Freelander 2

Yeh the Freelander 1 was badly build and designed I admit. But people still bought them in huge numbers so LR must have got something right?
LR went belly up under BMW. Ford have made it much more reliable, the new freelander might be a leap in looks but technology and build quality are much better that old freelander. LR is the only part of Fords Premier Group consistently making profits like it or not!

Blippie said:

. Needs a careful driving stye, but I reiterate they are suprisingly good off road.

Cheers

Blippie

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I'll let Ming know its all about his driving style

Price jump is high on new Freelanders but disco went up too. Seems LR want to add a smaller/cheaper model at the bottom! Also wood (plastic) is **** mitallic pixel much better.

there is only two things Land Rover got right about the Hippoo

1) the styling - best of any SUV.
2) the Land Rover name

peeps bought the Hippoo on the back of the Land Rover name and were disapointed from day 1.

BUDASH said:

Price jump is high on new Freelanders but disco went up too. Seems LR want to add a smaller/cheaper model at the bottom! Also wood (plastic) is **** mitallic pixel much better.

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Cheap it aint
D

Yeh relability was shoddy especially on original but 2004facelifted version was best model of old freelanders in TD4. Owners of the new Freelander are delighted, except the fools who brought petrol ones and wished they brought an oil rig too. New TD4 engine still remains in same tax bracket and is more economcal and power powerful.

BUDASH said:

Yeh relability was shoddy especially on original but 2004facelifted version was best model of old freelanders in TD4. Owners of the new Freelander are delighted, except the fools who brought petrol ones and wished they brought an oil rig too. New TD4 engine still remains in same tax bracket and is more economcal and power powerful.

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Why do you think they have gone back to 2.0 litres in the new xtrail?
Do you think Nissan know somethings afoot?
I havent driven either yet but my mate is in the process of looking at freelander 2 and the xtrail...
And unfortunately as of the last conversation i had with him it looks like Nissan are ahead.
He liked the freelander mind , but he said the Nissan was MUCH better value and went like stink....
D

OH btw im gutted cos the insurance over here covers any driver so if he had gone for the freelander i could have given it a real test drive.
D

The Mad Hat Man said:

i fort that Land Rover went belly up

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Rubbish.

In fact, LR and Jaguar make Ford a tidy profit. Which can't be said for many Ford compnaies. Got a feeling they might be the only ones.

spares and repairs that are charged at ridiculous rates

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Fair comment, LR dealer prices are expensive, but compare them to other premium manufacurers and that's not unusual. However, Genuine Parts and LR dealer repairs seem expensive beacuse OE spares and specialist repairs are so prevalent. And whilst it is not as easy to work on as a Defender, the Freelander is simple vehicle to maintain.

the Freelander is a vehicle that was poorly designed, poorly built and pooly executed.

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The Freelander started life as a design for a Rover people carrier. It evolved into the best selling small 4x4. It took over the market that was otherwise dominated by Japanese brands. As a result, it saved the company from a difficult future.

The designers had a concept and ran with it - keep it light and simple, so no low box and no central diff. No diff? Add TC (traction control with dront discs and rear drums? Interesting!) No low box? Add HDC. (And HDC was just one of a number of neat innovations, some of which are now standard across the LR range.)

Did the concept work? Drive a Honda CR-V and see how much better the Freelander is on road. Drive an XTrail and see how much better the TD4 engine is. Drive a BMW X3 and see how much better the Freelander is off road.

The style was typically 1990's and it needed its two facelifts. BMW injected some much needed quality control. However there were some daring design and style aspects - such as the rear door/screen (neat concept, but really a bit too tricky) and spare wheel.

The Freelander will never shrug off the reputation for poor reliablity caused by the early transmission problems and the K-series head gasket failures, which were apparent in all the vehicles that were fitted with the K-series, such as the Rover 200/400, MG F and Lotus Elise, which seem to have escaped the stigma. LR lost a lot of ground when it misjudged the early transmission problems and concentrated on the rear tyres and pressure. The later components pretty much sorted the problem. In our minds, perhaps LR should have had every petrol Freelander back in on recall for modifeld engine components to solve the HGF issue - but with the quantity involved that might be wishful thinking.

in other words a waste of space.

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Thanks for your contribution!

