First Car - Freelander

I will have a good look at one before I buy it and get a good test drive in it. Probably a garage might be smarter to get some kind of warranty even if it is a few months.

hi ya!

i had a freelander as my first car. A 3 door early td4, There good workhorses and a bit different to the saxos/fiestas that you see driving around. If you get a good'un it'll give you many years of service. But a ****ty one will see you burning your wallet. I would recommend an automatic tho. As the manuals had clutches made of cheese. Not too bad if you can replace it yourself, but it just takes time if you haven't done one before.

They are good for space, and for diving kit. I'm part of a large diving club and with the rear seats out we managed to get in 12 peoples twinsets and all gear for a trip up to scotland.

I've now p/xed the freebie for a 110, mainly for the extra space, and the fact my td4 had hideous starting and cold running problems.

If you have any questions i'm here.

Hippo said:

See what you can push for. If it were me I'd want it up to 60mph. Also some lower speeds. They may not be happy. If not, then go else where. Look over the car first to see what it's all about first. Offer £5 for fool if they don't like it. At the end of the day they're flogging you a heap, shorry, yer first Freelander. Exchange of your money for their problems, shorry, Freelander. You need to be sure what your getting works. You have to allow for the fact your buying a Freelander priced as 10% of it's new list price, many years old. As with any car (even durdy tratters) yer has to take into account the price and condition. It won't be brand new, but you need to give it a reasonable going over. Yer first step is to come on ere. Keep looking at freds to see typical faults and topics raised.

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See what i mean rtjdesign???? Top advice of clued up people.. Read up on it all and you should be ok. Good luck, and keep us posted with what you get.

brooksy said:

hi ya!

i had a freelander as my first car. A 3 door early td4, There good workhorses and a bit different to the saxos/fiestas that you see driving around. If you get a good'un it'll give you many years of service. But a ****ty one will see you burning your wallet. I would recommend an automatic tho. As the manuals had clutches made of cheese. Not too bad if you can replace it yourself, but it just takes time if you haven't done one before.

They are good for space, and for diving kit. I'm part of a large diving club and with the rear seats out we managed to get in 12 peoples twinsets and all gear for a trip up to scotland.

I've now p/xed the freebie for a 110, mainly for the extra space, and the fact my td4 had hideous starting and cold running problems.

If you have any questions i'm here.

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Thank you! That answers some of my questions, I am not going to be doing ridiculous miles in the thing and most probably will end up with one of those smartbox trackers in it to monitor my driving to drop the cost of insurance down. Just worked out I can probably insure it for about £850.

I don't think the manual would be a problem as stated my dad was a motor mechanic and has replaced the clutch on our old petrol freelander before, it was the engine that caused the problems!

newcyboots said:

See what i mean rtjdesign???? Top advice of clued up people.. Read up on it all and you should be ok. Good luck, and keep us posted with what you get.

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Cheers, I will do! Looking forward to passing my test and getting on the road with one. Even if in the other areas of the forums the freelanders seem to get a bit of stick. I could careless, I don't see why it bothers them if they are not driving one.

I will have a look at Adrian flux, and yeah its not worth the risk but I was just wondering how do they track it?

The smartbox does look like a good option though for making it cheaper!

Well If I put him down for 10,000 miles a year and myself for 2000 that makes my insurance 850 a year roughly, we probably wont do all those miles but might aswell insure it for that.

I won't be using it for general commuting only trips and when I want to go somewhere at weekend, I live a 10 minute walk from my work so its not for that.

Also he is retired so could drive the car anytime during the week while I am working at the studio

You need to be honest and think if he will be the main driver or not. If his motor is sat on the drive, why would he insure a second car? Very few people are the main driver on cars they don't own, within the famlily.

My mum owns the MG ZS Turbo we have, which she uses for work commutes, he basically does the driving when the car is home out of work time. If I had the freelander he could use it during the day and I could use it when I want to go anywhere.

So he would be the main driver

It's sort of based on who will have access to the car. who will be in possession of the car, un who will drive it the most. Who pays the bills is normally the owner, which int always the name on the log book. So for this one I’d make sure you check wiv the insurance company on the phone before you commit, as it’s difficult to judge.

Yeah I have had a good read and my brother works for the company Young Driver Insurance | Car insurance for young drivers | The Co-operative Insurance

If you look at that its designed for insuring your siblings on a young person insurance, to help build up no claims and cheaper insurance looks perfect really

Had a quick look. Is it for a sibling on the parents car, or the siblings car?

Yeah its for a sibling on the parents car.

rtjdesign said:

Yeah its for a sibling on the parents car.

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If thats the case then it's not for you. The policy is for a sibling on a parents car. The practice of a parent insuring their siblings car, with the sibling as the additional named driver, is betterer known as "fronting". Hence why you can get the insurance for £850 as you describe. Thats because the parent is the lower risk even with a much higher mileage usage. The sibling is a much higher risk, hence the tracking device thing.

More than 40% of parents commit car insurance fraud | Action Fraud

The Co-operative Banking Group - News 2010

Just stuck my 18 year old daughters details on driving a 53 plate Ford KA and its £4000 a year!! £5335 to drive my Freelander or 10 x payments of £403.34 plus dep of £1600

And for info she has no accidents or convictions and no NCD. full driving licence since Jan 11

Can't see how that company is good,

rtjdesign said:

Yeah I have had a good read and my brother works for the company Young Driver Insurance | Car insurance for young drivers | The Co-operative Insurance

If you look at that its designed for insuring your siblings on a young person insurance, to help build up no claims and cheaper insurance looks perfect really

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:nospamhere::nospamhere::nospamhere::nospamhere::nospamhere::nospamhere::nospamhere:

That was for her only - not on my insurance.

Crazy prices

If he insures himself as the main driver un owner, and his dad as the named driver, then he'll faint. But at least he'll have the real price.

I appreciate your concern, My Dad would be the main driver as he would probably end up driving it more than me.

I would basically be using when I am not working, which is weekends and the odd evenings. He would be driving it all week whilst im at work. So realistically I would just be a named driver.

I also had a freelander as my first car when i was 17.
I also had an XDI, l series, was a great first motor and as you have allready found out, it was alot cheaper to insure than the normal 1.1 litre corsa !

madness !!!

anyhow, i wouldnt recommend getting insured on a parents policy as usually this way you wont be able to clock up any no claims in your name, so when you come to actully getting your own insurance in your own name it will be damm expensive as to the insurance companys you are inexperienced with 0 years no claims under your belt.

your better off getting it in your own name from the start, it may cost more but you need to start clocking up no claims at some time.

Ive had two freelanders in the last 2 years and now im onto my Range Rover in which the insurance is alot cheaper as iv now got 2 years no claims under my belt, im still only a 19 year old insured on my own range rover ! LOL

good luck, there great cars - better than boy racer focus's or corsa's ! lol