scootz
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| posted on 25/8/09 at 10:30 PM |
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Anyone Owned a Freelander?
Following on from earlier threads about my spine-damage...
Sold the Cat D SLK as I just couldn't drive it without torturing myself. Real shame as it was a cracking car, and was outstanding VFM.
Trying now to think a bit more sensibly, so went out and tried some Golfs, A3's, BMW 1, etc. but found that even those were proving difficult to
get in / out of (and today was a decent day pain wise!).
Then started thinking about 'taller' cars... tried them all and most were very good for access / egress and comfy to sit in.
As it's a bit of a 'transition' period and I know sweet FA about 4 x 4's, I don't think it's wise to go off and
spend the cash I got for the SLK on a nearly new X3, Tiguan, etc.
Sooooo... thought about the Freelander. Saw some sensible mileage 07's (last of the old-style) for around the £9-10k mark. Very comfy and
alright to drive. Seemed like good VFM.
Am I right in thinking that the 2.0 diesel is a BMW unit? Other than that, anyone have any comments about the Freelander in general... reliability,
etc
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907
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| posted on 25/8/09 at 10:49 PM |
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Coooo, wish I'd have known.
My mates just traded one in. He got £6k with just 17k on the clock.
The only fault I had with it was hitting my head when I got in.
I'm 6 foot, but short legs and long body. The seat seems high but the roof is low.
Hope you find what you want mate.
Cheers
Paul G
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mookaloid
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| posted on 25/8/09 at 11:03 PM |
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I know you are thinking of the old model , but I can tell you that I had a new model on loan for 3 months last year and I really liked it. It drove
well and handled ok for a 4x4. It was the diesel auto and quite thirsty but even so I could just about live with that cos it was so good.
Cheers
mark
"That thing you're thinking - it wont be that."
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britishtrident
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| posted on 25/8/09 at 11:03 PM |
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The BMW diesel in the later mK1 is exactly the same unit as they use in BMW cars (slightly different from that in the Rover 75) --- The
Feeelander/BMW version has two weakness --- variable nozzles on the turbo breaking up and the Mass Airflow Sensor going out of calibration.
The MK1 Freelander is actually based on 1990s Honda/Rover 214 floor pan, a lot of the plastic trim is also early Rover 214. The Mk2 floor pan has
equally humble origins in the Ford range.
The transmission has two potential problems the automatic version uses the infamous JATCO transmission also used by Jaguar, Toyota, Ford, Nissan
....... and Rover in the 75. In some models including the Freelander these autoboxes tend to be less than reliable once past the 70,000 mile mark -
personally I wouldn't touch one.
The manual box is the PG box Rover used in its 2 litre + engined FWD cars prior to the 75 it is pleasant and very strong gearbox but bearings can
wear at very high mileages.
The other transmission problem concerns the viscous coupling in the drive to the rear axle --- a lot depends on how the vehicle has been used.
Don't expect the fuel consumption to be brilliant due to the un-aerodynamics and transmission friction even the diesel uses a fair bit of
fuel.
If you intend keeping the vehicle for a long time while consider the alternative of a buying KV6 which should be a lot cheaper and doing an LPG
conversion.
When buying any 4x4 check the current AND future road tax cost very carefully. --- A lot of Discovery owners are going to get a massive shock
when the road tax holiday ends.
[Edited on 25/8/09 by britishtrident]
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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austin man
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| posted on 25/8/09 at 11:10 PM |
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The Kia range of 4x4 seem to be getting good raves. I know of 3 people who are into caravaning who have moved from Freelanders and the like as the Kia
is far superior
Life is like a bowl of fruit, funny how all the weird looking ones are left alone
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austin man
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| posted on 25/8/09 at 11:10 PM |
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The Kia range of 4x4 seem to be getting good raves. I know of 3 people who are into caravaning who have moved from Freelanders and the like as the Kia
is far superior
Life is like a bowl of fruit, funny how all the weird looking ones are left alone
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mad4x4
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| posted on 26/8/09 at 06:12 AM |
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"Chipping" the freelander diesel supposedly helps on the MPG and gives better performance.
Some can be done with a simple box that plugs in
Scot's do it better in Kilts.
