2000 Land Rover Freelander Wagon from Australia and New Zealand - Comments

Nothing.

A great 'soft-roader' - practical, well-designed and good-looking. I looked at the competition, but they all seemed bland and ugly. None of the Japanese small 4x4's have any kind of style or authenticity. They are just boring boxes.

The Freelander is anything but. It looks great and it is very good to drive. It handles well on road and drives very much like a regular car, so it is ideal for anyone who is not confident driving a lumbering full-size 4x4.

At the same time it is big enough for 5 adults to travel in and thanks to the high rear seats everyone gets a good view! It's also very economical, and is cheap to service with its 4 cylinder engine. It is no fire-breather in the performance stakes, but if you want a fast car, you shouldn't be buying a 4x4 in the first place.

Wait until you've owned it a while longer!

Reliable it isn't!

Don't they sell Honda CRV's in your part of the world? I think they leave the Freelander for dead stylewise and are certainly not "boring or boxy".

In the last 15 months my 1998 1.8 xei Station Wagon has required complete replacement of the brakes at 19000 miles, new sunroof cables at 21000 miles, a complete new engine at 23000 miles, a major petrol leak due to a failed seal at 24000 miles. now at 30000 miles the air-con has gone, apparently due to a stone bouncing up off the road and this on a vehicle that is designed to go off road. I do less than 10000 miles per annum and the vehicle has been cared for properly. the repairs have cost over 3000GBP to date I have been quoted over 600 GBP to get the air-con repaired. The previous owner of my car was Land Rover who refused to accept that the engine liner failure causing the engine to seize up was a manufacturing fault and even had the cheek to suggest the previous owner had not maintained the vehicle properly (ie by themselves). I am now looking for a new car. It will not be another Land Rover. None of the above mentioned faults are unusual. A chat to any other Freelander owner in the school car park reveals these to be common faults, not that the manufacturers would agree of course. Do not buy this car.

May I remind you that the Freelander is not a 4x4, it's a SUV, Sub Urban Vehicle.

I thought SUV stood for Sport Utility Vehicle.

Sub Urban Vehicle is a good definition for the Freelander, I am in North America so we got the North American version, and AFTER I had signed the papers I discovered the HUGE muffler under the car. Anyone who takes a look under this car can see immediately it is not made for off road.

I was even more disgusted to see that in the G4 competition that Landrover is holding they are making MAJOR mods to the freelander just to get it off the road. The muffler is like a big scoop. With 2' of snow it gets easily caught. I had a mini-van that had a flat bottom that could get out of more snow because of the muffler problem. The designers of this car must have not have EVER thought the vehicle was to be used off-road. It is a gas-drinking, yuppy-mobile.

I have many people ask me how this car is, and I tell them all that they should either spend the 30,000 more to get a REAL Landrover, or get the Jeep Liberty which is cheaper and is a real 4x4.

I've had my Freelander 5 door Td4 for 2 months now, done 6000 km, some of it on VERY bad dirt roads, and apart from a very light rattle it has picked up in one of the doors, there has been no problem whatsoever. It has been only a pleasure to drive!

I have owned my TD4 for 4 months and it has broken down 5 times and been in the garage for over 2.5 months - I am very disappointed with the car - reliability is something one takes for granted these days - I will sell ASAP and buy a decent SUV - anyone interested in buying it off me? - I guess not - Land Rover you need to pull your socks up not just the skirts on the cars..

Will not buy another Land Rover - see you in court LR - I want my money back!!!

Andrew Scott

shiloh2000@ntlworld.com.

I Have just brought a used 1.8 station wagon Freelander (2 weeks ago), so far I have enjoyed driving it, short and long distance, I find it very comfortable etc... but two days ago I noticed the exhaust is blowing, after reading all the survey pages of comments I guess this could just be the start, I wish I read them before I brought it. I'm going back to the garage where I brought it quick - to get the repairs done before the warranty runs out!

Julie...from Hants.

I bought a new 98 Land Rover Freelander XEI Wagon and still own the vehicle (in Melbourne Australia). It has been in and out of the dealer for repairs on a regular basis. ALL work has been carried out by the dealer I bought the vehicle from. (they must love me - listen to this)

The following problems have manifested themselves in order of occurence:

1) Rear tires scalloping due to rear differential design fault. The first set of tires wore out in 20,000kms. Land Rover Australia eventually conceded the design fault and replaced the faulty component (A$5000 - they wore the cost)

2) Front windshield cracked for no apparent reason. Reading articles from others, this is also a design fault and due to the body flexing, the windshield breaks. However, I landed up paying for a new windscreen as they said a stone must have cracked the window. (No stone pock mark was visible.)

3) Various repairs to the seals on the rear passenger doors and rear door were carried out by the dealer as part of a number of dealer recalls.

4) Drive shaft couplings required repairs after 100,000kms.

5) Igintion system failure (sketchy details provided by dealer) - A$600 repair bill.

6) Brakes required full overhaul at around 100,000kms - A$1000 (I am not a reckless driver, - you will have to take my word on this) - To be fair, disk brakes will require new disks eventually anyway.

7) 110,000 the Cam belt required replacement and, lucky for me, the head gasket went at the same time and for a mere A$2000, I had both repaired at the same time. (Be warned - the Cam belt MUST be replaced at 120,000kms anyway - budget for around A$800)

8) Last week at 114,000kms the clutch hydraulics left me high and dry - no clutch. Had to tow the vehicle to the dealer and 'voila' - $400 later, a new hydraulics unit installed, I am mobile again.

I now believe its time to sell - OK, so I am a slow learner right!! For the money spent on repairs, I could have bought a new small car.

Have fun!