W

Woodentopp

Member
Hi,

Probably to late to ask as I've already bought one, but are Freelanders as bad as the media makes out.

I know about the head gasket problems on the petrol engines and have bought a Td4, but otherwise what are they like?
 
Yes, they are all crap, virtually guaranteed to make you skint and miserable, and it is a well known fact that any man driving one must be either gay, or has had to borrow his girlfriends car. At least you can be safe in the knowledge that yours is the least crap of them. There is a slight chance that the Td4 you have may be one of the few that does not end up sitting at the side of the road in a cloud of steam, or has it's transmission self destruct. :p:p:D:D
 
Mother had one before she went to Australia and it was fine, very comfy, not expensive to run and she never had problems with it in the 3yrs she had it.

I don't like the look of them but don't know enough about them to hate them.
 
Woodentopp said:
Hi,

Probably to late to ask as I've already bought one, but are Freelanders as bad as the media makes out.

I know about the head gasket problems on the petrol engines and have bought a Td4, but otherwise what are they like?
Click to expand...

As long as you like it its fine
Every car has its problems

If you look in the side cubby hole in the boot you will find your complementary hair dressers uniform and jimmy sumerville CD
 
While they are different to the usual Land Rover, and aimed at a different market, used as intended they are fine. My wife has had two and had no trouble at all. And if the petrol engine is not the best, they do have good rust resistant bodywork. You don't see many rotten ones.
A lot of the repeated problems people complain about are because they weren't repaired properly in the first place.
 
The only problem with a TD4 , is the limited life of the VCU , which if left to the point that it is effectively locked up most of the time will damage the IRD , and possibly the rear diff .
A VCU is about £400 , an IRD more . The TD4 engine is a very reliable BMW unit that returns good mileage, and the vehicle itself is fairly roomy and comfortable with a far better than average ride. I bought one to try , and was happy enough to by another , as mentioned they are different to a "normal" land rover , (read defender) but LR sell a hell of a lot less defenders than freelanders , so you can see what most people want . and I have a couple of defenders as well , its a quaestion of horses for courses. Free lander 1 are all getting a bit long in the tooth now so expect stuff to wear out as you would with any vehicle of similar age . JMHO
 
had mine for quite a few years now, taken it from 36k to 111k, still going strong, use it all day every day for work, td4 auto.

needs a little bit of tlc every now and again like most older vehicles, but with regular oil changes should be fine. I change my oil every 6k not the 12k in the service schedule.

good luck with it, all the answers are on this forum if you can survive the abuse.
 
tacr2man said:
The only problem with a TD4 , is the limited life of the VCU , which if left to the point that it is effectively locked up most of the time will damage the IRD , and possibly the rear diff .
A VCU is about £400 , an IRD more . The TD4 engine is a very reliable BMW unit that returns good mileage, and the vehicle itself is fairly roomy and comfortable with a far better than average ride. I bought one to try , and was happy enough to by another , as mentioned they are different to a "normal" land rover , (read defender) but LR sell a hell of a lot less defenders than freelanders , so you can see what most people want . and I have a couple of defenders as well , its a quaestion of horses for courses. Free lander 1 are all getting a bit long in the tooth now so expect stuff to wear out as you would with any vehicle of similar age . JMHO
Click to expand...

First stupid question of the forum, what's a VCU (Viscous coupling unit?) and an IRD? and what maintainence is needed?:confused:
 
ird - intermediate reduction drive.
vcu - are not maintained but checked and replaced when they stiffen up
 
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