Cheers

Blippie

Tatooboo said:

Why do you think they have gone back to 2.0 litres in the new xtrail?
Do you think Nissan know somethings afoot?
I havent driven either yet but my mate is in the process of looking at freelander 2 and the xtrail...
And unfortunately as of the last conversation i had with him it looks like Nissan are ahead.
He liked the freelander mind , but he said the Nissan was MUCH better value and went like stink....
D

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No idea for bigger engine, probably because the old TD4 could of always had a bit more power. Drive a Freelander 2TD4 and its quick especially in auto, its got some sort of power boost thingy! Wouldnt by nissan over LR anyway!

Quote:
Originally Posted by BUDASH
Seems LR want to add a smaller/cheaper model at the bottom!

Tatooboo said:

Cheap it aint

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I think BUDASh refers to rumours about another model "beneath" the Freelander. Interestingly, in the USA the Disco is the LR3, the Freelander 2 is the LR2 and that leaves a lovely space for the LR1.

However, there's no way that LR would commit to the development of a new model when theirs unstability in its mother company. We'll have to see what the new owners think!

Cheers

Blippie

Spot on Blippie!

Cool, does this mean there gonna have a City Freelander.....similar to the City Rover...

Cant wait

Tatooboo said:

Plus they went to a 2.2 litre which i think falls into a higher tax bracket.

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Tax is calculated on emissions not engine size.

Interestingly, LR claim better fuel economy for the new TD4.

Cool, does this mean there gonna have a City Freelander.....similar to the City Rover... Cant wait

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LOL, let's not confuse what a (sadly) struggling company did (to try and invigorate its model range when its vehicles were becoming stale but it couldn't afford to develop a new model) with what LR might/could/should do with a smaller entry level 4x4. Though it is fair to say that it could well share components/floor pan with other vehicles, which is comon practice with other companies. You can imagine that if Ford had kept LR, it may have looked at a new "LR1" sharing structures of the Fiesta or Focus but with LR engineering and a different body. Whether that ould be feasible with the new owners isn't so clear.

Cheers

Blippie

Blippie said:

Quote:
Originally Posted by BUDASH
Seems LR want to add a smaller/cheaper model at the bottom!



I think BUDASh refers to rumours about another model "beneath" the Freelander. Interestingly, in the USA the Disco is the LR3, the Freelander 2 is the LR2 and that leaves a lovely space for the LR1.

However, there's no way that LR would commit to the development of a new model when theirs unstability in its mother company. We'll have to see what the new owners think!

Cheers

Blippie

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Ye i have seen the concept of the (i think they called it the "LANDY").
But as you have said theres a lot of uncertainty at the moment with LR/JAG Sad part is it will probably be sold to either a Chinese or an Indian concern, .
They seem to be the only ones with the coin at the moment.
IT wil be interesting to see if TATA get involved..they have the steel now so they might want another recognized piece of british history..
Hope im wrong
D

Sorry Blippie i was thinking off the system for older cars..
Its been a long time since i taxed a car in britain...
But im still interested why Nissan have gone down in engine size?
Any ideas...hell of an output as well
D

Tatooboo said:

Sad part is it will probably be sold to either a Chinese or an Indian concern

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TATA and Mahindra seem like the front runners. There were a lot of visitors from Asia at Solihull last month!

Tatooboo said:

But im still interested why Nissan have gone down in engine size? Any ideas...hell of an output as well

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Well, you may have answered your own question there!

Of course, it may be for production reasons... Nissan have enlarged their 4x4x range so they may have rationalised their engine range. Or they may be linked in with other companies and needed to change to a diferent engine.

Cheers

Blippie

Thought they might be...my mate works for corus in South wales..or TATA steel now..and he said that management had heard a few rumors.
D

Blippie said:

There were a lot of visitors from Asia at Solihull last month!



Cheers

Blippie

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Thats cause they have spread out from digbeth into the surrounding areas

Tatooboo said:

But im still interested why Nissan have gone down in engine size?
Any ideas...hell of an output as well
D

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they havent!

the X-Trail has always been available in 2.0 Litre petrol and 2.2 doozil and 2.5 petrol in the UK. The australian market had only the 2.5 petrol. The American market have never had the option of Doozil.