1999 Land Rover Freelander XEI 1.8 petrol

Summary:

A nightmare car that must not be touched

Faults:

Head Gasket blew and leaked into cylinder head requiring new cylinder head.

General Comments:

Had a dreadful time with the dealer and Landrover. The car was only weeks out of warranty, had a full dealer service history and Landrover or the dealer would not help with the repairs. I have since found many other owners of this car who have the same problem. LR know about the problem and published a technical document describing the fault and vehicles that it will affect. There are many more cars that will suffer from this problem.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 14th December, 2002

10th Dec 2003, 07:36

We have a 1998 Freelander, one owner, 74000 miles, which has had the cylinder head gasket go a second time, this time cracking the cylinder head. This is on top of numerous other problems including a leak which lets water into the stowage locker under the luggage compartment floor, and which has never been cured, despite it becoming evident when the car was new.

Land-rover and the dealer seem to think this is quite normal; I think it is disgraceful. I have a BMW of the same age- never any problems, and I am sure that any would be dealt with speedily. No wonder one buys German!

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1999 Land Rover Freelander XEi stationwagon 1.8L petrol

Summary:

Poor design and reliability

Faults:

Throttle cable sticking fixed 3 times.

Front electric windows sticking fixed 2 times.

CD stopped working fixed 3 times.

Exhaust broken due to corrosion at 22,000 miles.

Replaced 4 tires due to uneven tyre wear at 16,000 miles and replaced them again for same reasons at 36,000 miles.

Cylinder head gasket leaking at 35,000 miles causing overheating due to oil/water mixing.

Front anti roll bar bushes failed at 24,000m and 44,000 miles.

Plus many other problems too extensive to quote.

General Comments:

We thought our running costs would be good with a quoted 65% residual after 3 years however the reality is that our car which cost £23,000 new is now worth only £10,500 after 3 years.

To replace 8 tires and an exhaust within the warranty period seems typical of other owners similar experiences.

We will stick to BMW's from now on.

Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? No

Review Date: 1st October, 2002

1st Oct 2002, 09:08

A car maker who can't be bothered to make a normal rear light design for the European market can't be trusted to make a reliable car either.

5th Oct 2002, 09:05

Yes, why does Landrover have these awful trailer lights on the Freelander and the Discovery and fake lights where you expect the lights to be?

It looks stupid, especially on a car that costs over 20.000 Pounds, even a 20 year old Lada has real lights.