I would have posted this in the freelander section but it seems that no one hangs out there. Anyway, I just got burnt on a 2001 Disco II, I, had to reverse the sale, too much money was needed to fix it. I'm going to look at a 2002 freelander with only 56k on it. They are asking $6,500. I was just wondering if the freelanders are as touchy with high mataniance like the discos are? Anything I should look for with these? Thanks and again sorry for posting in this section but no one posts in the freelander thread section.

 

I would avoid it. You can't give those things away here in the US...from what I have read they are a mess (electrical nightmare). I am trying to imagine working on our Disco II's but with 1/2 the space to turn and move wrenches and plus a lot more electronic crap to dissect, debug and reverse engineer. Might be a huge headache. On the flip side it is a 4 cyl engine, and they do not take premium gas and get way more than 13-15 miles to the gallon, haha!


Yeah, from what I read, they flopped so bad Land Rover had to rename them here to the LR2 versus Free Lander 2 in UK when the started selling the second generation...

True story. By buddy at work was looking for a used car for his girlfriend. Small dealer he stopped in to look at, had an 02 asking about the same price as the one you found. He got home, looked the freelander up, and called the guy back and said no thanks. The dealer calls him this week and says if you still want that freelander I will sell it to you for 5k (dropped 1500 off). The dealer told home over the phone he cant sell the freaking thing because of all the negative consumer reports, even though its running good...

 

The Diesel Freelanders were the #1 selling SUV in Europe for several years, too bad we didn't get the diesel over here....

I considered a Freelander when I was looking for my Disco (wanted a Rover, but wanted decent gas mileage) but that search lasted about an hour once I began researching online and reading reviews, etc,... BASED ON WHAT I'VE READ, you should be prepared to have the same problems you would have with a Discovery, only in a smaller, "much harder to work on yourself" package. Not sure if there is a reasonable diesel swap for the Freelander out there, but that would be the only way I'd ever consider one again. I drove a couple when I was a valet and they are relatively spacious and nice enough to drive, but I would be very wary if considering purchasing one...

Not sure if they worked out the bugs for the LR2 or if that's even in your price range, but it might be worth checking out....

 

The Freelander is the most unreliable of all of the Land Rovers and Land Rovers are not know for there reliability.

 

LOL!

I can just see the commercials now:

A Freelander cruising down a paved road passing through rolling hills and emerald green English meadows, then all of the sudden the driver seamlessly pulls off onto a bumpy dirt road and as the camera pans away to show the Freelander heading towards a majestic mountain range. Then with that silky smooth and sophisticated British accent the narrator comes on....

"Introducing the brand new 2002 Land Rover Freelander. The Freelander is the most unreliable of all of the Land Rovers and Land Rovers are not known for their reliability."

 

x2 I've known several former Freelander owners. They all said they liked their Freelanders when the trucks ran correctly, but they had significant problems so all these former Freelander owners moved on to other Rovers.

On a side note, if you're primarily focused on reliability and don't plan on doing all the work on it yourself, I suggest you look at something other than a Land Rover. That's just my 2 cents, take it for what it's worth...

 

NOOOOOO OH MY GOD!!!!!


Don't buy a freeloader

Those cars don't have a single good part on them

Crap engines drop sleeves like hot rocks, JATCO transmissions last about 30k before they explode. Absolutely gutless, pulling onto a highway is like shooting craps. EATS gas, I mean EATS it, you will be lucky to get 12 MPG. Sunroof might work 5 times before it gets stuck open. Speakers last 10 - 20 minutes before they rust solid. Rear brakes don't actually do anything, so the fronts last 8k if you are lucky. Rear doors ALL leak, we used to drill holes in that cargo space in the back so the water can just drain out. (during the pre delivery inspections, since they would come from the port filled with water) The district manager here used to just buy them back from pissed off people and crush them. (yes actually junk cars with 30k miles on them)