Freelander 2 (LR2) Advice Needed - Rust Issues

GrumpyGel said:

Lot of truth in that.

There was a rebuild thread a good number of years ago now by a fella who bought a Scottish F1 and it was rusted out along sills and wheel arches.

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Nyal said:

Been to see another Scottish one there, managed to get a test drive in. 2.2 TD4 XS manual, it was a whole lot of fun, definitely set on buying an FL2.

Would appreciate your opinions on the rust, I’ve attached photos. 2014, 59k miles, £12.8k. It had failed it’s recent MOT, I’ve attached a screenshot of the repairs required. Salesman said they’d repair and service before handing it off to me (+12 month warranty) but it’d be good to know your thoughts on if the faults are indicative of more serious issues down the line.

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Nodge68 said:

I must admit I'd not be spending anything like £12k on a Freelander, as they're simply not worth that much in my eyes. Mine cost me about £3k all in 3 years ago, so to me one just a couple of real years newer definitely isn't worth 4 times the money.

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Yeah it is a lot of money. I probably personally wouldn’t spend that much either. My landy was £500 (pretty broken at time) but going well 60k miles later.

Although, if you have the cash and the desire for it I guess it’s the next driveway ornament for some

If you take the time and treat the underside i am sure you could save that one depending on time and effort you are willing to put in ?
The brake pipes definitely need doing

It took me from September 2022
Till July 2023 to buy the one really wanted
But i can say I wasted a few days and diesel
Seeing others so picky sometimes isn’t useful and on the face of that one with the jobs doing it would be a decent low mileage freelander

Back down to earth after all the excitement of the test drive. Yous are right it’s too expensive for what it is. Also found out it’s missing service history from 2017. Not ideal.

Good idea on getting the AA to have a look, I think I’ll send them down south to check the further away ones.

Nyal said:

Back down to earth after all the excitement of the test drive. Yous are right it’s too expensive for what it is. Also found out it’s missing service history from 2017. Not ideal.

Good idea on getting the AA to have a look, I think I’ll send them down south to check the further away ones.

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Yeah you should matey. I think they actually offer a warranty on the vehicle as part of their inspection.

I wouldn't waste my money on another AA inspection.

The only time I had one, over here admittedly, the engine on the car I bought disintegrated a couple of weeks after I got it.

When I went back to the AA, they basically said "shame".

Ross Tait said:

Yeah you should matey. I think they actually offer a warranty on the vehicle as part of their inspection.

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Be very careful what that warranty covers!

GrumpyGel said:

Be very careful what that warranty covers!

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I wouldn’t be spending up to £12,000 without a professional checking it. Especially if I didn’t know cars myself. The aa or a qualified mobile mechanic or an mot tester (if you know one) will inspect it for not a lot of money. It’s peace of mind you won’t have otherwise.

One of my mates bought a focus st diesel two months ago, two weeks later the radiator started leaking, their warranty has covered it, cars repaired.

Always read the details of what a warranty does and doesn’t cover, some warranties aren’t worth the paper their written on. We get folk in the garage all the time telling us they have paid for extended warranty, one call to their company and we find they only pay £25 p/h toward labour which we laugh at. No professional garage has worked for that rate for a decade or two.

I think you had some real bad luck that time with the car engine and the person who inspected it for you. Hopefully you won’t suffer that again.

Ross Tait said:

I wouldn’t be spending up to £12,000 without a professional checking it. Especially if I didn’t know cars myself. The aa or a qualified mobile mechanic or an mot tester (if you know one) will inspect it for not a lot of money. It’s peace of mind you won’t have otherwise.

One of my mates bought a focus st diesel two months ago, two weeks later the radiator started leaking, their warranty has covered it, cars repaired.

Always read the details of what a warranty does and doesn’t cover, some warranties aren’t worth the paper their written on. We get folk in the garage all the time telling us they have paid for extended warranty, one call to their company and we find they only pay £25 p/h toward labour which we laugh at. No professional garage has worked for that rate for a decade or two.

I think you had some real bad luck that time with the car engine and the person who inspected it for you. Hopefully you won’t suffer that again.

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I had it inspected because it was a 5 hour drive away from home.

So I agreed a price with the seller subject to an AA inspection.

Thought an AA inspection would be a thoughrough inspection of the vehicle, which it is advertised as. But then when you complain, the language changes to "well we don't check such and such" and we "don't removed anything" blah blah.

It is a con really - no more thoughrough than a WOF (MOT).

GrumpyGel said:

I had it inspected because it was a 5 hour drive away from home.

So I agreed a price with the seller subject to an AA inspection.

Thought an AA inspection would be a thoughrough inspection of the vehicle, which it is advertised as. But then when you complain, the language changes to "well we don't check such and such" and we "don't removed anything" blah blah.

It is a con really - no more thoughrough than a WOF (MOT).

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I do it get. You can get some people who just aren’t doing a good job. It goes for every job and trade out there.
Some times we get stung. Always shi*e when it happens.
Yeah it can be the same with an MOT I agree, but not everywhere. Some places do bother to do the MOT fully and correctly. It makes a big difference where you go. As someone who was offered a job by Halfords MOT centre’s I can tell you they offer up to £4K per year in incentives for testers to let’s say “be diligent and find failures”.
But it isn’t like that throughout the trade.
Your best bet in all honesty is a busy, popular independant garage.