agree with what R B has written , Decembers LRM has a positive 4 pages on the freelander 1 , but used the words much maligned , now dated , and remove the rear prop for 9 months of the year :eek: and gives some do,s and dont,s on running a freelander EDUCATION is the key word here or the lack of it to the motor trade , even the main dealers and land rover its self , petrol or diesel aside , one of the main causes of freelander 1s bad rep is drive train death caused by mismatched tyres , IMO , as long as they get a sale of one or two tyres fik the owner , even advice on this site was vague , 15 years on , and still ignorance :eek::eek::eek::D
 
yeah, i bought the landrover owner international magazine last month, purely because it came with a free landrover headover/buff and ive been wanting a buff for a while :d i was dissapointed to see that it was less "landrover owner international" more "defender circlejerk club"

literally the only mention of the freelander was one small advert in the back advertising freelander bonnet light pods and a small article on how to fix the fl2 boot latch.

Whilst ive never bought one of their mags before, so i dont know if they have run an issue on the freelander, it certainly does seem very biased and i wont be buying the mag again.

Then you get groups/people like this spreading misinformations/reinforcing the negative stereotypes:

(taken from the "devon & cornwall landrover owners group" on faceache

wxb.png


makes me sad! :(

well whatever, their loss! I love my freelander and it does everything i need it to... And itll do pretty much anything a "real" landrover can do, just with a lot more comfort! :d i dont have to roll the windows down to steer mine! :p
i bet the fikers have never driven a freelander 1
 
Just my opinion, I'm not telling anyone I'm right.
Ok, so I've had enough now.
I'm talking about the Land Rover Magazines. So quick to berate the Freelander's faults.So quick to tell you not to buy one because of said faults.However, I've noticed one thing these magazines all have in common. They never educate the Land Rover owning public on the possible causes of the most common faults, rather they just say what the faults are and warn against buying one.
In the November issue of LRM there is an article "What Land Rover can you buy for £3000?"
QUOTE:
That £3000 burning a hole in you'r pocket will buy you a very good Freelander, but make sure it's a late model Td4. Petrol and diesel models that went before aren't really up to scratch. Sorry to be blunt, but unless you've really got you'r heart set on a Freelander we recommend you look at a similarly priced Discovery instead.It's a much more versatile vehicle in every respect.VERDICT: £3000 will buy a good one, but is that what you really want?

