Which is better and why?

Not withstanding age and therefore reliabilty is the Freelander 2 significantly better than the original, specifically the Td4

my understanding is that it no longer has a VCU, but uses the Japanese electronic clutch system to drive the rear wheels - that has to be better.

Unfortunately as it is still being built by British spanner-merchants; more electronics mean it will, most likely, be as reliable as a Rangie .

The Mad Hat Man said:

my understanding is that it no longer has a VCU, but uses the Japanese electronic clutch system to drive the rear wheels - that has to be better.

Unfortunately as it is still being built by British spanner-merchants; more electronics mean it will, most likely, be as reliable as a Rangie .

Click to expand...

The coupling is made by Haldex who are Swedish so at least that bit might work

Comparing a 2006 TD4 HSE auto FL1 to a 2008 TD4 HSE auto FL2
Both abused off road so possibly not representative of the breed

2006 version did circa 30k per year for 2.5 years, everything apart from the mullered exhaust and a crushed cooling pipe were fixed under warranty.
Always got us home, even from the Sahara were she was very abused.
Never made it to the next service without visiting the dealer, never had a service than wasn't extended by days whilst another fault was rectified. The faults that I remember were, Water ingress - roof leaked, diff oil leak - seal and carrier, loss of power - engine sensor, fuel problem (pump?), suspension bushes gave up, air con pump replaced.

2008 version booked in for its second service 30k in just over a year. They changed the aircon clutch at the first service (noisy). It has had a 4 electrical hissy fits radio/satnav these disappear when you cycle the ignition, so will not trouble the dealer with them. Battery went flat, doesn't like you turning the ignition off, and continuing to chat using blue tooth for an hour, after you disconnect it continues to search for phone all night.
But electrical idiosyncrasies and aircon apart nothing has gone wrong.

So which is more reliable - definitely the FL2.
Which is better, we could be here all day on that one.
IMHO the FL1 is nicer to drive and to look at, with practice the FL1 is as good if not better than the FL2 off-road.
FL2 costs less to run (fuel & tax) and should cost less when the warranty runs out - more difficult to fix without diagnostics though.
On the motorway and towing the FL2 wins, the extra power and torque makes towing a pleasure, and yes my FL1 was chipped.