Buying a freelander

Hi there
I was looking into buying a freelander any buying guides.
Of which year are the best? I saw one from a local dealer registered in late 2005 with TD4 and has only 22miles. What do you think?
Thanks

Unfortunately there are no hard or fast rules for which model is the best, which year, the mileage etc.

Sometimes you can pick up a 1999 1.8 k series XEi and get an absolute gem; likewise you can buy a 55 plate Td4 HSE and get an absolute shed.

Take it from one whom has learned the expensive way and digest as much information from these pages about what to look for, what the pitfalls are, signs of abuse and pending drive-train failure etc and make your own mind up...being sure to keep a few scheckles to one side to cater for 'design features' that come with Freelander ownership.

A Freelander is like the fabled girl with the curl..."when she was good, she was very, very good and when she was bad; she was horrid.."

jsprinter said:

Hi there
I was looking into buying a freelander any buying guides.
Of which year are the best? I saw one from a local dealer registered in late 2005 with TD4 and has only 22miles. What do you think?
Thanks

Click to expand...

Now that is low mileage!!

i would wonder why it has such low miles on! any car that has done less than 5 miles a year will have issues!
A friend once bought an Alfa 147 with huge miles (about 35K per year it worked out at) but his argument was that it must have been a good 'un - it was, n heever had any trouble with it.

n heever

Sorry meant "he never"

As you've probably heard the 1.8 series petrol is best to stay away from, they had a few head gasket problems.

I think the best freelander to get (most reliable) are the facelift td4 auto models. The TD4 is a great engine slightly more refined than the other diesel i think its the xedi? The manuals are ok, but they do have weak clutches that do break in a spectacular fashion as i found out last week. there have been problems with the VCU and parts just read up on this forum its very helpful and there are some very wise people on here. as well as freebie beaters

But i guess you mean 22k? As if the car has only done 22 miles i guess its been sitting on that forecourt for the last 5 years and it will definitely have a problem.

If you go for a TD4 auto watch out for the car tax. It falls into a higher bracket than the manual un later models.

Be just like motors that I have owned, I only do 5-6K a year.

check out its history eg fully stamped service book pref with invoices and old mots they should verify milage good luck. and read lots of info on landyzone.

If you plan to do any serious offroading go for the TD4 Auto, the auto box compensates for the lack of low range.