Really? A Disco is much more versatile in every respect ? How exactly in EVERY respect? Bigger, noisier, thirstier, slower . Is that really being more versatile ? I can get as much in my Freelander as I ever did in my Disco's - and I've owned 4 Discoverys and still own a Disco 2. I've NEVER had call to use 7 seats so that's a waste of space. They're much harder to park in confined spaces, they drink fuel at a rate of knots. They rot at the mere sniff of damp and drive like the QE2 unless going in a straight line.
However, back to my original point. Surely these Magazines should be educating the Land Rover owning public as regards to Freelander ownership which would be far more productive, rather than slagging it off at every turn. Explaining why IRD units are likely to go bang would prove far more useful than saying "steer clear, they go bang, weak drivetrain".
Headgaskets !!! Sick of hearing about the 1.8 headgaskets being a problem. They're not too difficult to fix, but again, "steer clear of the 1.8 due to headgasket failure".
What about the V8's , renown for headgasket problems? No, that doesn't seem to be a problem 'cos they'll be a nice lengthy article every 6 months on how to strip and rebuild the V8 anyway.AND it's a REAL Land Rover engine,(BUICK:rolleyes:) so any REAL MAN should be doing his V8's headgaskets at least 4 times a year !! It's a V8 after all.MASCULINE !!
I could go on at length about other well known faults on all the Land Rover range from Series One to the latest Disco 4 such as rot, electrics, gearboxes etc etc, but all will be treated by the Mags as something you take in you'r stride as a Landy owner - unless it's a Freelander, as that's the spawn of Satan.
Apart from my V6 which had a dislike of engines, I've never had any MAJOR issues with any of the 5 Freelanders I've owned. My Td5 Disco 2 hasn't been used for at least 18 months and is now showing tell-tale signs of the dreaded tin worm all over it.Certainly won't pas an MOT.
In enthusiasts hands, rather than just Joe public - who see it as a car only and not a complicated 4 wheel drive vehicle - Freelanders should remain relatively fault free. Of course, if bought second hand there is no way of knowing what Joe public has done to the vehicle you just bought that could cause problems further down the line. I suspect 90% of second hand bought Freelanders have already had the damage done , just waiting to manifest when the new owner is in the middle of their holiday or on their way to work.
Land Rover magazines, in my opinion should be expressing causes of why things go bang and fail and how to prevent it in the first place, or how to sort it so it's less likely to happen in the future. With these issues understood, then instead of getting a bum rap , the Freelander - and it's owners should be treated with the same respect as anyone who owns a vehicle with the green oval on it. In much the same way as the guy who's had his Series Landy for 40 years, but over that time has had 3 gearboxes, 4 engines, various panels , galvanized chassis and electrics fixed over the time he's owned it. What's the difference? Of course, it's a REAL Land Rover.:rolleyes: No, the difference is that most Series, Range Rovers, Defenders and Discoverys are not consigned by their owners to the scrap heap due to headgasket or IRD failure, something sadly that most of the original first owners of the vehicles did once the vehicles were out of warranty - then went on to slag them as being unreliable when certain problems were easily fixed.Yet another point the Magazines should be addressing. The Freelander when first launched was seen as a Land Rover for the masses with a very large percentage of sales going to "new to the brand" owners who, rather than treating them as a 4x4 with a complicated four wheel drive system , treated them like the family hatch back, which from the start spelled doom for certain components. The Headgasket issue is unforgivable and should have been sorted from the beginning by Land Rover before a single one went on sale. But equally unforgivable was the reputation afforded it by it's original owners who never educated themselves or became familiar enough with it to understand when things weren't right - instead driving them to destruction and then bleating to anyone who would listen just how crap they were. Well guess what? Everyone heard them.Most listened. Most took notice,especially the Landy owners who disliked it from the beginning and were willing it to fail, and some- the very people who should be fighting the cause,the Land Rover Magazines even went as far as to take this to print. They have closed their minds to the possibilty that the Freelander could be anything other than an embarrassment and certainly not a "Real Land Rover".Not worthy to grace the pages of the latest copy.(apart from the M-Sport which is revered by one magazine)
I want the magazines to take notice of us. I'm going to write to all of them proposing that they do a feature article addressing the reasons behind the prejudice, the reasons for component failures etc and also show what people get up to in their Freelander, the modifications, the reasons why they're modified etc etc. It will be hard, but unless the Magazines start taking notice then we will always be treated as a joke. And I don't mean the banter we get on here either.
The P-38 Range Rover has suffered it's share of damning criticism . But it's now starting to be noticed by the Mags as a good vehicle despite it's "issues". We need to ensure this also happens to our Freelanders too. By educating the Magazines , we should be able to educate the wider Land Rover circles too.

Well said may be we should start writing letters of complaint to the mags, Oh by the way just thought i'd mention it I bet the copper who got his 110 stuck in the snow last year and my poor little so called faulty Freelander showed up pulled him out and then went back and pulled out the car he was trying to pull out when he got stuck might be thankful there was a Freelander passing that day.
 
I just tweeted a link to this thread to LR Owner International & LR Monthly. Let's see if they bother to check it out.

I love all Land Rovers but my funds are tight & our family can only afford to run one car. We often drive 300 miles each way to Scotland & back to visit my Wifes disabled dad. Ex forces chap who's had a devastating stroke. The Freelander was a lifeline for the two years after his stroke for carrying him, his wheelchair and all the other stuff. Now he is a little more independent but a Defender just wouldn't be nice to drive those kind of distances & wouldn't be as practical for our needs daily. We can't afford to run a disco or rangie as it stands.

