Buying Advise

Hi All,

Looking for some advice as a newbie

Been looking for a freelander 2 for the last couple of weeks, but bugger they seem to get snapped up quick missed out on two today by 2 hours!!!!!!

anything i should be looking out for? looking at a post 59plate.

cheers MArk

membership to the head under the bonnet club, and optional pink shirt lol.

Just make sure everything works. Then take a picture of it for posterity

A LOT of info on here regarding VCU, 3 Amigo's, MAF etc etc.

I bought an 05 auto commercial to do a bit of towing and generally to go fishing in. I've spent about £1500 on it. Some of that unlucky. Some getting it to better than original standard (synergy 2 kit).

I drive all sorts of other cars, vans, trucks - but for some queer reason, I quite like driving this one.

Welcome to the forum, some harsh sounding trattor driving types on here, but generally you will get a LOT of advice (mixed in with a fair bit of gay lander abuse).

Good luck - don't rush in and buy a pup.

Freelander vanman said:

Just make sure everything works. Then take a picture of it for posterity

A LOT of info on here regarding VCU, 3 Amigo's, MAF etc etc.

I bought an 05 auto commercial to do a bit of towing and generally to go fishing in. I've spent about £1500 on it. Some of that unlucky. Some getting it to better than original standard (synergy 2 kit).

I drive all sorts of other cars, vans, trucks - but for some queer reason, I quite like driving this one.

Welcome to the forum, some harsh sounding trattor driving types on here, but generally you will get a LOT of advice (mixed in with a fair bit of gay lander abuse).

Good luck - don't rush in and buy a pup.

Click to expand...

Freelander 2 doesn't have a VCU so no worries there, not sure if they are affected by the three amigo's either.

Have a good read through this.

Welcome to the forum .

There isnt any shared components between an fl1 and fl2, so no vcu, no crappy brakelight switches.

Since your buying an in warrenty car, i'd just make sure its in decent condition, got good tyres on and is the spec you want. Also if it has satnav, make sure you get a disk with it !

watch out for Noisey diffs !!!!!!!!!!!! very unreliable -Tyre wear-electrical gremlins- turbo's failing- clutches & DMF's - Auto boxes on the autos failing at 50K EGR valves -camshafts snapping on early models !-transmission judder-
haldex faults-dash faults.air con pumps failing.rear wheel bearings.
My FR2 has been the worst new car I have ever bought in 35 years !!!! its been abysmal, made worse by shocking support & service when new.
Drives nice, tows well but that's it ! Worst 4x4 by far and the worse 26K I ever spent.

Must still make them on a Friday. My relations have two, both secondhand, one had it nearly 2 years 57 plate the other 6 months 08 plate and no problems at all. Agree main dealers problamatic and always go to good independant.

Old Geezer, ive never heard of most of these faults.

The Rear diff is common on the earlier ones, but unheard of almost on 59plates and later.

Tyre wear on FL2 is the best out of any LR ever produced.

Clutches and DMF failure is uncommon unless you tow alot and then its normally just a bit of a wobble on acceleration.

Auto boxes ive heard of a couple of early failures on them, but ive seen plenty do 140k+ miles with alot of towing.

The rest i definately wouldnt call common faults on FL2, sounds like you've just had a really bad experience with yours.


The unmentioned common fault is noisey PAS, but you'd notice that fast. It gives a whine from PAS pump when reving the engine whilst the steering in turned.


Decent cars in my opinion.

well mines had the following before its had reached 17000 miles
diff noise ! turbo ! -autobox lost 1st gear -4 dash boards due to continued electrical faults -crash sensor-steering column issue- imobilzer issues- air con pump-evaporter-4 fan speed controllers-window motor fault-EGR valve-power steering rack-power steering pump-power steering resovoir-so many electrical faults it had two years where it had to have a charger left on day and night so it could start ! bad hesitation issues ( so bad it was dangerous and L/r failed to notice it wasn't selecting 1st to pull away ! Took 2 years to find it! wiper motor and wiper rack -its has gone into reduced power mode as many times as its done miles ! so you think they are brilliant and this is all just normal ? I cant remember all the failures ! it covers 6 pages of A4 !
I had to buy another car just so I had one that would start and get me to work ! for the fisrt two years all I was ever told by the dealer was " yeah they all do that " !
Landrovers best offer was 2k of a new one for me to buy another ! yeah right and spend another 17K after 17000 miles of grief and breakdowns in France each and every year since new ! Customer service and support was appalling ! I know I own the blo88dy thing !
The camshafts definatley snap ! its an ongoing issue that L/R are aware of! I have photos & auto boxes are prone to early failure and Q106 update is to try and extend the life of them ! plenty of failures and very expensive to change ! even mentioned last month in Landrover magazine ! and disgruntled users on HonestJohn

Its funny how 20K miles seems to be a trigger point, but of course I forgot they are landrover most reliable car ever !:hysterically_laughi

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/multiple-problems-09-reg-freelander-2-a-160370.html
http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/probemy-freelander-2-2011year-168164.html
http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/continuing-problems-freelander-2-a-61434.html
http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/freelander-2-lemon-161636.html
http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/freelander-2-59-plate-vibrations-help-96573.html
http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f9/auto-gearbox-replacement-how-much-195395.html

oldgeezer, you sure it int yer driving? ound:

That doesn't sound good but you always get some bad ones. Did you change your dealer as it looks as if they were guessing.

My car is pampered ! washed and polished and always driven with great respect.Driven to the South of France each year. Run on BP fuel only, no supermarket fuel.
It still looks brand new. Yes I did change dealers and the next dealer was worse than the first. My car has a hidden camera & tracker. the service took 59 mins from start to finish including 5 min road test. all the extras problems were never investigated ! even caught on camera the mechanic saying all these downloads were Bo**acks as well.
I got a bad one made worse by appalling service and the worse customer service ever !
The biggest insult was eventually a 2k offer to help change. In fact after three years a defective wiring harness was found to be the cause of much electrical issues.
I dont trust the car one bit. Its junk ! and a total waste of 26K worst new car ever.
Forgot to add, had a L/R tow bar fitted when brand new, first time I towed it knocked and banged so badly sounded like it would fall off ! this continued for three years till on another forum I discovered there was a design fault and a replacement so that was replaced as well but not till three years old ! The dealer always said they couldn't find anything wrong !
When it was in the work shop the mechanic said swan neck tow bars are not designed to tow caravans !( on camera ) ( WTF ) what does he know ! oh sorry he's a landrover mechanic !

oldgeezer said:

Run on BP fuel only, no supermarket fuel.

Click to expand...

FYI, I know Sainbury's is supplied by BP (Sauce.)

"FYI, I know Sainbury's is supplied by BP"
Base fuel yes., each distributor then adds it own additives !