Hi. Intruding here as mine is a 2000 Discovery II
Tomorrow I will visit a 2008 for sale, unsure if it is a LR2, LR3 or else. Only know it is 6 cylinder, gasoline. Any guide to know what am getting into, suggestions, cautions, warnings, weak points? Who made that engine, Ford ? Is there a 'style' without sun roof ? Is the LR2 also called Freelander, smaller and lower than a LR3 ?
What is this one? :

 

Look at the back of the car. Like any Land Rover, there's a tag that says the model. If you search the forum you will find plenty of posts telling you what to look for in the truck. There should be fairly complete service records, or else you should just walk away, unless you like to do your own maintenance, have a good collection of tools and a good budget. If the car was not well taken care of if will give you no end of grief. The engine is made by Volvo, same as the S60. A powered front moonroof and fixed rear moonroof are standard. The LR2 is the US name for the Freelander 2.

 

It's an LR2, aka freelander.

In addition to all of the common-sense stuff that would apply to buying any used car...

You want no Check Engine Light or other dash caution lights. I would use a cheap scan tool to pull up any DTCs from the ECU. Very easy to do, google will show you. Any codes related to engine/tranny/powertrain would be a huge red flag. Codes related to the chassis network, door locks, infotainment are not as big a deal.

The car should drive very smoothly, including smooth shifting. From a standing start (stopped), apply a lot of gas pedal... the vehicle should accelerate *without* squealing the front tires. If the tires squeal, there's a problem with the rear part of the AWD, and it will be expensive.

Listen for any high-pitched whining noises, that can be a sign of gearbox wear (it has lots of gearboxes, but especially the rear differential). Turn off the AC system if you hear a whine, the fan can whine and sound like a powertrain problem, mines been doing that for ten years.

Assuming it's well over 100K, you will really want to see service records. In addition to oil changes, you really want to see a history of these items...

Engine Oil: Bonus if they used synthetic oil
Tranny Fluid: Must have been done at least once, ideally within 50K
AOC (aka Haldex) Fluid and Filter: Must have been done at least once, ideally within 50K
Rear Differential Oil: Must have been done at least once, ideally within 50K
Front PTU Fluid: Must have been done at least once, ideally within 50K
Coolant: Must have been done at least once, ideally within 5 years

There are many other maintenance items which you'll want to do if you buy the car, but these items will have probably caused excess wear if they were never done.

 

I have a 2015 LR2 HSE that I bought new from a dealer. I've used it as my daily driver and has been fine overall. Most recent repair: at around 85k miles I replaced the turbo, which had a small crack due to hot/cold cycle in Massachusetts. My experience has been that although well build at the outset, time takes a toll: the salt air and brutal climate cycles has take a toll on a number of the rubber, plastic, and metal parts under the hood, so I've replaced several fluid hoses, and those rubber TMPS things in the tires. I think having owned this for almost 9 years now, I enjoy driving it, but it has been expensive - relative to purchase price - to maintain. If you are concerned with costs and budget, although its been dependable and fun to drive, the costs add up. The biggest problem has been around the tires: flats and the TMPS tubes broke (which immediately flattened my tire while I was driving!) The LR2, unlike others, doesn't have alot of the high end technology, which has probably helped.