big red

Active Member
Hi folks

I'm after a bit of info.
I'm thinking of getting a Freelander 1 as a bit of a runaround, but I need to be able to get our dog in the boot. He's a greyhound, and quite large, so I'm not sure he'll fit.
I was wondering if anyone has a large dog they transport around, and if they fit ok. If anyone has a photo, that would be even better.
Thanks in advance :)
 
There isn't a lot of room in the boot for a large dog but that can be a good thing, stops them moving around and falling all over the place when cornering etc. One or both back seats can fold down to give more room. I used to take my boarder collie in the freelander until she got too old to jump up, she is a big dog for her breed but obviously not as tall as a greyhound.

Col
 
Hi, not my experience, but the guy I bought my from had two labradors, and as far as I know he carried them both.
 
Golden retriever has not made any official complaints! Opening back window and guard is a plus over other vehicles.
 
Golden retriever has not made any official complaints! Opening back window and guard is a plus over other vehicles.

The boot would fit a greyhound ok. And as you say, the lowered window and guard fitted is a good place to leave a dog when shopping.
 
IMG_20191002_171634.jpg In fact, they are so ideal, I can use my old Freelander shells as kennels!!!
 
Given the size of the car, the Freelander has lots of rear leg room - but at the price of a rather puney boot. It should be more than adequate for a grey hound though - take him for a test drive :)

Our Springer much prefers the back seat, but will fit in the boot fine if we drag him in there (and there's not to much junk in there!).
 
My plan was to buy a Freelander but when I saw the size of the boot there was no way my two Beardies would not fit in there with any comfort, it was far too squashed.
 
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Thanks for all the replies folks, much appreciated.
I think I'll have to find one nearby to go and try him out in.
 
One last question. Is a 3 door boot the same size as the 5 door?

The 3 and 5 door are on the same floor pan dimensions. So although the top panels are different, the actual space in the vehicle is the same between body styles.
 
Yes - what ever you do - check underneath and make sure its still got its props running front to back with the VCU splitting them - otherwise its running 2WD. Make sure its got matching, make and model, tyres to. Some info...

https://www.landyzone.co.uk/land-rover/tests-new-freelander-1-owners-should-do-on-their-car.312863/

You can expect to need a recon VCU when buying a F1 - so budget in that - they're about £250-£300 with a new set of support bearings (Bell engineering is the generally accepted best place to get them from).
 
Excellent.
Getting slightly ahead of the game I've just been looking at lift and tyre options :rolleyes:

For your lift and such like, muddy mods is a ones top shop for lots of trick bits, lift kit, extended brake lines, chequer plate, engine tuning etc... And was set up by one of our guys,ie a LZ forum member, they started making bits for their own freelander and made it into a business.

Generally speaking highest you can go is a 2" lift kit, make sure you have camber bolts, and extended brake lines. As for tyres the biggest you can go to without spacers is a 29" tyre, 225/75/16 or 235/70/16 or there abouts. The limiting factor on tyresize is the tyres are precariously close to the spring seats on the macpherson struts at 29", for reference, the standard tyre is 26" diameter (215/70/16?), so lift kit and tyres will give you 3+1/2" lift. Coming from a fender you might think these mods are puny sounding, but you'll actually have more ground clearance under a 29" tyred 2" lifted freelander than you would under a stock defender. Be careful about which tyres you put on the freelander, because of their monocoque construction, really agressive tyres introduce a lot of noise into the cabin. Trust me, one of my hippos sets of wheels has kumho KL71's on them, while you do, or at least I did, get used to the noise, its still not pleasant. I've got BFG all terrains on the other set of wheels, and they are very pleasant on the road.

Engine wise, avoid the petrols. The choice is between either the older L series Diesel, or a TD4. If you want to tune it so silly numbers, you can do more to a L series, if you are wanting something modern, reliable and refined out the box with a bit of scope for tuning, TD4. If you plan on taking it off road, coming from a defender you'll miss the low box, crawling is achieved by slipping the clutch. However, the autobox is a hunny of a thing, beautifully smooth changes, virtually telepathic it just knows what gear you are going to need, and it gels with the freelanders transmission for offroading.

Our TD4 auto could run rings around our mildly fettled (boostpin, turbo turned up, decatted, egr delete, silicon hoses, tappets set up super sweet) 300tdi discovery in terms of acceleration. And the very rare time I had them both off road at the same time, I was surprised by how well the freelanders electronics and clever transmission worked on the terrain. The viscous coupling in the middle essentially acts like a limited slip center diff would in a "real landy". Couple that with traction control that brakes the spinning wheel(s) and thus transfers power to wheels with grip, as long as the ruts arent too deep for them, they will go seemingly anywhere. As an added bonus, they are 102" wheelbase, so longer wheelbase than a disco, and near as damnit on the holy grail 100", and they have naff all over hangs, so when lifting them even a smidgeon, like the 2" lift and 1+1/2" from the tyres, really makes a difference on what obstacles you can drive over as opposed to driving into it.

Back on point, if you are thinking of the freelander from the point of view of the dogs comfort, I'd suggest a 3 door, reason being they have the pop off targa roof panels that can be left ajar, and they have those silly pop out but not removable rear windows, I'd imagine if the dogs going to be in the car in summer, you could make them quite comfortable by having the tailgate window down, the quarterlights, and the sunroof panels open to create a through draft.
 
I'd say avoid the TD4, it's garbage. It suffers from horrible expensive faults, that sometimes simply refuse to be fixed.
The auto box can be OK, but when it's bad, it's bad.

I'm going back to a petrol manual, as I'm fed up with the expensive, impossible to find fault with the BMW boat ballast engine and Jap junk auto box.
 
lol, the different engines are a bit marmite - love em or hate em. All the time the TD4 is running well it appears that its a decent engine, smoother and a little more power than the L Series - both about the same economy in manual form. The TD4's refinement though mainly comes from it being a common rail engine, so is much more complex and lots more bits to go wrong - the L Series doesn't even have a lift pump. Most problems are easily resolve, but there are reasonably frequent problems on here that are right pigs. The KV6 is usually a story of right pig jobs combined with fuel consumption not much different to a V8 Disco. The 1.8 is a sweet little engine that packs a reasonable punch, very few problems other than head gaskets, which it blows for fun. If you don't mind doing head gaskets every few years, then once you consider the price of fuel and other costs, it is probably the cheapest Freelander to own (but is belt driven like the L Series compared to the TD4's chain).

Ultimately though your decision on which one is often dictated by other factors. For example on the TD4 and KV6 being available with the auto box. The L Series cars were before LR started pimping them up with nicer interiors and more gadgets. Another thing I'd say is that on the manuals the TD4 clutch does seam to last long and with a fancy flywheel is expensive to replace. The slave on the clutch as well seam silly to me because you have to take the box off to get at it if there's problems.

Lots of options though.

Re lifting it. I have no direct experience, mine's running standard. However the 50mm kits need the bodywork hacked about, where as the 40mm kits don't - but they do require the tracking rods (or something) switched between sides as this then means bolts are pointing up rather than down or something. What ever, I think that last 20% of clearance gives 80% of pain - worth checking.
 

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