Surely the Freelander fills a perfectly good gap in the LR family, it allows LR ownership & most of the benefits of what people call proper land rovers for a fraction of the cost & a great deal more day to day practicality.
 
On another note, we may have some of our products featured in LRO in the coming months, fingers crossed n all that, but Neil from LRO has been saying he wants to feature more Freelander stuff, so lets see if it happens
 
It's the myths and negativity about Freelanders that have been fueled by the magazines, in turn influencing the Disco/Defender crowd who've never even sat in one that needs to be addressed. Then the reason behind component failures, most of which are caused by poor maintenance and lack of knowledge . The off-road capability myth that Freelanders are useless and need a vast array of off road goodies thrown at them just to cross a muddy field. It's all these things that the Mags need to start addressing. Along with featuring the actual vehicle more within it's pages , whether that be someone who's modified there's for fast on road fun, or an all out mud plugger. Once the Freelander is seen regularly in the issues month after month and people get to realize what they are REALLY about, I believe they will start to become the 4X4 of choice - especially among people who are looking to buy their first off road vehicle , not just people who are new to Land Rover brand and believe the only way to the off road Holy grail is Defender shaped. Freelander spares are relatively cheap and there are 1000's being broken. AND THANKS TO PEOPLE LIKE SE88 (caps locked intentionally) who are picking up the gauntlet and making top quality accessories , other companies should soon follow. However, none of this can be achieved unless all of us Freelander owners stick together and make our voices heard. I reckon that IF we do get noticed and an article is published, then people on the forum should buy a copy. That way, if sale of that particular month's copies are higher than normal, the Magazine will know why. I'm not saying subscribe, just to buy one copy that features the Freelander.That alone could make the powers that be realize we are serious about are vehicle of choice and finally our voices can be heard.
 
-1 :(

The more people like them, the more expensive spare parts are for me!
 
For many years the tratterers have bin slagging oft the Freelander 1 due to one or two hundred faults they tell us it has. There comes a time when they have to face up to their misguided views. It's a well known fact the tratter as we currently know it will stop being built soon. The magazines have warned about this for over 15 years and we're still waiting for LR to ditch it. With this in mind the traatterers have been unfairly damaging the reputation of our Freelander 1's so know one wants to buy them and they fall in price. That way the tratterers can buy them themselves cheap and improve their choice of vehicle if the threat of the DC100 continues. Tis the truth I tells yer. Yer read it ere and not in a magazine anorl.
 
I got a response on twitter from LRO

@jodsclass
@LRMonthly @LandRoverOwner I think you guys need to check out this thread. You are Alienating LR FL owners http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/education-239763.html

Land Rover Owner ‏@LandRoverOwner
@jodsclass How come? We ARE Freelander owners, rebuilt ours, highlighting major issues and how to fix them, and now use it for greenlaning.

I think you guys should sent them a tweet if you use twitter with your concerns & a link to this thread. They may just take note.
 
Just my opinion, I'm not telling anyone I'm right.
Ok, so I've had enough now.
I'm talking about the Land Rover Magazines. So quick to berate the Freelander's faults.So quick to tell you not to buy one because of said faults.However, I've noticed one thing these magazines all have in common. They never educate the Land Rover owning public on the possible causes of the most common faults, rather they just say what the faults are and warn against buying one.
In the November issue of LRM there is an article "What Land Rover can you buy for £3000?"
QUOTE:
That £3000 burning a hole in you'r pocket will buy you a very good Freelander, but make sure it's a late model Td4. Petrol and diesel models that went before aren't really up to scratch. Sorry to be blunt, but unless you've really got you'r heart set on a Freelander we recommend you look at a similarly priced Discovery instead.It's a much more versatile vehicle in every respect.VERDICT: £3000 will buy a good one, but is that what you really want?

