Freelander vs. ??

lagged

Well-known member
Apr 20, 2005
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Freelanders have a limited slip CDL. It varies the ration between 90 front 10 rear to 50/50. Its handy it some cases when you don't want a perfect distrobution. (admitedly I've only had this been benefical once) Thats what I don't consider it a real one. But its better than nothing.

You know what makes my Freelander even gayer? Its Baby Blue. But no girl has ever complained about it. Another downside of the Freelander I forgot, stains don't come out of the seats.
 

mgreenspan

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Feb 28, 2005
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Briggs's Back Yard
I test drove one for fun 2 days ago. It was an 02. I kinda liked how it drove as far as SUV feel went. Seemed plenty fast and the command shift/sport shift was neat too. Price was fair also and it was certified. But I'm not sure if I would use it for offroading except maybe driving on the beach or on a dirt road in rural VA/NC.
 

garrett

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Jun 18, 2004
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be careful in sand. like i said before we had a Freebee with us (101 FC, several stock DIs, DIIs, etc) down at Assateague several years ago. it went about 50 feet and sunk..........repeat and recover with the 101. must have been the worthless stock tires. i dunno. no one else had one bit of issue.
 

mgreenspan

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Feb 28, 2005
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Briggs's Back Yard
Can't problems in sand be solved w/ airing down... I imagine airing down w/ stock tires is a little tough since they are somewhat low profile? 15 inch steel rims w/ 30-31 inch tires would air down fine and I'm sure the freelander would be fine then right?
 

garrett

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Jun 18, 2004
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i think the root of the cause was the POS Freelander. :) haha. i don't remember now, since it has been so many years. my old and feeble mind is not working like it did in my youth as a young buck.
i do remember making sure they were aired down after we did the first recovery with the 101. i know i had pics of it, but i think they are on my old PC. it was funny.........we just left the car in drive and it just sat their spinning like a old Mississippi paddle boat. must have recovered it about 3 times before we sent them back.
that is when i fell in love the the Freelander. that was also the first time i had seen one off pavement. not a good first impression.
 

lagged

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Apr 20, 2005
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Thats funny, I happen to put about 50 miles a week on in sand in my Freelander. I'm down on the Delaware beaches all the time, and I make it down to North Carolina 4 - 5 times a year and do even more there. I don't know what kind of sand you have driven on, but its damn hard to get a Freelander or really anything stuck in sand if you have half a brain. Once I bogged down and had to back up, but when I tried going forward again I was fine. ONCE in hundreds of miles of beach driving. And that was when I was pulling a Bronco 5 miles back to the highway.

Sand driving is 90 percent reducing the preassure you make with the ground (airing down) and 10 percent ground clearance. The car doesn't mattar that much. When I'm in the Tahoe I don't even put it in 4wd.
 
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garrett

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Jun 18, 2004
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true. you can pretty much run anything the beaches down there. i dunno what was up. maybe he didn't air down, but i am pretty certain we made sure of that. they were new to just about everything.
i am not a fan of driving on beaches. too much work and it just seems odd to me. though it is legal of course it just seems to make us that much more lazy.
so we drive to a beach, park with our rods out fishing and then sit all day. i dunno......i guess i don't get it.
 

LR123

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May 21, 2006
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I gotta jump in here and defend the Freelander. It's a great SUV. It performs well on-road (extremely smooth at 80+) and does well off-road. I usually go with my friend and his Disco, and I can keep up pretty well. The one thing that gets me is the lack of ground clearance. It doesn't do as well as Discos in ruts. However, overall the Freelander is a great SUV.
 
J

jaguiler

Guest
I'll speakup too.. I think it is great off-road - the ground clearance sucks! otherwise I think it's great - and I can still get into the parking garage at work - which is 6'2"

--that being said I will be buying a Series for a trail rig next year.... :)
but no reason to slam the Freelander....
 

garrett

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Jun 18, 2004
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Middleburg, VA
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i am sure the Freelander is a great little SUV and all. my beef is that there are just as good and cute little SUVs out there for far less money.
honestly i'd rather have a Ford Escape. i don't see much on the Freelander that justifies the price gap.
the US market and people have spoken......they agree.