Dave Herron
New Member
Hello all,
just thought i would post a thread about my new company car and how it compares to my 2002 TD4 station wagon. It now has 50000 miles on the clock.
As i have mentioned before, i am one of them B*****d Car Salesman, so i get to test quite a few of the Freelanders rivals. My last company car was a New Santa Fe 2.2 CDX 7 seater which was an absolute dream to drive and well ahead of the old Freelander in every respect apart from the badge!
Anyway, i have recently moved back to a francise (Suzuki) i know well and was quite excited at the prospect of selling the New Grand Vitara. It is a pretty car to look at, well i think so anyway, and is a true 4x4. It has a low ratio gear box, perm 4 wheel drive ect ect.
Imagine my delight to be given a brand new 5 door DDIS which uses the Peugeot/Citreon derv engine. From experience not a bad engine in other cars so i was quite optimistic. This car is nearly £19k with all the extras i had fitted.
Now for the drive home. Initially i did not think it was bad. However after a couple of nights i thought it was a bid loud from the engine and i also noticed my arm was aching due to the heavyness of the steering and gear change. Also a lot of whining from the drivetrain.
Imagine my suprise this morning when i decided to take my Freelander out in the snow over the Suzuki. The Freelander felt like a brand new car. The steering is so light and precise, the acceleration is brisk and not a hint of noise from the TD4 engine which has covered 50000 miles. The gear box is so smooth and i had always complained about the driving position but it just felt so good.
I hear you ask why on earth are we bothered about this, well i would just like to remind you lot out there that apart from the faults that our beloved Freelanders have, never mind how many HG they use or how many times interior trim drops off, they are one cracking car and when they were first made, they were head and shoulders above the competion and after my experience, a lot of the competion have not yet caught up with Freelander 1 never mind Freelander II.
So my advice to all out there, if you do decide to get something different because you are sick of the repair bills and the comments from them "Proper Land Rover Drivers", dont buy one of these GV's
just thought i would post a thread about my new company car and how it compares to my 2002 TD4 station wagon. It now has 50000 miles on the clock.
As i have mentioned before, i am one of them B*****d Car Salesman, so i get to test quite a few of the Freelanders rivals. My last company car was a New Santa Fe 2.2 CDX 7 seater which was an absolute dream to drive and well ahead of the old Freelander in every respect apart from the badge!
Anyway, i have recently moved back to a francise (Suzuki) i know well and was quite excited at the prospect of selling the New Grand Vitara. It is a pretty car to look at, well i think so anyway, and is a true 4x4. It has a low ratio gear box, perm 4 wheel drive ect ect.
Imagine my delight to be given a brand new 5 door DDIS which uses the Peugeot/Citreon derv engine. From experience not a bad engine in other cars so i was quite optimistic. This car is nearly £19k with all the extras i had fitted.
Now for the drive home. Initially i did not think it was bad. However after a couple of nights i thought it was a bid loud from the engine and i also noticed my arm was aching due to the heavyness of the steering and gear change. Also a lot of whining from the drivetrain.
Imagine my suprise this morning when i decided to take my Freelander out in the snow over the Suzuki. The Freelander felt like a brand new car. The steering is so light and precise, the acceleration is brisk and not a hint of noise from the TD4 engine which has covered 50000 miles. The gear box is so smooth and i had always complained about the driving position but it just felt so good.
I hear you ask why on earth are we bothered about this, well i would just like to remind you lot out there that apart from the faults that our beloved Freelanders have, never mind how many HG they use or how many times interior trim drops off, they are one cracking car and when they were first made, they were head and shoulders above the competion and after my experience, a lot of the competion have not yet caught up with Freelander 1 never mind Freelander II.
So my advice to all out there, if you do decide to get something different because you are sick of the repair bills and the comments from them "Proper Land Rover Drivers", dont buy one of these GV's
