Freelander 2, TD4 manual gearbox, as a daily driver?

Around 40k miles per annum, 90% m/way and dual carriageway, very little urban use, need about 40mpg, comfort, reliability and elevated driving position. Occasional use of 4WD but nothing too ambitious (roads with some snow, muddy fields used as car parks).

Other options are Santa Fe or Kia Sorento, but an all-Brit garage is preferable

Disco mpg is too low.

Is the Freelander 2 the vehicle for me?

Owning a 65 plate Ford Kuga and a FL1, I'd say go with the Ford. My FL1 is a good car, but the Kuga does 40 Mpg if driven with restraint and is very quick of not. It's good to drive long distances, is very quiet and it's English, well American and built in Spain.

So will the fl2, specially sd4 auto

Nodge68 said:

Owning a 65 plate Ford Kuga and a FL1, I'd say go with the Ford. My FL1 is a good car, but the Kuga does 40 Mpg if driven with restraint and is very quick of not. It's good to drive long distances, is very quiet and it's English, well American and built in Spain.

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Thanks, I hadn't considered a Kuga, it certainly ticks lots of boxes. I must have owned a dozen Fords over the years, they generally offer good value. However, my natural skinflintedness restricts my choice to pre-2013 with the smaller boot space, which might be a problem.

freelance said:

So will the fl2, specially sd4 auto

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Ta, unfortunately I have a Luddite's deep mistrust of autos, and the SD4 engine doesn't appear to be available as a manual.

The SD4 comes with a six speed autobox as standard, TD4 is manual or optional auto at extra cost.
Nowt wrong with auto's. No more clutch replacement, crunching gears, changing up and down in a traffic jam. Just put it in D and go.
I know I wouldn't have a manual box again, unless there was no other option.
Mike

Skinny Mike said:

The SD4 comes with a six speed autobox as standard, TD4 is manual or optional auto at extra cost.
Nowt wrong with auto's. No more clutch replacement, crunching gears, changing up and down in a traffic jam. Just put it in D and go.
I know I wouldn't have a manual box again, unless there was no other option.
Mike

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Thanks. I run most of my daily cars up to about 200k miles, in my experience autoboxes frequently fail expensively before that mileage, also mpg is generally poorer with an auto (although mpg for newer 9 speed autos matches manuals) , but most importantly I WANT TO BE IN CONTROL OF MY GEAR CHANGES.

I might have got a bit carried away there.

I'm an auto fan if the vehicle is a slow lumbering lump. However you can't beat a manual box for nipping about. Most auto boxes I've used are somewhat dimwitted and never select the gear needed when it's needed. That's not a problem if you're not in a hurry, but a major pain if you are.
As for box life, there's not much in it these days as long as the auto is given a fluid change when needed. With the cost of clutches changes now being so high, an auto can be a lower cost alternative.

My 30 year old Range Rover is an auto (4 speed ZF), OK round town but it does seem to kill the performance until the torque converter locks up (performance being relative!). On the other hand, the autobox means one less thing to consider when softroading through the mud.

Mike7777777 said:

Around 40k miles per annum, 90% m/way and dual carriageway, very little urban use, need about 40mpg, comfort, reliability and elevated driving position. Occasional use of 4WD but nothing too ambitious (roads with some snow, muddy fields used as car parks).

Other options are Santa Fe or Kia Sorento, but an all-Brit garage is preferable

Disco mpg is too low.

Is the Freelander 2 the vehicle for me?

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Good car. But there might be better crossovers that reach your targets better. What's yer budget?

goonarmy said:

Good car. But there might be better crossovers that reach your targets better. What's yer budget?

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£2k but can stretch to £8k(ish). My current daily driver was <£1k and is still going well 80k miles later, so this is going to hurt a bit.

That's a lot of miles!

Sounds like you need a 96-00 F1 L Series.

Mike7777777 said:

£2k but can stretch to £8k(ish). My current daily driver was <£1k and is still going well 80k miles later, so this is going to hurt a bit.

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You won't get a FL2 worth having for £2K. You'd struggle to find a sensible miles FL1 TD4 for that. £8K opens up possibilities for something worthwhile, but you're still looking at a moderately high mileage FL2.

£2k was a bit tongue in cheek, although £2k is my budget for P38 Rangie with a diesel engine and manual gearbox as a daily driver, leaving money in the kitty for fettling. However, the diesel P38 doesn't appear to be much more economical than a petrol P38 and 120k miles in 3 years without major problems in a 20 year old car might be ambitious. Would work well with customers though, the P38 has lost the image problem that all Range Rover's have in their early years, to be replaced with interest and - sometimes - sympathy.
There are FL2s on ebay and autotrader at around £8k with around 60k miles. Daily drivers have an easy life in my hands, so 180k total miles should be achievable with an FL2.

To bring this up to date, I bought a Santa Fe diesel, 40mpg, elevated seating position, good size load area, but the ride quality on our broken roads is dismal, so it might be going. I keep looking on ebay at P38 diesels with a manual gearboxes. I'll start another thread,

Mike7777777 said:

To bring this up to date, I bought a Santa Fe diesel, 40mpg, elevated seating position, good size load area, but the ride quality on our broken roads is dismal, so it might be going. I keep looking on ebay at P38 diesels with a manual gearboxes. I'll start another thread,

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Well gaylander are still an option

It is, probably more realistic than a P38 with all the (potential) problems.

Would you be tempted with an estate car instead. Yer can get 60mpg and save loads on the mileage yer doing

Hippo said:

Would you be tempted with an estate car instead. Yer can get 60mpg and save loads on the mileage yer doing

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Thanks Hippo, the saving money bit is important to me, but an estate car doesn't give me the elevated seating position and many don't have four wheel drive.

We've just ordered a Vauxhall Grandland X as a replacement for out family Ford Kuga. The Vauxhall does up to 69 MPG, which is 30 more than the Kuga. However doesn't have AWD like the current Kuga does.
There are many FWD choices that give the elevated "SUV" driving position, but not all have AWD, and if they do, the fuel economy suffers quite a bit.