2000 Land Rover Freelander Xei from UK and Ireland - Comments

A really nice looking car with terrible reliability problems.

Sun roof has broken three times.

Electrical faults reoccurring.

Head gasket blew at 40,000 miles.

Radiator and cooling system blew at 40,00o miles as well.

Most recent repair bill left me fuming at a massive £4,000!!

I would advise not to buy this car.

Its is expensive to run and expensive to repair.

Things will go badly wrong.

I've just bought the Freelander XEI 1.8 it's a 2000 model on an x plate. It seems OK can't find any faults (yet). Head gasket failures could be due to poor driving ability or not treating the engine with enough respect. Let me know since the last thing I want is to fork out 4k on a car which I've just bought.

The head gasket failure is due to this car having the infamous 1.8 K Series engine!!! It's not a case of if it will fail, but when!!!

I have a 2001 sept/1 2.5 petrol Freelander, and the head gasket has just blown on it too. Less than 40,000 miles, and I never pushed it at all from new - never even close to full revs. Must be a design flaw - Landrover should pay. I've heard also that the lining seatings can blow, and that means a new engine!!! (

Is it possible to make a modification to the head gasket to prevent it from blowing? Have land rover issued an amendment so that if I was to take the car to a dealer, they would be able to install a modification?

I purchased my Freelander second hand at 6months old and still under warranty. It had mechanical issues right from the start.

Now that I have traded my 2000 Freelander (for $A10000.00 or $A3800.00 net - after repairs) I would like to add my story to the long list of outraged Freelander owners. My 1.8lt petrol Freelander blew its head gasket at 60000kms. I was told by a mechanic that the problem was a "design fault in the cylinder linings", and there is no repair procedure. My only option was an engine replacement. The car was "offroad" for 6 weeks and the ordeal cost me $A 6200.00 in repairs and I lost another $A 17000.00 in depreciation over 5 years. The re-sale value of this car is appalling. I asked a Landrover dealership mechanic if this is a common fault with this car.. he said "no more common than any other car". I then spoke to a salesman in the same dealership and asked for a trade figure on my Freelander in it's current state and he said..."The trade value will be low because the engine in this model has some reliability issues". Landrover Australia washed their hands of the problem saying that the car is out of warranty and they will not cover ANY repair costs. I have been told by several mechanics that the 1.8lt engine fitted to Freelanders has a lifespan of between 50000 and 100000 kms. Because of the design flaw they will fail and the only option is replacement.

I am now rid of my Freelander, but I had to take a personal loan of $A10000.00 which will now take me years to pay off…...

Terry Edwards.

The K series issue is very well know, I would sell my 40,000m FreeLander tomorrow, but I have sell this immaculate looking car for more than £6000, after we paid £22000 for it 5 years ago, normally I sell my cars for £12k after a couple of years and get a new one, this freelander has killed it, I would need to double our repayment etc. we will drive this into the ground, if it doesn’t blow another head gasket in the mean time. Total repair bills so far are more than £6000, 3 new clutches, head gasket, replaced sunroof motor twice, and replaced cooling system twice.

Anyway, take a look at http://www.freelanderheadgasket.co.uk/ before anyone buys a freelander. Not just the k series, who wants to buy a car from a company that cares so little about their customers?

Despite having problems with my 2002 Free lander 1.8 I am generally happy with the vehicle. I recently towed a very heavy trailer more than 1200 km's and was impressed with the vehicles abilities albeit a tad slow. At 102000 km's my vehicle came to a grinding halt and I was told that a loose sleeve in one of the cylinders was the cause. Fortunately I had taken extra insurance cover that paid 75% of the cost. The company that undertook the repairs are one of only a few that are willing to work on a Land Rover engine in South Africa. I was given an extended 30000 km warranty which I am about 3000 kms away from and so far so good. They also made some modifications to the cooling system as the vehicle setup is based on UK climate and not hot RSA.