Really? A Disco is much more versatile in every respect ? How exactly in EVERY respect? Bigger, noisier, thirstier, slower . Is that really being more versatile ? I can get as much in my Freelander as I ever did in my Disco's - and I've owned 4 Discoverys and still own a Disco 2. I've NEVER had call to use 7 seats so that's a waste of space. They're much harder to park in confined spaces, they drink fuel at a rate of knots. They rot at the mere sniff of damp and drive like the QE2 unless going in a straight line.
However, back to my original point. Surely these Magazines should be educating the Land Rover owning public as regards to Freelander ownership which would be far more productive, rather than slagging it off at every turn. Explaining why IRD units are likely to go bang would prove far more useful than saying "steer clear, they go bang, weak drivetrain".
Headgaskets !!! Sick of hearing about the 1.8 headgaskets being a problem. They're not too difficult to fix, but again, "steer clear of the 1.8 due to headgasket failure".
What about the V8's , renown for headgasket problems? No, that doesn't seem to be a problem 'cos they'll be a nice lengthy article every 6 months on how to strip and rebuild the V8 anyway.AND it's a REAL Land Rover engine,(BUICK:rolleyes:) so any REAL MAN should be doing his V8's headgaskets at least 4 times a year !! It's a V8 after all.MASCULINE !!
I could go on at length about other well known faults on all the Land Rover range from Series One to the latest Disco 4 such as rot, electrics, gearboxes etc etc, but all will be treated by the Mags as something you take in you'r stride as a Landy owner - unless it's a Freelander, as that's the spawn of Satan.
Apart from my V6 which had a dislike of engines, I've never had any MAJOR issues with any of the 5 Freelanders I've owned. My Td5 Disco 2 hasn't been used for at least 18 months and is now showing tell-tale signs of the dreaded tin worm all over it.Certainly won't pas an MOT.
In enthusiasts hands, rather than just Joe public - who see it as a car only and not a complicated 4 wheel drive vehicle - Freelanders should remain relatively fault free. Of course, if bought second hand there is no way of knowing what Joe public has done to the vehicle you just bought that could cause problems further down the line. I suspect 90% of second hand bought Freelanders have already had the damage done , just waiting to manifest when the new owner is in the middle of their holiday or on their way to work.
Land Rover magazines, in my opinion should be expressing causes of why things go bang and fail and how to prevent it in the first place, or how to sort it so it's less likely to happen in the future. With these issues understood, then instead of getting a bum rap , the Freelander - and it's owners should be treated with the same respect as anyone who owns a vehicle with the green oval on it. In much the same way as the guy who's had his Series Landy for 40 years, but over that time has had 3 gearboxes, 4 engines, various panels , galvanized chassis and electrics fixed over the time he's owned it. What's the difference? Of course, it's a REAL Land Rover.:rolleyes: No, the difference is that most Series, Range Rovers, Defenders and Discoverys are not consigned by their owners to the scrap heap due to headgasket or IRD failure, something sadly that most of the original first owners of the vehicles did once the vehicles were out of warranty - then went on to slag them as being unreliable when certain problems were easily fixed.Yet another point the Magazines should be addressing. The Freelander when first launched was seen as a Land Rover for the masses with a very large percentage of sales going to "new to the brand" owners who, rather than treating them as a 4x4 with a complicated four wheel drive system , treated them like the family hatch back, which from the start spelled doom for certain components. The Headgasket issue is unforgivable and should have been sorted from the beginning by Land Rover before a single one went on sale. But equally unforgivable was the reputation afforded it by it's original owners who never educated themselves or became familiar enough with it to understand when things weren't right - instead driving them to destruction and then bleating to anyone who would listen just how crap they were. Well guess what? Everyone heard them.Most listened. Most took notice,especially the Landy owners who disliked it from the beginning and were willing it to fail, and some- the very people who should be fighting the cause,the Land Rover Magazines even went as far as to take this to print. They have closed their minds to the possibilty that the Freelander could be anything other than an embarrassment and certainly not a "Real Land Rover".Not worthy to grace the pages of the latest copy.(apart from the M-Sport which is revered by one magazine)
I want the magazines to take notice of us. I'm going to write to all of them proposing that they do a feature article addressing the reasons behind the prejudice, the reasons for component failures etc and also show what people get up to in their Freelander, the modifications, the reasons why they're modified etc etc. It will be hard, but unless the Magazines start taking notice then we will always be treated as a joke. And I don't mean the banter we get on here either.
The P-38 Range Rover has suffered it's share of damning criticism . But it's now starting to be noticed by the Mags as a good vehicle despite it's "issues". We need to ensure this also happens to our Freelanders too. By educating the Magazines , we should be able to educate the wider Land Rover circles too.
excellent article
and well written
 
