To buy or not to buy

mudinuri · Jun 3, 2015

Hi all,
After 18 months without a Land Rover I have decided to buy another Freelander, my fourth if I buy it.
I have been offered a 2004 1.8SE with only 70000 miles and a FSH. All my previous Freelanders have been Diesels carefully avoiding the old K engined variants, but I have no idea if this newer series Petrol engine suffers from the same Head Gasket problems of the old series. Can anyone advise, please.
Really looking forward to getting behind the wheel of another Landy.
Cheers

300bhp/ton · Jun 3, 2015

The K-Series is a very sweet engine IMO. And much maligned on the internet. Yes they 'can' suffer HG issues. And it's probably a safe bet to budget to get it done at some point. However they don't all need HG's to be done.

And should it go, then get it done properly and it should be no more problem. And remember getting the HG done is approx the same cost as getting the cambelt done on most modern V6 engines. So can be viewed as almost a service type item.

And also remember, while the K-Series is picked on heavily by us Brits and especially on the internet. It is by no means the only engine in the world that is more prone to HG failures. There are plenty of other culprits, only they tend not to get the spotlight on them.

The 1.8 suits the Freelander very well, it'll feel far more grunty than you'd think a 1.8 should. And has a reasonable turn of speed. Good engine braking and smooth compared to a diesel.

MPG wise it won't be as good as a diesel, expect 24-26mpg average. Less if lots of town or heavy right foot and towards 30mpg on a longer run.

Nodge68 · Jun 3, 2015

300bhp/ton said:
The K-Series is a very sweet engine IMO. And much maligned on the internet. Yes they 'can' suffer HG issues. And it's probably a safe bet to budget to get it done at some point. However they don't all need HG's to be done.

And should it go, then get it done properly and it should be no more problem. And remember getting the HG done is approx the same cost as getting the cambelt done on most modern V6 engines. So can be viewed as almost a service type item.

And also remember, while the K-Series is picked on heavily by us Brits and especially on the internet. It is by no means the only engine in the world that is more prone to HG failures. There are plenty of other culprits, only they tend not to get the spotlight on them.

The 1.8 suits the Freelander very well, it'll feel far more grunty than you'd think a 1.8 should. And has a reasonable turn of speed. Good engine braking and smooth compared to a diesel.

MPG wise it won't be as good as a diesel, expect 24-26mpg average. Less if lots of town or heavy right foot and towards 30mpg on a longer run.

Seconded ^^^^^^

vilguy · Jun 3, 2015

we just bought another 1.8 k series (ive had about 7 cars with that engine over the years) its a bloody good engine

kev1nlm · Jun 3, 2015

The K series is a good engine its the position of the thermostat that causes its problems, do the thermostat mod and you should be trouble free

The Mad Hat Man · Jun 3, 2015

design is crap

freelance · Jun 4, 2015

Freelancer that age should already have prt

To buy or not to buy

mudinuri

Active Member

300bhp/ton

Well-Known Member

Nodge68

Well-Known Member

vilguy

Do'er of stuff and the like

kev1nlm

Active Member

The Mad Hat Man

Well-Known Member

freelance

Well-Known Member

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