Freelander or go Japanese

Hi all,

Recently I went out in a K series Freelander and ever since I have been looking for a reliable 4x4 for around £5-6k. I have been looking at some TD4 Freelanders on 04-06 plates with around 90k miles on the clock. Are there any tell tale signs of a good one? things to look out for when buying? Would you recommend a Freelander of this age/millage over a rav4 or grand vitara. Plus how many miles will the running gear/td4 engine do if well maintained.

Hoping for an unbiased response.

Many thanks,

Jcbond87

Had a 99 Freelander a 03 XTrail a 05 XTrail and now have a 04 Freelander.
Can't speak about any other cars but if I want the most practical car it would be the XTrail but it is soul-less. Freelander has a better driving position and is more comfortable and more of a pleasure to be in.
With your money though I would be looking for something younger with lower miles than 90k.

We went out for a few weeks looking for an FL, cash in hand .. came back with an 03 X-Trail at half the mileage and price but twice the quality .. Wife loves it, I like it's comfort and it does drive well and there's nothing mechanically wrong with it.

The FL's we tried were _all_, bar none, very 'sloppy' in gearchange, suspension and general feel. Indeed half of them had VCU problems (Or IRD 'cos their props were removed) and some had the tell-tale clunk when reversing if they had the props on!

We must have seen loads .. we saw the one Nissan and the only 'bad' bits were cosmetic, a broken door handle, the wrong light replaced inside and the headlights were discoloured, but toothpaste soon sorted that!

XTrails are not as reliable as you might think. They have an insatiable appetite for throttle position sensors (TPS) and our 05 one had a fuel sensor issue that had to go to a Nissan dealer to fix at almost £300.
No issues with VCU's though.

Same as Paul, when I was with the ex we went looking for a TD4 Freelander for her, looked at a few but came back with an 03 petrol X-trail for much less than we would've had to spent on a Freelander.. she loves it and I got to admit it's a very nice thing to drive.. interior is awesome and much bigger than the FL.. love the auto.. drives like new..

Seems to me that £300 for a fuel sensor issue is way less than a Freelander IRD at £600 and a VCU at £200, (Bell engineering, dunno about labour costs)which was about the minimum _all_ the same age Freelanders we saw would have needed to work properly.

The X-trail's 4wd is electronically controlled and it just works .. which has been great as it's the wifes and she commutes, so during the ice and snow she really made use of it. For what we could have afforded for a same age Freelander she'd have struggled a bit I reckon.

Only things we 'added' were a set of new tyres, not 'cos they absolutely needed it, but with the money saved from the Freelander it was daft not to .. they'd have needed changing this year anyway.

every body goes on about vcu's going on at 60 to 70 000 miles on my old one I had a17 odd thousand on the clock before any trouble my wife's Freelander has 80 odd thousand on the clock and nothing if fact it past its mot yesterday and only had to have one rubber bush on the tie rod not bad for a 17 year old car. looking after them is the key.

teddywood1 said:

every body goes on about vcu's going on at 60 to 70 000 miles on my old one I had a17 odd thousand on the clock before any trouble my wife's Freelander has 80 odd thousand on the clock and nothing if fact it past its mot yesterday and only had to have one rubber bush on the tie rod not bad for a 17 year old car. looking after them is the key.

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Agreed .. we couldn't find any that didn't need expensive transmission work .. there were loads of X-trails, especially after we'd bought one!!

Paul D said:

Agreed .. we couldn't find any that didn't need expensive transmission work .. there were loads of X-trails, especially after we'd bought one!!

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i think a lot of the jap cars are so reliable it's untrue , shame the landies u looked at all had these problems

do like my landies though

before buying my hippo we was going to look at a defender as I had series landies before that , but didn't as I need an auto , think the only other one was the disco ,

wanted something nice and quiet down the motorway , not bad off road and an auto and the freelander seemed to fit that requirement

that my problem with a week leg and a bad knee I need an auto the wife is a manual and it kills me to drive it , and the only series which I would love with a auto box have been done by the home mechanic none from the LR factory and I always wonder if they are ok I am sure they would be but my mind always has that doubt .

gstuart said:

i think a lot of the jap cars are so reliable it's untrue , shame the landies u looked at all had these problems

do like my landies though

before buying my hippo we was going to look at a defender as I had series landies before that , but didn't as I need an auto , think the only other one was the disco ,

wanted something nice and quiet down the motorway , not bad off road and an auto and the freelander seemed to fit that requirement

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Yeah I love Landies. If we'd found a Freelander that was even half decent we'd have bought it. The problem with the X-Trail was finding a problem other than close to the limit tyres. It was so tight on steering, driving 'feel' etc it felt brand new .. We simply bought it there and then, and haven't regretted it!

