Good Points

Hi,

Personally the Hippo serves me and my wife perfectly for what we've bought it in the first place. No offroading as my wife suffers of backace, also as I am retired I hope to be able to drive this car as long as possible. Anyway to prove my point, last week we did a 475 kms roundtrip in exactly 5 hours, an ideal situation for the Td4 in combatination with the Steptronic autobox/cruise control. I have to admit most of the road was highway but still. The weather was rather louzy, foggy, rainy and cold, on the highest parts of the trip there was still snow both sides of the road and also on places it was rather slippery but for the Hippo no sweat, where I could see the other drivers with white knockelded cramped hands around the steeringwheel almost with their nose to the windshield I drove it relaxed, leaning back. On occasions the inside windows started to get misty because of the outside cold when reaching higher altitudes, but for the rest is was, as driving the Hippo always IS, a real dream. No problem for my wife at all when we came home where with our previous car (Mercedes 190E) she couldn't do a 100 km trip or she suffered of her back and now almost 5X that distance and no problem at all. Also the heated seats are a dream, it was still rather cold (6.45am) when we left and I had taken off my coat to be able to move freely, so in my pullover and with that b.. on an heated seat it was excellent. Even it being a diesel it ferms very well as you can see at the time we did, so to take a rundown on the good points:
1. very comfortable,
2. very safe to drive,
3. ideal seating position,
4. ideal combination of Td4/Jatco gearbox
5. no need to expand this list, just think of something and say Hippo is the best.....
6. don't mention the AC and/or the heating as these are low low down the good list....
But all by all, the Hippo is, up till now, the best allround car we've got so far and both my wife and I hope we will be able to drive it for many more years (or the next Freelander 07 must be a real killer )

Labiarat said:

the series landrover are of course good no-one is denying that, however, lets not blind ourselves in the bygone era where everything is rosy and good, all things evolve and become better some people just live in the past. I think if I was in the outback I would have a freelander or rangie or new disco, cars a million times more reliable than the old engines and technology, anyone who thinks otherwise are just kidding themselves, modern engines are constantly tuning themselves, no pinking or cars out of tune, if a componant fails the car still keeps going on BACK UP SYSTEMS limp home mode, mmmmm would I like to take a series 2 2000miles in the outback or a FREELANDER durgh!

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well when i took a holden two wheel drive panel van into the outback with the six cylinder points and carbatooter engine, i past numerous toyota landscrapers, discos,jeeps and other modern vehicle stopped by the side of the road with different problems, none of them fixable where it was.
on the other hand when the head on my van cracked it just keep going, radiator dry, blue smoke belching out the back, until i came across an abandoned holden which still had an engine in it. so i was able to swap heads and using the head gasket from the engine i had just found was able to then carry on.
and don't forget the need for special tools to fix todays cars.
modern cars are great when they go but a right bugger when they don't. when was the last time you heard of someone fixing electronic ign.? with the likes of the series three you can whip the points out and give them a clean up and off you go again.
the other reason why the older ones are better in remote places is the availabilty of spares.and of course you can add in the fact that todays engines are far more highly tuned so are more prone to 'dying' rather than just breaking down. i.e i had a hose burst on my jag , i drove about 400 yards to a safe place to stop... result.. engine totally fried compare that to the holden i had in oz.which drove for about 30 miles with little water before i found the other head.
yes i like the luxury of modern stuff when i can get home, if it wont,
but out in the back of beyond i prefer something i have a better chance of fixing.

right xmas rant over time to get back to bob's mince pies and the cooking sherry
cheery mishmas

Ah, now sorry to intrude all.

Reliability? Not often you hear Solihull accused of that!

I was really impressed by your arguments Mr Lab' until this one. Although I drive a III, realise the damage I'm doing to my spine & love every now & again having to visit a large Fraulien to sort it back out (ooooh, joyous pain!).......What would I rather drive into the outback, the bushwhack, the Savernake or the nick nack paddy whack? Er, not something that needs at least a laptop to ultimately sort it back out!

Early Defender at best, something even more basic ideally. Don't get me wrong, I actually do think Freelanders are actually rather puurdy motors & though it pains me to admit it, I wouldn't be shamed to be seen in one, however: Having done some miles in & on.........(less wheeled) vehicles without an EE CEE YOO, some basic spares & without Slob's mechanic's slightly incumberant mammarial intrusions......Give me something that doesn't limp home on a pre-determined program any day, 'spesh if my life depended on it...............An' merry Chitmuss to all Solihull product drivers........I'm skulking back 'orf to the Series zone!

Marcus.

