1998 Land Rover Freelander TD review from Australia and New Zealand

We have only had this car for 10000km, and we have had four things go wrong.

With in two weeks of owning the car the hill decent light on the dash came on. I found the problem to be the first gear selector switch on the gear box had come out. I could not turn the light of so I had to take it back to the dealer to get fixed. When they plugged the car into the computer it showed 12 faults in the system. I counted a maximum of eight sensors that control the hill decent, so I can't quit figure how they got 12 faults.

The heater has a leak and we are using coolant.

Next the oil seals on the rear diff started to leak. Both of them. The dealer was asking A$110 a seal. I got a replacement seal from a bearing company for A$5 and did the job myself.

The last fault and the final straw is the transfer case. One bearing failed and in turn stuffed every bearing in the box and one of the internal shafts. The only downside is that Land Rover does not sell any of the internal parts and so say that a replacement box is required. At A$7,360 it is not cheap, and that does not include any labor to do the job.

The car feels quite good to drive on sealed and unsealed roads.

Not a very confident off-road as it lacks a duel range gearbox. It just does not feel at home of the beaten track.

Once bogged even the torque of the diesel cannot pull it out.

Turbo lag is noticeable when the car is under heavy load.