Hi Adam and welcome, I'm a newbie too. I did a fair bit of research before buying our 1.8 XEi Freelander Station Wagon but unfortunatly at the time didn't know about this site.
Its a darned well behaved 4x4 to drive and both me and my wife are really pleased with ours. A poor turning circle is my only quible making even turning into a car park space something to be planned for a clean sweep into a space. This I'm presuming is normal for a 4x4.
It's really down to Petrol or Diesel. Initially I was seriously put off the petrol version as I found quite a few folks moaning about blown head gaskets. In reality, although this is an issue and some owners have had problems there are a huge amount of petrol Freelanders around which haven't had this problem.
I wont add anymore info as there are folks on this site far better informed than myself. All I can say is I'm sure you'll enjoy it.