Some of the other problems I have had is the sunroof which uses plastic clips on the cable and are very flimsy. I made a clip from thin sheet steel which I bent and reattached in order to close the sunroof. Unfortunately the sunroof is still not functioning correctly, and it is one of those things you need in a hot climate, even if it is just to impress others. The plastic clips on both rear window winders have also broken and I built them up with an epoxy based putty, but they are a little noisy although functional again.

I was warned by my friends and colleagues not to buy a freelander, but the vehicle is attractive, comfortable and the basic off road capabilities adequate. I would like to know if anyone has fitted another engine to this vehicle as I'm sure that a good Toyota 2.0 or equivalent would fit with some minor adjustments. I will consider this as the closer I get to 150000 km mark the more assured I am of something else going wrong.

We purchased a 2001 2.6 litre Freelander automatic /tiptronic in 2004. The car had only traveled 25,000 km at the time. Over the past year and a half the car has hardly been driven with only 33,000 km at present. About 4 weeks ago whilst traveling away for the weekend the gears started sleeping just a few kilometers out of town. I stopped on the side of the road with the intent to turn the car around and park on a safer location so I could check to see what the problem was. However when I tried to drive again the car wasn't moving. The gear box was gone. I had the car towed away and delivered to an automatic transmission specialist in Christchurch NZ. After 4 weeks with the mechanics and a $6,000 bill the car is back at home. The mechanic's report indicates that the "high clutch housing/reverse clutch piston" had cracked causing the clutches to burn out and subsequently causing the transmission failure. According to the mechanic and an independent report by (ATSG) Automatic Transmission Service Group 2005 Seminar Information, the high and reverse clutch piston housing (JF506-E) which is fitted to some Freelander models (not sure which ones are and which ones aren't) has failed on several occasions. The solution is to replace this model piston housing with a modified piston housing which is apparently (time will tell) more reliable. Keep an eye for this fault as it can be very expensive to repair as we just found out. Has anyone experienced this before?

2001 automatic Freelander - our gearbox has just gone and we have been told it will cost £2000. The car has only done 50,000 and the garage said they had never heard of this happening before. It has a full service history and been driven carefully. Also our sunroof has gone. Oh to get rid of, never had such expensive problems with any other car.

2001 automatic Freelander - our gearbox has just gone and we have been told it will cost £2000. The car has only done 50,000 and the garage said they had never heard of this happening before. It has a full service history and been driven carefully. Also our sunroof has gone. Oh to get rid of, never had such expensive problems with any other car.

We also have a 2001 automatic Freelander and our gearbox has just gone as well. We have been told it will cost £2100. The car has only done 33,000. We have approached Land Rover and they are not prepared to assist with the cost of the repairs. It has a full service history and been driven carefully. The left hand side of the sunroof mechanism has also broken - another £150. What a joke of a car - Don't buy one, save your money.

I am thinking of buying a r reg 1.8 freelander it as 93.000 miles on the clock the garage is asking 3.500 for it any advice please.

Hi, I also have had the chance to buy a Freelander 1.8GS (R reg) petrol. It has done 61,000 miles. The sunroof isn't working although I have been reassured it will be nothing major. The car has been fully serviced by Landrover and drove okay on the test drive. I can buy it for £3,250. Now I am worried about all the problems people are having!!

Can anyone tell me if this is maybe the same on the 1.8 GS version as the last thing I need is for it to malfunction whilst I'm traveling with my Kids!

Thanks in advance.

W.

Hi, I just bought a Land Rover Freelander three weeks ago. It's a 2002 1.8 and it has 30.000 miles. The engine just blew up yesterday in a roundabout, I still in shock. I just made one payment on the loan and I don't have a car!!! And I have to pay for the car for the next 5 years. HELPPPP!!!

I am from Singapore and have owned a 1.8k series Freelander, the car head gasket blew after I drove it for 5 years (67,000 km), nothing could be done to salvage the car. Not learning my lesson, I bought a 2.5k V6 Freelander and yesterday the same problem happened and now the car is a gonner. I love the Freelander for what it can do, but the Rover K-Series engine clearly has a serious design fault and simply put unreliable and shouldn't be on the market. I've learnt my lesson NEVER EVER buy a landrover with a Rover K-Series Engine, swap it with a TD4.

Regards

KC.