MK INDY's Don't Self Centre Regardless of MK Setting !
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scootz
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| posted on 26/8/09 at 06:29 AM |
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Thanks good people...
PS - woke up this morning to find I'd posted twice! Not surprised - had an 'back-episode' and was on the wipe-out pills! LOL!
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scootz
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| posted on 26/8/09 at 06:30 AM |
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BritishTrident, when you talk of the issues the Mk1 suffered, do you know if any were 'ironed-out' by the time it reached the latter stage
of it's production (06/07)?
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02GF74
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| posted on 26/8/09 at 07:20 AM |
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Someone at work a few ago had one and had troubles, don't know the ins and outs but head gasket seem to go at regular intervals - I believe they
used the same Rover engine that had the same problem.
Have you sat in a Nissan Xtrail?
Not a true 4x4 and feels a bit tinny but I like it.
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adithorp
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| posted on 26/8/09 at 07:21 AM |
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They're good for business! Not like those Japanese 4x4s, they'd never keep us busy. Enough said?
When they're running and behaving then they're nice enough, but most of our customers that have had them, are glad to get rid in the end.
It's not so much the big/serious faults as the small niggly bits that it's hard to get to the bottom of.
adrian
"A witty saying proves nothing" Voltaire
http://jpsc.org.uk/forum/
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Coose
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| posted on 26/8/09 at 07:40 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by 02GF74
Have you sat in a Nissan Xtrail?
Not a true 4x4 and feels a bit tinny but I like it.
I had an '06 En-Trail as a company car for three years (it went back in June as I opted out once the lease expired). In 87,000 miles of company
car abuse it only went back to the garage twice - once was when my neighbours son tried to remove the rear bumper with his Corsa, the other when the
power steering cooling loop pipe cracked (this is an aluminium loop in front of the radiator to cool the power steering fluid). As the pipe was on the
return it wasn't under pressure and so the loss of fluid wasn't rapid and it was fixed under warranty.
I got around 30mpg from it (with me having no consideration whatsoever to economy), but best of all we drove down to the in-laws in the south of
France last new year and it was great! We'd stop every 4 hours or so to feed the baby etc. and it felt like we'd only been driving for 30
minutes!
Basically, I'd highly recommend one, particularly over a Freeloader.... 
Spin 'er off Well...
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britishtrident
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| posted on 26/8/09 at 07:45 AM |
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The turbo vane problem is a only high mileage issue but it can cause very big bills.
I don't know if the viscous coupling problem has been resolved.
The valve block in JATCO auto transmissions have have been modified but I still wouldn't buy an automatic Freelander or any other car with this
gearbox.
I forget to mention that radiators are much the same quality as Rover used in every car between the Allegro and the 45 --- ie to avoid trouble treat
them as service item and change them around the 60,000 mile mark.
The minor problems tend to be things like SRS warning light illuminating due to duff connectors or the heater blower only working on full speed,
nothing major or expensive.
None of the above would put me off buying a Freelander but I think if I were buy a car in this class I would also look very hard at the Hondas and
also as mention earlier in the thread the Kia.
The only thing I really dislike about the Freelander is that when I sit in one I feel like I am sitting in a Rover 45.
[Edited on 26/8/09 by britishtrident]
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britishtrident
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| posted on 26/8/09 at 07:50 AM |
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quote:
Originally posted by mad4x4
"Chipping" the freelander diesel supposedly helps on the MPG and gives better performance.
Some can be done with a simple box that plugs in
A guy on the net called "Rover Ron" makes the best black boxes for the Freelander and other cars with this engine.
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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MK9R
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| posted on 26/8/09 at 08:33 AM |
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Right where do i start!
My fathers business is based entirely on repairing freelander transmission lines. Every single freelander 1 will have problems with the transmission
line sometime in its life. The problem with the viscous couplings never got ironed out, infact it was made worse when LR decided to stiffen up the
viscous couplings when the TD4 was introduced.
We have had cars come in with as little as 30k miles with knackered IRD units and viscous couplings, but i can guarantee that if the viscous coupling
isn't changed then 90% of all freelanders will suffer IRD or/and rear diff failure by the time it hits 70-80k miles.
