cast iron Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 Getting out of the company lease scheme and Looking for a dog / tow car for us the misses drives a vivaro van usually so looking for something big, up to £10k Whats to look out for on a Freelander? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cast iron Posted November 13, 2019 Author Share Posted November 13, 2019 no one...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigelO Posted November 13, 2019 Share Posted November 13, 2019 We looked at a Freelander when searching for my wife's current car. Too many stories of poor reliability put us off and we ended up with a Volvo XC60 2.4 diesel, which has seriously exceeded expectations - lovely build quality and a semi-characterful engine (for a diesel, anyway) XC60 and Freelander are about the same size and broadly similar money for a given age of car We also needed the size for a dog - ours is a Newfoundland, so you probably wouldn't need anything bigger unless you have a Great Dane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim RS Posted November 13, 2019 Share Posted November 13, 2019 I too have had problems with older Land Rover's with reliability issues and poor warranty, had 2 Freelanders on loan which I found a bit strange to drive with the 4wd always tugging at the steering. My best tow vehicles have been Isuzu but they dropped out of the passenger vehicle market some years ago. Last tow vehicle was a Jeep Grand Cherokee up to last year, which handled the tasks admirably towing up to maximum at 3500kgs but a bit big and I question the service back up now in the Fiat Group dealers. I did do an exercise some years back for small 4wd cars but found most were severely restricted when automatic gearbox included, reducing them to half the manual maximum. Mitsubishi have also good records on towing as a couple of my friends have towed with them giving no reliability issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Hunter - Club Secretary Posted November 13, 2019 Share Posted November 13, 2019 Give the Infiniti FX 3.0 diesel a look... They've started to drop below 10k with about 60,000 on them. Bought one for the better half early this year and it's been great. Loads of grunt, 2.2 tonne towing capacity, every toy conceivable (360 degree camera, powered tailgate, heated and cooled seats, music hard drive, lane assist, adaptive cruise etc) and gets about 32 mpg (37/38 on holiday to Cornwall with a roof box) which isn't bad for a huge bus! If you can live with the boot size (not massive for such a big car) then it's a lovely bit of kit.... It even has the 4x4 system from the Skyline GTR which is always worth a mention down the pub! 😂😂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesT Posted November 13, 2019 Share Posted November 13, 2019 I had a 2008 Freelander SE TD4, at approx 80,000 miles. When it was around 8 years old, lots of niggling little faults started to crop up. The rear hatch started to open on it own, setting off the car alarm. The boot lid switch had to be replaced. The Alarm would go off for no apparent reason, usually around 3 O'clock in the morning. unresolved. One of the rear doors stopped locking and the window would not move. The doors ECU had to be replaced. The front and rear parking sensors would come on continuously after driving in heavy rain and parked up. The intercooler to inlet hose failed. The highest fuel economy i ever achieved, downhill with the wind behind was 34MPG The clutch started to slip on the motorway in 5th & 6th if left standing for more than a few days. Finally, the day before i was selling it to Webuyanycar the fan control unit started to squeal and screech, for a minute or two, after the engine was switched off. Luckily, there were roadworks next to the office, and the jackhammer concealed the noise after the forward and reverse test drive. I have since replaced with a 2017 volvo XC60 D5. No faults so far, and achieves 38Mpg pottering about, and 44 on a sedate motorway run. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingster Posted November 13, 2019 Share Posted November 13, 2019 36 minutes ago, JamesT said: I had a 2008 Freelander SE TD4, at approx 80,000 miles. When it was around 8 years old, lots of niggling little faults started to crop up. The rear hatch started to open on it own, setting off the car alarm. The boot lid switch had to be replaced. The Alarm would go off for no apparent reason, usually around 3 O'clock in the morning. unresolved. One of the rear doors stopped locking and the window would not move. The doors ECU had to be replaced. The front and rear parking sensors would come on continuously after driving in heavy rain and parked up. The intercooler to inlet hose failed. The highest fuel economy i ever achieved, downhill with the wind behind was 34MPG The clutch started to slip on the motorway in 5th & 6th if left standing for more than a few days. Finally, the day before i was selling it to Webuyanycar the fan control unit started to squeal and screech, for a minute or two, after the engine was switched off. Luckily, there were roadworks next to the office, and the jackhammer concealed the noise after the forward and reverse test drive. I have since replaced with a 2017 volvo XC60 D5. No faults so far, and achieves 38Mpg pottering about, and 44 on a sedate motorway run. That’ll be a “nay” then 🤣 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeff oakley Posted