Freedlander Potential Purchase

Hullo all, I'm hoping some of you can offer a hapless fool some advice on a Freelander I have been offered.

Its a 2001, 1.8 with the K series lump in it. Its got just shy of 97000 miles on it with a full service history - it also had a recon engine at less than 9000 miles due to a head gasket failure. Its head a new head gasket since then too. Everything else seems ok, drives well but does sound slightly tappety - I guess thats the nature of the beast?

I reckon I could get the car for £1100. Would you say that this would be a worthwhile buy, or a whole heap of pain waiting to happen?

I'd appreciated any advice or pointers from anyone

check expansion bottle is clean and properly full of clean coolant , clean or dirty water would probably mean at least new head gasket ,which may not show on short test drive ,youd ned to do 10 miles ,reverse it in lock to make sure not too much wind up with seized viscous unit which will break ird ,not cheap for new one,,check it still has rear prop on as will drive perfect without it is sign of seized viscous and poorly ird apart from that if good clean rot free car ,cheap car

Anything over £800 ain't worth paying.
Get the longest warranty yu can get.

If it had a genuine recon engine 9000 miles ago and the gasket has had to be changed since then I would suspect that either it was a crap recon or there are problems with this particular engine. If you do a search you will find all the relevant mods and problems associated with the 1.8 K series engine, personally I would leave this one alone and if you are determined on buying a Freelander look for a cheap diesel L series or TD4.

Thanks very much for the replies so far folks

The engine was replaced at less than 9000 miles from new, not 9000 miles ago - sorry, should have worded that a bit clearer!

The Freelander wouldnt be my first choice, but it looked like a bit of a bargain on first glance. I know the owner too which helps a bit.

get a diesel ????

Tip: Stay away.
Tip: Get a TD4
Tip: Get a diesel

My first Landy was almost a 1.8k series and after (thank ****) doing some quick research on them, I told the guy to shove his Freelander and bought a 2003 Discovery.
Unless you get a diesel stay well away from freelanders, most on here would say stay away from freelanders fullstop!

Im the other way round. A few years ago I paid £12k for a Discovery and over 5 years of ownership I paid well over £5,000 in repairs.

When I sold it I got £1800 for it.

Now my wife owns a 2006 TD4 and I find it better than the discovery and I've driven a few 4X4's.

Get a freelander by all means but stay away from a petrol model.

At £1100 you'd be much better off with a mark 1 Rav4.
Put a few hundred quid more in to the pot & you'll get an L-series diesel Freelander, a bit more & you're looking at a Td4.
Don't like the fact it sounds tappety, it's already a sign that all might not be as it should be.
Avoid this one.