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
) 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.
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.