Well. . . Ive driven most of them,but i actually think the freelander is a good motor ,but not my scene anymore ,fiddling wiv the point's and bashin the dorf sprung head thingy wiv a hammer. . . and as for the outback [wot are these people a sniffing] the only outback i know is to go outback and give my freelander another wash and a polish[glug glug]. . . Ming

the outback is a term used to describe the desert region of australia.
if you have an atlas and know how to use it you will find australia in the southern hemisphere. it's a large island wot has the tropic of capricorn running through it.
as i'v e said before modern cars are great ,wot wiff the air con or is it climate control? power steering and sat nav. just the stuff you need for the school run or the weekly trip to tescos.

my point and the point of like minded people is that if you happen to be taking a trip across some bleak desolet place then you are far better with something you can fix easily.
but of course if the biggest journey you're likely to make is going to b&q twice because you forgot the paint stripper you went for then you will have no idea what it is like to be stood next to a broken down vehicle 500miles from the nearest garage.
and as for the limp home back up stuff, well you only know it not working when the main system gives up.

time for more of bob's finest

Its fun fishin on the Landy Zone. . . Ming

you've noticed?? lots havn't

A friend at work has been running the same Defender 300TDi 110 CSW every day across various terrain since 1998 and he is currently rebuilding an 1970's Series Land Rover. The series Land Rover was his daily driver for a good 10 years first.
After a drive round in my V6 and he played with Steptronic `box he remarked that in the new year he will be shopping for a Freelander TD4.

If a hardend Landy Nut wants to change they must be good for something.

i've heard that all police forces, armed forces, search and rescue teams are to be swapping their defenders for freelanders in the new year. somaybe they are good for something

Let's stop arguing between ourselves.

Aren't Frontera's ****?

isn't that vauxhall's version of the freelander

Has that bin stuck 200 miles in the out back place too. . .Rolf Harris

ok, ok ,ok, so I agree with u on the whole take ya stockings off and replace the drivebelt stuff....... yes when it does go wrong it does need a specialist but what my point was if you drove it for 2000 miles the odds on chance that a brand new series 11 or 111 would break down rather than a brand new Freelander or disco or defender or rangie. I accept the fact that yes you would have a better chance in fixing one of these in comparison to the later models but on the whole modern technology has more presicion in building a reliable engine. with most cars these days if some electrical gadget fails you can unplug it and it will still go, if a radiator hose failed not many engines would carry on the build up of heat would soon kill it. The old perkins engines are indestructable granted. BUT, saying that the first thing my friend did was replace that with a mazda 3.olitre diesal. Too slow to thirsty too unreliable. hes also selling it now , however he would really like a freelander after being driven round in my td4, on the whole driving off road bit he is one of the best drivers around in my opinion far better than me ( he's had a hell of a lot of practice ) the only reason I kept up with him was the fact of all the little driver aids Ive got... complete novice me,

fronteras are ploppy!!!! ive driven about three and all of them were nowhere near a landrover in driveability and ergonomics. however they are cheap!!

"modern cars are great when they go but a right bugger when they don't. when was the last time you heard of someone fixing electronic ign.? "

Has anyone ever had to fix an electronic ignition? isnt that why you have an electronic ignition as they hardly ever go wrong, blimey, if these go wrong surely landrover should put points back into all their cars...

suzuki sj13, now they are the business when it comes to off roading I followed one of those round slab common and hogmoor farm and them little dinky toys stop at nothing, if they roll over you can just roll them back over, absolutly mad little things... cheap as chips... and ya dont mid em gettin scratched

Labiarat said:

"modern cars are great when they go but a right bugger when they don't. when was the last time you heard of someone fixing electronic ign.? "

Has anyone ever had to fix an electronic ignition? isnt that why you have an electronic ignition as they hardly ever go wrong, blimey, if these go wrong surely landrover should put points back into all their cars...

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i think you need to go speak to some jaguar owners, or ford, or pontiac, at some time in my life i have had electronic ign failure in each of them and there is nothing you can do except get a tow.
you get no warning any thing is wrong it just stops, if i had a set of points in it then chances are i would have had some warning . i've had crank senors give up nothing you can do , on the other hand if a condensor gave up atleast you could clean the points up and carry on.


years ago in a vauxhall beagle van with a load of friends the condensor gave up late at night so i popped the bonnet, borrow a nail file from a girlie and carry on home.. two years ago my jag died, crank sensor , i had to wait 2 1/2 hours in the freezing cold with my 5 year old daughter while the breakdown dude came and said "you need a tow truck" another 1 hour wait for that to arrive. but which time my bollocks have froze off cos my daughter is wearing my sweater and coat.
and in a pontiac i changed the ign back to points after the electronic stuff failed twice in one month.

and if anyone still thinks all this modern technology in cars is good go check out the "disco3 problems" thread in the discovery forum

It's a matter of compromise, reliability should always come first. That doesn't always mean modern technology.

Well, it does sound like you've been unlucky what was wrong with the crankshaft sensor? they are only a magnet that picks up a pulse from the crankshaft pulley? did a wire break? ive owned vauxhalls fords peugeots nissans rovers even a kit car and do 20,000 miles a year in my company car some of my colleagues at work do more than me and Ive never known anybody have an electronic ignition failure, ive known of camshaft sensors failing they go quite often but you can drive them ok with limp home mode also Mass air flow meters go especially on the td4 freelanders but just unplug em and away they go. I just remember when I had a mini metro and all I kept doin with the damned thing was replace the points / condensor dressing the surfaces I also had to keep on doing that with my motorbikes aswell. I was very glad on electronic ignitions.