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Land Rover Freelander

1535 messages,  Last post on Oct 02, 2012 at 9:48 AM

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What is this discussion about? Land Rover Freelander, SUV

Messages Page 69 of 155

#673 of 1535 freelander reliability? by gazelle2

Jan 10, 2003 (9:50 am)

I may need therapy for even thinking about this, but I was contemplating trading our 99 A6 quattro wagon and getting the freelander se3. The Audi's been fine, but it may be more car than my wife and I need, and while the Audi only has 60k, I did get seduced by the idea of the removable top, the still reasonable cargo space, and the quite nice ride of the Land Rover. Mid life silliness. Who knows? Anyway, the reliability data seems scary, but I hear some comments that suggest that it has improved considerably over the past year, and that the weak AC issue is no more. Personally, I found the V6 fine for my acceleration needs and the car went like a dream on a pot-filled dirt road outside town. The interior leaves a lot to be desired when compared with the A6, but then that's not why one would buy the se3 anyway. Any owners out there who have put enough miles on a 2002 Freelander to get a sense of quality updates?

#674 of 1535 another editorial plug by steve_ HOST

Jan 10, 2003 (10:55 am)

Check out the Freelander video linked at the left (Helpful Links).
 
Steve, Host

#675 of 1535 Price of SE3 by phocuschad

Jan 29, 2003 (1:46 pm)

I don't understand why Edmunds continously says how overly expensive this vehicle is. I don't think it's 27,000 price tag is high at all considering it is almost a convertable, and it has such a great ride on and off the road. I plan on getting one of this in october, probably when the 2004s are coming out. I just wish there were more color options for the SE3

#676 of 1535 Amazing Freelander by rkoesler

Feb 13, 2003 (7:03 am)

I went off-road with the local LR Club this past weekend. There were a number of RR, Disco I's, Defenders, my DII, and a FL. All vehicles except the FL were modified in some fashion. Of course, we all laughed at the FL knowing just how cruel the trails were. Well, we all watched in utter amazement as the FL went everywhere we did, except for one rutty area where even the rest of us got stuck, and high centered. This is truly an amazing vehicle !!

#677 of 1535 ...One Year Later by csebasti

Feb 18, 2003 (9:30 pm)

A year after purchasing the Freelander, I thought it might be useful to post a short review. First, the FL is running well and there are no rattles that many suv's (and cars) seem to get after a run or two over difficult terrain. However, reliability is an issue. The FL has been in the shop four times...1) power windows stopped functioning after 1500 miles; 2) A/C failed and blew hot air ~3000 miles; 3) lower cooling hose leaking coolant ~5000 miles; and 4) FL not able to move in reverse...dealer replaced entire transmission ~10k miles.
 
Bottom line, if you don't mind a bit of unreliability to suit your needs for "prestige" and an otherwise fun drive, I wouldn't completely dismiss the FL...I recommend doing what I did...lease it for as long as the warranty lasts...with problems like this, I wouldn't want to get stuck owning one of these things...resale values could be low after a couple of years.

#678 of 1535 sad review by joey2brix

Feb 19, 2003 (8:51 am)

So, if these were out of warranty repairs, you'd be stuck with $10K of repair bills. It just adds to the legend of British cars: junk. I find it funny that people spend the money that they do on Rovers. I guess these cars were designed to be leased for 3 years then junked. You may say that it's just problems with that first year model but the FL has been out on the world market for over 3 years already. Now you know why BMW dumped them.

#679 of 1535 joey2brix by tincup47

Feb 19, 2003 (2:16 pm)

There were issues with early NAS Freelanders having the wrong amp fuse installed for the power windows, I would be surprised if csebasti's problem wasn't that issue. There was a TIB to address this issue. It was a nickel and dime repair. The transmission is actually sourced from Japan from a company called JATCO, it is not an english part. If I recall Honda had some major issues with early Odyssey transmissions, requiring replacements of the transmissions. The A/C compressor is also a Japanese sourced part from Sanden or Nippon-Denso. The hose is another inexpensive issue. So the major $ repairs are failures of Japanese components, not English ones. Freelander has actually been on the market in Europe since 1987 so it is a six year old design, but over 75% of the parts on the US version were new to the vehicle in 2001, including the transmission and A/C unit.

#680 of 1535 Don't feed the Troll by div2

Feb 19, 2003 (8:54 pm)

#681 of 1535 div2 by tincup47

Feb 19, 2003 (9:24 pm)

That post was more for the benefit of people visiting this board trying to learn facts about the vehicle.

#682 of 1535 Why buy this car? by caneau

Feb 28, 2003 (11:20 pm)

If anyone is familiar with my posts, one of my first and most important question with evaluating a car is why should I spend $25k or however much the car costs on the car. Is it its power, luxury, utility, etc? So here's my shot at the Freelander...
Why on earth should I spend $30k on a 2 door, 2.5 liter British attempt at an independent suspension, unibody SUV? (Before you start crying that the SE3 costs only $27k, consider that you have to pump premium fuel, deal with the initial rush of snobs who want the latest cute SUV, and few if any incentives such as financing and cash back that you get with every American car manufacturer right now). What could I have for $30k, a down payment on a house, a year of my college tuition, or how about this, nicely equipped a Jeep Wranger Rubicon and have enough money for a killer stereo, a CB radio with enough power to warrant investigation by the FCC, a winch, and a WAAS enabled navigation system so I can always get back to my campsite in time to roast some marsh mellows.
Did I mention that a Rubicon is better in almost every criteria SUV's are defined by? Just look at the specs. Power - Wranger. Off-road capability - hands down Wrangler. Practicality/cargo space - Wrangler. Heritage - still Jeep (Land Rover is Ford and was BMW before that). Seems like it's Jeep hand down. Oh wait, I almost forgot, snob appeal - Land Rover. The only reason someone would want to buy this car is to say to their friends at the cocktail party "I drive a Land Rover." Not to say LR isn't capable of making a great car - the Defender 90, Series II, and Disco are proof - this is just not one of them.
I have an idea, I'm going to take my Leatherman tool, peel off the Land Rover oval off the front of the car, and put a nice, blue Ford oval. In the process, I will be dropping the price tag by $5000 and placing the car against the cars it should be competing against - 2 door, cute-utes priced at around $20k. As it stands, for $30,000, there are many more bigger, better, more powerful, more practical, and more capable SUV's out there, each one of them giving reason not to buy this car.

Messages Page 69 of 155

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