2000 Land Rover Freelander Xei from UK and Ireland - Comments

My advice is do not buy a Freelander. But if you have fallen in love with the Freelander MAKE SURE YOU BUY A REPUTABLE Warranty ON IT. THEN YOU A COVERED WHEN IT GOES WRONG, AND IT WILL! In the three years that I owned the Landrover Freelander, this is what went wrong. Head gasket blew twice, transfer box failed, CV joint in drive shaft failed, engine mountings failed. I had many many electrical problems. As soon as one thing was fixed something else went wrong!! I have been driving for 36 years, this car is definitely the MOST UNRELIABLE CAR THAT I HAVE OWNED. It has had more faults than all the other cars that I have owned added together!

I am buying an 03 Freelander. I have read the reviews and understand the issues. I think, at this point, the only smart thing for a buyer to do is look for a used one that has already had these repairs.

No offense to those obviously disappointed, the one I am looking at has had recent repairs such as head gaskets, belts, brakes and rotors, and a new transmission. Aside from the apparent electrical issues, the seller has already paid for the repairs for me. At $4500 for an 03 with 87k miles, me with repair experience, it still seems worth it.

Buy a repair guide and get dirty! The reason these repairs are costing so much is because you are letting the dealer suck you dry. Many many repair shops break things while fixing other things to promote repeat business. Reality is: Give up on customer service. It is an oxymoron.

I have read reviews where people are paying $400 for brake pad replacement. Why? Get out your jack, take the tire off, read the repair manual, and do it yourself! Front pads are as low $50 a pair, and a chimp can do this! Rotors? $75 and all you do is take the brake caliper off and slide off the old one and on with the new.

Repair manuals are $15 max, and don't require a rocket scientist to understand. Just make sure you have your outside clothes on and some latex gloves. If you can't do that, or won't have someone help you, don't complain about the repair overcharges. It's a convenience fee. :-/

Sorry if I offended anyone, but do you have any idea that an oil change can be done in 10 minutes, in your driveway at a fraction of the cost?

I am a 5' 8", 125lb 31 year old single mother of two. 4 years ago I had to pull the in-line 6 engine of my Jeep Grand Cherokee out for a pin hole in the back freeze plug. Part = $3.50, tool=$15 cherry picker rental = $35, inexperienced friend from work to help = pizza and beer. Cranked fine on the first try, never had a problem again. I did it because I couldn't afford $2K to take it to the shop.

It's not rocket science. Save yourself some money and get the repair manual - and become okay with getting a little dirty.

Seems Land Rover dealers make more money in the shops than on sales.

I read that someone paid $200 for a thermostat replacement! That's plain out robbery! The part is AT MOST $20, and 30 minutes to fix.

Bought a 2001 TD4 auto in October 2008.

December 2008 turbo blew, £400 for a reconditioned one fitted by friend.

Three weeks later the auto gearbox failed, turned out to be a reconditioned one anyway, £1700 for a replacement from Land Rover.

3 weeks and 900 miles later, the new gearbox fails. Now having to wait for Land Rover to decide whether to foot the bill for another one even though they have just supplied the broken one!

Rear central locking motor failed.

Water ingress through aerial blew interior light. Wrote to Land Rover as the vehicle had full Land Rover history (70000 miles) - they have not even replied.

Don't buy a Land Rover, buy a Jeep Cherokee CRD. Far better vehicle.

Good luck if you read this and still buy a Land Rover of any model!!!

Oh Lord. How I wish I had found this and the other sites before I bought my Freelander, which is now sitting in the garage with a blown head gasket with no guarantee that it will not go again if they replace it.

I just bought a used Freelander 2000 model and started regretting from the first day. All sorts of problem have occurred from overheating to slow movement, and worse off I can't get a real mechanic to fix it. Also the parts are terribly expensive. I won't advise anyone to buy one though.

I have just had a pretty bad experience with my 2001 Landrover Freelander 2.5. I bought the car in late 2002 with pretty low mileage (just 7000 miles) and have serviced it regularly since then at approved dealerships. My mileage has been pretty low with just 28.000 on the clock now.

A few weeks ago the car started to overheat and was evidently loosing coolant. I took the car to my dealership who then charged me £100 for the privilege of looking at the car and confirming that the coolant was indeed leaking and that I needed to change the thermostat and the headgasket. They said however that it was still driveable, and so I took it back home and then returned it later to be repaired. They then dropped the bomb shell that the loss of coolant had resulted in serious damage to the cylinder block and that I needed a new engine at a cost of £5,000! - more costly than a second hand Freelander. Clearly the car is just fit for scrap now, which is pretty appalling considering the very low mileage and the fact that the car has been regularly serviced.

My conclusion from this experience - I will never buy another Landrover.

For information, a recent survey does not rate landrover very highly in the reliability stakes. See attached link.

http://www.gizmag.com/new-figures-show-most-reliable-and-unreliable-cars-cheapest-and-most-expensive-to-repair/12295/picture/87337/

Thank you all, I was just going to buy one today without warranty. If any of these incidents happened to me, it would have broken us. Sorry to hear what has happened to you all, but thanks for the advice, it sounds like a shocker!