Land Rover Owner ‏@LandRoverOwner
@jodsclass How come? We ARE Freelander owners, rebuilt ours, highlighting major issues and how to fix them, and now use it for greenlaning.

Highlighting major issues and how to fix them, HA ! The major issue is that stating a part is broken and it's a well documented for failure, then replacing said item is not actually highlighting the issue. It is only addressing the issue of replacing a broken part, nothing more. IIRC the Freelander article in question was run over several copies. Each one dealing with individual "issues" such as brakes, IRD, etc etc .But again only how to replace broken components that are "known. Freelander issues", and not stating what the possible or main causes for the failures are such as mis-matched tyres.
I can't recall the exact figures but I'm sure they spent around £3K buying and sorting a vehicle that in the real world would have been worth sub £1000, regardless of what they had done to it.Silk purse and sow's ear are words that spring to mind.
Who on earth would spend £3k on a ratty old 1.8 with 12 months MOT. I guess nobody who read the mag. I'm sure it put many people off buying that bargain basement £650 Freelander on Ebay that only needed a headgasket thinking it would be a money pit in the long run with brakes, IRD system, 2wd etc etc needing to be done. Further instilling a negative stereotype.
Unless LRO stated that they deliberately bought an overpriced basket case so they could highlight each and every area individually that Freelanders are known for,and that not every one with have the multitude of problems their's had, then they have fallen wide of the mark. The impression I was left with was one of "this is what you can expect to get from buying an old Freelander and that it doesn't matter what you buy as they will all be just as knackered needing nearly every major component replacing."
BUT WAIT, LRO "Now use it to go green laning !" Whoop-di-f**king-do. And IIRC they fitted, or were going to fit, a 2" lift too.
So now all Freelanders need a 2" lift just to go green laning. What the hell is this telling people?? No wonder people are posting warnings not to buy them because they need a 2" lift just to cross a field. (see the blog earlier in this thread).

I'll throw down the gauntlet here. I am willing to "lend" any Landy mag my Td4 with it's interior rollcage and other mods for 12 months, as long as they use it and report on it for that 12 month period, on ALL aspects of driving it day to day- on road, green lanes and off road. That's how passionate I am about this issue.
 
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One reason the Freelander sold so well was because it was made, drove and marketed like a 'normal' car but exciting and was thus bought by 'normal' people who don't bleed green ovals. So they didn't understand mismatched tyres and a little tinkering. So they broke. So they whinged. So they got a bad rep. Yes, the early ones are not the best, but that is true with most new car models, and they improved with age. My 2004 is sooo much better than my previous'98. My mate next door bought an X-Trail. We'd both had plenty of Pajeros and done a fair amount of off roading in them too. I drove the X-Trail and it was a good, but dull car. But it made me want a 4x4 again. So my first thought was another Freelander. Dunno why, but even he agrees that the Freelander inspires a sense of adventure. It makes you want to drive through rough weather conditions and any muddy bits you can find, just like my modded Paj's did. The X-Trail makes you want to drive to B&Q. And fall asleep... So in that sense it has the Landy Spirit. Funny how it set the pace for the future Landy products- monocoque, traction control, simple 4wd, comfort, car like on road....



Agree with the original post. All those other Landy owners should come out of their closets and at least try the Freelander. Oh, and remember that series 'Queer as Folk'? An old friend of mine at the time who was a screaming poof said the reason they chose the Jeep Wrangler as their chariot of choice was because it was so butch it had to be gay. Oh, and this mate at the time had a Defender. Something the 'proper macho' Landy owners should consider... ;)
 

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