know of another owner who has had major probs but my sister who covered about 70k in hers from new never had any faults.

For the money and driving experience I preferred it to the Range Rover.

you're right to avoid the softback.

One of my colleagues had the 5-door Freelander. Lovely car - that is, until some pi££ock in an Avensis estate pulled across the road in front of him.

The Avensis was dented. The Freelander was written off - most of the front of the car ended up in the front footwells, John's head smacked into the dashboard so hard (airbag didn't work) that his head had a 4" slice in it. Oh, and two broken ribs, of course.....

Don't do it - they're "okay" to own (although nuffin special to drive and they _are_ thirsty) but nasty to crash

I assume that yer missus only wants the freelander 'cos she likes the looks? If not, then get her a testdrive in a forester, loads better on road, good crash test results and the present shape has no known issues and they'll be cheap as the new shape is out in november. Plus it's a scoob!

Sisters got one and to be honest I think its a heap of crap its slow it rattles and every few months it goes back to the dealer to get somthing fixed. It also has the worst designed almost completely unusable soft top ever. When the car was new I asked the dealer for instructions on how to put the soft top on they told me to bring it in and pay one hours labour for them to it. Three seperate parts broke in the process (wasn't my fault just **** quality) and when the hood came apart from one of the bars a salesman in the dealership superglued it back together telling me ' We could get you a new one but it would probably break again' If you do get one stay away from the softtop/hardtop effort

[Edited by g0d - 4/11/2002 1:54:00 PM]