I think the final answer is that if serious off roading of the crawl-wade-and-winch variety is your game, dont buy a freelander. Get a defender instead.
Most of us use em on the road and the occasional field, green lane, snow covered road etc.
Which they are superb at.
I'm seriously impressed with my lifted Freelander Td4 auto. The only places I haven't taken it where the 'big' boys go, is really deep water as I don't have a snorkel. It can only cope with about 750mm in its current state. (Almost double standard vehicle though!)
The auto lets you crawl along at 1mph if you need. I tend to drive it almost too slow, but never got stuck.
Unfortunately I'm selling it. It is an awesome machine.