I bought a used freelander (built in 2001) 2 years old with 33000km from a landrover dealer.
Only 4 months later the cylinder head seal was broken... my dealer fixed it on his account. Just another year later the bush (socket) of the cylinder has broken. Now a replacement motor is necessary. total cost about 4500 EUR. Though I made all inspections Land Rover is not willing to pay a cent.
I am totally disappointed. Never again british engineering ?!? Guess with a landrover after this experience I would never ever leave a road where a tow truck cannot pick you up again. Not at all made for off the beaten track !!!!

Does anyone have made as well bad exeperiences with the Freelander Motor or the bad behaviour of land rover to fix their quality problems on their account?
Please help,
Boris

 

I take it you are on about the 1.8 petrol K series?
The head gaskets are still a common fault on these engines...

On another note, why should land rover pay for a vehicle that is out of warranty? I agree, a bit of goodwill would be nice, but they usually only do this if the vehicle has full main dealer service history...

 

Sorry about what happen to your rover BUT LR QUALITY AIN'T LOUSY some just have faults that's all land rovers are made better than most 4x4's that's right I said it and I 'll say it again better than most and in some cases all 4x4's WHAT! but again i'm sorry about your rover.

 

Yeap the Land Rovers are hoopties!


I know that 05landrovers LR3 & Freelander have both been in for Warranty work approx 4 to 1 over my Mustang ~~!!!!

 

I think you're dealer should have replaced the engine right from the get-go.They know that changing gaskets aren't going to remedy anything on the Freelander engine.They have been dealing with that badly designed engine since day one,and knew full well you would be back with bigger problems.The dealer where I live has replaced a dozen engines under warranty,and lord knows how many are still waiting.I really like the Freelander,but Land Rover really should have sourced that little engine out to Honda or Toyota.I know most of you guys will disagree,but you have to admit those companies know how to build a small powerfull and super reliable gasoline engine.Just My opinion.

 

Rover K series designed in partnership with Honda in the 80's - they're fine in the other cars they're fitted to, example Lotus Elise. They're just not really suitable for low power/high torque applications and a heavy car, much better the other way around, as the Elise proves so well.

Cheers,

 

I do agree! I never really liked Jap cars until I kind of just ended up with one (86 Honda Prelude Si) back in 93. That was at the time the best car I had ever owned and I've owned Honda's & Acura's ever since. They still continue to be the best most reliable, powerful yet economical cars I've encountered. These engines will take heaps of neglect and still run strong & smooth with +200K miles on them. The only major weak spot is the timing belt which HAS to be changed about every 100K miles or so. I wish when Rover & Honda were colaberating they'd had Honda make a good V8 (or V6) to shove in the Disco! I alsowondered how hard it would be to try and mate up a Toyota V8 with the R380 trans & put it in my Disco I? I wouldn't go so far as to say that LR quality is lousy though as some do.There are some well engineered parts on my Disco (now), butI think they evolved that way and didn't start out that way.Maybe they should just spend more time & money on R&D like Honda & Toyota. LR and most of the British car companies seem to operate on a very tight budget and are quick to put a vehicle out on the market to start generating revenue before they've really ironed out all the quirks. Instead letting the consumers do the R&D for them, which causes bad press, poor sales & keeping them in a constant cycle of poor profit & no money for R&D. I work in the semiconductor industy and we have some British machines at work, and they too are retro(backwards) engineered. BTW I'm British so I'm not having a biased slam on Brits here!