November 13, 2019 Share Posted November 13, 2019 Second vote for XC60. Had one for two years did 90k in that time and it broke down once when it ran out of fuel, faulty gauge. The best seats of any car I have ever had towed well and even with a lead foot returned 40 mpg. Build quality excellent and service parts sensible prices 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman Posted November 13, 2019 Share Posted November 13, 2019 Yeah, had an XC90 R Design a few years back, superbly built car, and the most comfy seats of any car I’ve ever sat in. Followed it with a Discovery 4 HSE, before it was even six months old, as much as I loved it, I’ll be the first to admit it numerous electrical glitches, the most annoying being if you aimed any sort of high pressure hose directly at the drivers side window, (if I recall correctly), the rear near side window would drop down automatically and go in anti trapment mode, meaning you couldn’t fully shut it again till the drivers door had dried out. (I did eventually manage to find out how to override the anti trapment feature, (it wasn’t obvious and nor was it in the vehicle manual). But the damn thing would do it occasionally in really heavy rain and wind, too. You’d come back and find the window part down. A colleague got a Range Rover Sport at the same time as I had the Disco, we used to compare notes, his long term unresolved electrical issue was a failing navigation dvd drive! To rub salt in the wounds, the local (Cheshire selling to mainly Cheshire Set) main dealers were awful. In the end, I found a more commercial dealer that did mainly agricultural stuff, and service forecourt full of muddy farm land rovers aside, they were a million times better. (Though never did solve the window drop thing). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingster Posted November 14, 2019 Share Posted November 14, 2019 My Freelander experience was positive - never had any issues. Seats were not very comfortable though and not as much boot space as you’d expect. Not sure I’d have another. Was back in 2001 so may not be relevant. My brother has a more recent one and only had the turbo intercooler hose let him down. He likes his. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cast iron Posted November 14, 2019 Author Share Posted November 14, 2019 Thanks folks, Infiniti's nah we used to build them here and Infiniti has completely pulled out of Europe hence the falling values, as probably a balls ache getting spares The defender 2s have definitely seen an improvement post 2013 from what I can gather, a friend sold his dealership last year and was pretty honest, diffs and wheel bearings to look out for The car needs to be high similar to driving a big van and serious leg and boot room, we have 3 collies the Freelander is let down with the small boot so might go down the older X-Trail route Does the Volvo have a high seating position and legroom! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan France Posted November 14, 2019 Share Posted November 14, 2019 Several years ago a friend was Engineering Manager for a copper mine in Africa. They had a mixed fleet of Toyota pick ups and Amazons. His new MD insisted the main board had Range Rovers. His team then spent more time repairing 5 Range Rovers than the entire Toyota fleet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Mace Posted November 14, 2019 Share Posted November 14, 2019 2 hours ago, Alan France said: Several years ago a friend was Engineering Manager for a copper mine in Africa. They had a mixed fleet of Toyota pick ups and Amazons. His new MD insisted the main board had Range Rovers. His team then spent more time repairing 5 Range Rovers than the entire Toyota fleet. Reminds me of the Aussie saying: "If you want to go into the Outback take a Land Rover. If you want to come back again take a Toyota." I have a defender... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NigelO Posted November 14, 2019 Share Posted November 14, 2019 3 hours ago, cast iron said: Does the Volvo have a high seating position and legroom! Yes, and Yes Our XC60 is my wife's, but I get to use it along with my two sons for our usual trip to the Le Mans 24 hour race. We don't do ordinary camping, preferring a monstrous tent, generator, tables, chairs etc. We load the car up with a huge roofbox and three bikes on the back and it still returns better than 30mpg. Plenty of room up front and also in the back - no aching legs or backs after 1,000 mile round trip Wifey gets about 32mpg average, but she does lots of local driving. Fuel consumption on a long run appears to be in the region of 35 - 38mpg Ours is the 212bhp 2.4 litre 5-pot engine - its a bit agricultural compared with a 6-pot, but still quite characterful Quite possibly the most surprising car I've ever driven - it is genuinely way better than I expected it to be (as well as being 100% reliable in the two years we've had it) The only criticism is that the steering is a bit numb as standard, and when it is heavily loaded, it gets quite floaty - good tracking is an absolute must Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arm Posted November 15, 2019 Share Posted November 15, 2019 Santa Fe is worth a look. Our 2010 has had rear brake pads and an egr clean and that's it. Tows 2.5 ton legally. Is good on fuel and with the 194 Bhp diesel flies when required. Would have another. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.