If you keep on top of a good one, i.e. always change tyres in sets of 4's and ensure the rolling radius of the front and rear tyres are always
match (6-8mm difference is enough to to destroy a diff/IRD which can even be caused by low tyre pressures and towing) and change the viscous coupling
every 60k miles (treat it like a cam belts) then the transmissions will last a lot longer, but one day the IRD WILL fail.
Another alternative is to remove the prop shaft and run it in front wheel drive only,
to be honest the cars drive a hell of a lot better like that, and you can get 40mpg out of the old rover diesel on a 75mph motorway run like this.
I have run a few that i picked up cheap aas they were knackered and repaired them, trouble is i do 100miles per day, and they just can't take
it, i actually had tro have 2 at one stage so i could run one while i repaired the other!! The transmissions are the main problem, but there are lots
of other niggles:-
Clutch slave cylinder
front offside drive shaft commonly go, this can also lead to ird failure
rear diffs pop and nearly all of them leak
front prop CV joint wear out
lots of silly electrical problems, most common are desent light and ABS, rear door window wont drop so can't open door, nothing serious just
lots of little ones.
Have a read of the problems page on dads website:-
www.bellengineering.co.uk
If you do low mileage and keep an eye on things you maybe lucky and get a decent one, but to be honest i would never risk spending that much on
Freelander (saying that i've just spent 8k on a disco, but i may love to regret it!)
Oh, and stay away from the V6, its bloody terrible, the engine is gutless, and working on it is a nightmare, especially if you need to get the IRD
off, i refuse to do V6's now. You can guarantee it will have head gasket it problems as its just a K series with 2 heads!
If you really want a Gaylander, the best one to go for is an old rover diesel
Cheers Austen
RGB car number 9
www.austengreenway.co.uk
www.automatedtechnologygroup.co.uk
www.trackace.co.uk
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britishtrident
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| posted on 26/8/09 at 12:30 PM |
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Nothing wrong with the revised KV6 used in the Freelander and MG-Rover cars (nb not the version used in the Rover 825) -- head gasket failure on the
KV6 in the Rover 75 is very rare indeed to the point of being almost unknown. What is wrong in the Feelander is the engine installation design was
botched and if the coolant level drops the system air locks much more easily than in the Rover 75, couple this with the fact the temperature gauge is
driven by the ECU will not move above "N" unless the engine block is actually about to melt and you can get major trouble if the coolant
level drops.
The coolant level should be checked weekly and a regular dropping level no matter how slow should be investigated by a cold pressure
test, with the KV6 it will usually turn out to be nothing more than a cracked thermostat or some other very minor external leak for example due to the
low quality hose clips used by Landrover. Modern engines run so hot that you can't see a small water leak it flashes off straight to saturated
steam hence the need for cold pressure testing.
Like the K16 the KV6 suffers from a lot of misdiagnoses of problems, any loss of coolant is immediately diagnosed without any investigation as a head
gasket -- 95 times out of 100 it isn't.
But run the engine without coolant or with the system air-locked and the gasket will fail.
[Edited on 26/8/09 by britishtrident]
[Edited on 26/8/09 by britishtrident]
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MK9R
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| posted on 26/8/09 at 12:37 PM |
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Oh should have said, if you do decide to look at one, check the prop shaft is still attached, there are alot of them out there with no prop, this
hides the transmission trouble theyobviously have, well it does for a while until they let go properly.
Also read on the other thread about comfort, thats a good point considering your situation, the seats aren't great, they are very short and
offer very little leg support at the front.
Cheers Austen
RGB car number 9
www.austengreenway.co.uk
www.automatedtechnologygroup.co.uk
www.trackace.co.uk
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britishtrident
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| posted on 26/8/09 at 12:50 PM |
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quote:
Originally posted by MK9R
Also read on the other thread about comfort, thats a good point considering your situation, the seats aren't great, they are very short and
offer very little leg support at the front.
Seats straight out the of the old Rover 214 parts bin ---
[I] “ What use our work, Bennet, if we cannot care for those we love? .”
― From BBC TV/Amazon's Ripper Street.
[/I]
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