First post

K

kevinhaeb

Guest
It sure is gettin razy here in the Freelander section!!!!
 

utahdog2003

Well-known member
Apr 20, 2004
1,842
0
North Florida
dropping the DiscoII by the dealer on Thursday for the scheduled service. I'll post back with my observations on a day with the FreeLoaner!
 

utahdog2003

Well-known member
Apr 20, 2004
1,842
0
North Florida
false alarm...the loaner was another Disco...not that anyone would even notice with all the heavy traffic here in the Freelander Zone.
 

jsonova99

Well-known member
Apr 14, 2005
1,683
0
47
Snow Hill, MD
I'm not a big Freelander fan, but why doesn't anybody post in this section? Nevermind, I know why, because nobody buys these things.

I apologize to any Freelander owners, just being funny and taking a shot at current Land Rover marketing
 

lagged

Well-known member
Apr 20, 2005
314
0
Well, Freelander is most popular suv in Europe isn't it? This site is pretty negative to them. They have there own forum at muddyoval They welcome others of course.
 

jsonova99

Well-known member
Apr 14, 2005
1,683
0
47
Snow Hill, MD
The Freelander is a great vehicle for what it is. The problem in the US is that Land Rover jacked the price up so high on it that it gets mauled by it's competition like the CRV or the Escape, etc. If they offered as a hybrid over here and kept the price around where it is currently or justifiably higher than some of the competition it would be a huge hit. This is not a far-fetched idea either. Ford could easily take the drivetrain from the Escape hybrid and make this happen or atleast share some of the technology between the two. Fuel efficient small SUVs are a huge realtively untapped market here. I love Land Rover, I just think LRNA has done a poor job in recent years with the name. Sales figures will back me up on that. I actually considered a used Freelander as a good everyday vehicle to replace my old Infiniti when it goes. It's nice having something that i can easily chuck the dog in and still get decent milage. I primarily use my Disco for towing which the Freelander would not do well at. My biggest concern with the Freelander is reliability. I had one a s loaner once, and the whole dashboard freaked out on me, every light came on. The thing had like 200 miles on it. I returned it to the dealer the next day got my truck and never looked back.
 
S

syoung

Guest
My Freelander has been dead reliable- and it's probably one of the top three the most 'used' Freelanders in the country. It's been wheeled in places where Freelanders don't typically go... Worst problem so far was the variable intake motors were replaced under warranty and output shaft seal as well. Not bad compared to the lemon Ford my neighbors have.... plus, their Escape can't go where I can go and never gets a second look in traffic.
Like most Rovers- you can get a good one or a bad one- the good ones are really good, the bad ones are REALLY bad.
 

Axel

1
Staff member
Apr 1, 2004
1,857
11
Quebec, Canada
www.discoweb.org
syoung said:
My Freelander has been dead reliable-

So has mine. It has been my wife's daily driver for 3 years now, and has had no issues to speak of so far. A couple of seals replaced under warranty right after we got it, and nothing after that. Needed new brake pads the other day, but that's just normal wear and tear. It's a nice truck for what it is, but Kyle will never accept it...... :D
 
S

syoung

Guest
The brake pad thing is annoying- but aftermarket rotors tend to fix that problem. The stock rotors and pads make it stop 60-0 faster than a Audi TT or Mustang GT (not bad for a mini-ute) but with aftermarket brakes the performance is about the same as other mini-utes... so some degradation...

You've never seen a Freelander on a trail? Just this weekend I went wheelin with a half dozen of 'em and they went everywhere my Disco did.
Here's the most famous picture of mine:

roll1-2.jpg
 

jsonova99

Well-known member
Apr 14, 2005
1,683
0
47
Snow Hill, MD
syoung said:
The brake pad thing is annoying- but aftermarket rotors tend to fix that problem. The stock rotors and pads make it stop 60-0 faster than a Audi TT or Mustang GT (not bad for a mini-ute) but with aftermarket brakes the performance is about the same as other mini-utes... so some degradation...

You've never seen a Freelander on a trail? Just this weekend I went wheelin with a half dozen of 'em and they went everywhere my Disco did.
Here's the most famous picture of mine:

roll1-2.jpg

How much damage was there?
 
S

syoung

Guest
I had to replace my headlamp- $50 on ebay. It has a dent that can be pulled out on the side, the rear wheel bent slightly, and the headliner is permanently stained. Other than that- it's fine. The Disco behind me winched me over onto the wheels, then I winched myself up out of the hole and drove it off the trail. Changed the oil and filter at camp the next morning and did some more wheelin the next day. The stained headliner and dent are pretty minor- will cost less to fix than the digital camera that got wet and nuked.
 

jsonova99

Well-known member
Apr 14, 2005
1,683
0
47
Snow Hill, MD
how is the mileage on the Freelander? I keep thinking about getting one to replace my Infiniti I30 which is getting up there in mileage. I need somehting with a little more utility and a used Freelander is the perfect price.
 
S

syoung

Guest
unmodified, the MPG ranges wildly based on how you drive it- but mid 20's are not unheard of on the highway, low 20's to high teens in city driving. Stick some 30" rubber under it and a roof rack etc and it'll get worse fast. I get 18 on the highway and 11 in the city on mine- but that's because of the mods and I'm a bit heavy on the loud pedal.

I have driven hundreds of cars and owned 36 cars/trucks in my life and by far the Freelander is the most talented when it comes to a variety of road conditions. NOTHING I've driven has been better in snow... and it can be a lot of fun on a twisty road with the manual mode on the transmission. It's a really neat vehicle...
 
D

ducati

Guest
Our MPG was 20.5 in mixed driving and 23 or soon highway trips. On regular fuel, too. It's a great vehicle for the money at the bottom of the range-I felt our HSE was overpriced and underpowered for the $32k we paid, but my friend's S for $22k was a killer bargain.
 
A

Andre

Guest
I know this is kinda off topic here, but I actually like the european freelander i.e different body styles, then the one over here. It wouldn't help that the freelander here is overpriced.

FKN LRNA
 
S

syoung

Guest
The body style is the same here and there. The front bumper on the oil burner versions were slightly shorter, but otherwise identical.

I dunno- I paid less for my 02 when it was new than a coworker paid for a new CRV. The Rover had more HP, traction control, nice stereo... I think they are priced about right. The early HSE's were silly money, but that was based on the novelty of the new (to the US) model and they were quite fancy inside and had NAV etc.
 
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Andre

Guest
crap, nevermind, i didn't know that the se3 was the three door model.