I tend to stick with LR. I've had 5 Freelanders over the years and now a D3. None have been unreliable really. However I do consider owning any LR more of a hobby than perhaps I would any other car.
I've had several Japanese 4X4s over the too. While they are mostly reliable, they are as dull as a dishwasher or any other white good for that matter. The X Trail is no different to anything else Japanese, only it's mostly Renault.

We bought the two XTrails because they were much cheaper than an equivalent Freelander. They were for my wife to tow a horse trailer and were brilliant in every way. Post 03 XTrails are over 140 hp so better for towing than any standard Freelander.
So why did I buy a Freelander this time? Simple, both the wife and I loved the Freelander despite it's faults and never had the same feelings for the XTrail, and this time it's not needed for towing hence the K series.

Had a little giggle when I saw your comment "Hoping for an unbiased response. " - what with it being posted in a Land Rover Freelander forum!

Then read the responses, and post after post saying to steer clear of the Freelander. ???

So I'll just add my 2 penneth to the guys with good experiences with the Freelander. My thoughts on the Freelander are that if your steer clear of the petrol powered ones and you understand how the VCU works - check it regularly and keep an eye on tyre (pressures) - then you've got yourself a good, reliable, comfortable motor that will go on to very high mileage.

We've had our '99 L Series diesel for 4 years. We've just had relies over and have done a 3K kms road trip round the South Island here in NZ with 5 adults on board and our luggage in hot temps wiith air con running and everyone was comfortable and enjoyed the experience. It's a challenge to any car traveling the SI - most of the mileage is hilly and twisting (no fancy motorways) and we went over mountain passes above 3,000ft. The Freelander performed fantastic and returned 38MPG.

In our ownership I've had to fix the ABS modulator twice and I did destroy my IRD because I misunderstood an under inflated tyre - I know how the VCU works now! I'd qualify that as very reliable over 4 years ownership, the only other costs have been oil, filters and pads.

Our previous car was a Disco V8 (before that had a great reliable Disco TDI). It had continual over heating problems during our 7 years ownership and cost us a fortune (when do you cut your losses!). Eventually we got fed up with it and ditched LR. Bought a low-mileage Mazda Proceed Marvie after an AA inspection that said it was a great car - looking forward to years of trouble free ownership. 3 weeks later the engine turned to iron filings and it was sold for scrap! Put a few more $$$ into the Disco and carried on for a few more years till we swapped out for the diesel Freelander.

So my advice would be to buy a higher spec (HSE) TD4 that's running 2WD but otherwise in good condition - so you get it at a low price. Then hand the car over to a reputable company (Bells Engineering?) to install a recon IRD & VCU. You know then you'll have a good vehicle with known good condition 4WD.

All really valuable responses...cheers! Are the auto boxes in Freelanders sound with higher millage (100k+)? I have only ever had manual boxes in my vehicles.

Cheers,

We got a 56 reg TD4 HSE freelander with 90k miles last summer for £4800. So far it has been pretty good. The only thing we have had to fix is the VCU carrier bearings. The VCU is still fine etc.

It is a good car to potter around in, though I would like 6 gears for motorway driving.

Would probably get another one over something else, it's comfy, has reasonably good spec, and does about 40mpg.

jcbond87 said:

All really valuable responses...cheers! Are the auto boxes in Freelanders sound with higher millage (100k+)? I have only ever had manual boxes in my vehicles.

Cheers,

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Most auto boxes have a reputation for fragility. The Freelander's box is no exception. It is made by Jatco which is a subsidiary of Nissan iirc. It's important to replace the fluid on time and use a decent compatible or dealer fluid. Otherwise it's electronic gremlins to contend with. My V6 Auto box was faultless though if a little dimwitted.

Nodge68 said:

My V6 Auto box was faultless though if a little dimwitted.

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I can vouch for the reliability of Nissan as we also have a Qashquai but does it have the character of a Freelander? Does it hell! Lol, and my Freelander has so far been very good with just servicing and replacement VCU and bearings which to be fair are wear and tear items.

I have ran 2 hiluxs for the last 7 years, put over 400k miles on the 2 motors, engines great, but when they went wrong mega money, £650 for an alternator, over 2k for a rear axle rebuild, over 2k for a steering rack, but only 1 window ever went wrong lol. I have a 2001 td4 with 150k, had it a year now and prefer to drive it more than the hilux. Freelanders have lots of little problems but most of them seem cheap to fix, maintenance is the key. New vcu and a full service to start will set you on the right road. When I serviced mine the last guy had forgot to put oil back in the ird box!!!! I caught it early. best of luck