From one Ford to another!

Hello out there.....

Well, I've finally taken the plunge to go from one Ford (Jaguar XJ6) to another (Freelander 5dr 1.8).

After many years being a Jaguar biggot I have finally succumbed to the 4x4 World. The wife has an Isuzu Trooper 3.0D which I must say is a damn good reliable workhorse, hence the inspiration for a 4x4. As we live on a country estate (nah, not OUR estate, we just rent here!) the Jag was getting sh*gged driving along muddy rutted dirt tracks so when it came to renewing, it was the only sensible thing to do - so here I am a proud(ish) owner of a 2000(W) Epsom Green petrol jobby. Now, having read the forums here, I am a little concerned as to how soon I will be replacing the 1) clutch 2) gearbox 3) transfer box 4) head gasket 5)... need I go on?

Are they REALLY that unreliable and should I have stuck with sh*gging up reliable Jags along the drive?.....

Good luck and welcome to the madhouse!

Hi and welcome,

You should be better off with the land rover in the long run, cheeper to fix than jags.

Jagman said:

Are they REALLY that unreliable

Click to expand...

Yes, they're ****!

Hello and welcome Jagman

fook ad have le old jag fer three years and it int cost much in repairs, so far.
short of service items, the only output has been fer a head which was due to me driving further than i would have liked after a hose went. but then safety came first before worrying abart the head.
and a light switch, one door handle me son broke and a steering rack seal kit.
me landy on the other hand has cost a ferkin bomb but then thats a chassis up rebuild with all new parts ceptin fer the servo i fitted

oh and i too live up the end of a muddy track

With hindsight, you should have gone for a diesel, but if you didnt pay much for it (and i hope you didnt) the cost of repairs might be covered.

Bugger! Not really what I wanted to hear :-(

As for whether I paid a lot for it - £3000 which seemed to be the going price for this year/model from the many searches I did on Autotrader. I would have preferred a diesel but they were hard to find and a lot more expensive.

Had the motor 17 days now and I've got a bad knock underneath (bushing gone maybe?), the clock/radio display is u/s, the cubby box is full of water and the roof lining at the top of the rear door is soaked so looks like a new seal is required (£98 apparently), the handbrake has stopped holding so adjusted it at the brake lever to find that it is only working on the nearside and looking at the 'T' connector at the brake lever it looks as though the o/s cable has stretched. Let's just hope that all my probs are small ones like this and that I don't get the mega mechanical failures that I have read about. :-(

It is a rite of passage - good luck.

Hi Jagman, I used to work on warranty desk for a landrover main dealer, all of the items you have listed so far are pretty standard complaints. it would be well worth popping to your nearest main dealer and get them to check all recalls were completed on your freelander, and they can also check the warranty history to see if it has had any engine work completed on it(headgasket failure etc).
As you may find it has a hand brake recall outstanding on it whihch relates to the handbrake lever.
Freelanders are fine for general every day use although many frownd on them as not being proper Land Rovers as they dont have a seperate chassis