Hi all, never owned a landrover of any sorts but wife fell in love freelander 2 just by looking at one. So, as her old car was falling victim slowly but surely to tinworm I had to go on a steep learning curve.
I've learnt things about how important regular engine oil changes are, power steering pipes, intercoolers and pipes, rear diffs & bearings, ptu's, the infamous haldex units, I know what scrabbling is and far more bits and bats that almost made my head explode. But have to say the freelander 2 is pleasing on the eye and a lot of car for the money.
Looked at and test drove a few over the last couple of months ( Thank god for youtube showing how to start one with the auto box, pushbutton start and electric handbrake saved a few embarrassing moments when your supposed to look like you know what your doing). First one was for sale in Birmingham but service history revealed it had lived all its life in Scotland and had a bill for a rear subframe replacement of over $5k. drove really nice but underneath was just rust upon rust.
Couple more were OK but lack of service history let them down along with " local garage did it regularly but cash in hand" then there was a really nice one that somehow did minus 3 miles in 10 month!
Finally came across one for sale inside the M25. As i'm based north of the M62 it was a bit of a trek and the wife decided she wanted to come along too. So, we booked into a hotel for the evening and off we went. The car turned out to be a doctors car and they had owned it for the last 5 yr, reason for sale was simply the new Ulez charges (Thank you Mr Khan) it's Nov 2014 Metropolis with 111000 miles on the clock, full service history unfortunately all main dealer apart from the last two which are independent.
It's difficult trying to haggle when the wife is stood next to you saying how much she loves the black paintwork and the cream leather but a deal was done.
Told the wife it was better if I drove the 200 plus miles home as it was a strange car and she wouldn't be confident but I would make sure she could follow me all the way home in her old car. Managed to lose her within 10 miles
and thoroughly enjoyed the drive home and the great driving position.
We have done around 1000 miles now and she loves it. Had the haldex unit stripped cleaned, new filter etc by a haldex specialist who commented that it had actually been done before which was reassuring and had the oil and filters done this week. next thing will be the timing belt and water pump.
So, I will probably be asking lost of Q's as I try to build my knowledge of these impressive cars.
I've learnt things about how important regular engine oil changes are, power steering pipes, intercoolers and pipes, rear diffs & bearings, ptu's, the infamous haldex units, I know what scrabbling is and far more bits and bats that almost made my head explode. But have to say the freelander 2 is pleasing on the eye and a lot of car for the money.
Looked at and test drove a few over the last couple of months ( Thank god for youtube showing how to start one with the auto box, pushbutton start and electric handbrake saved a few embarrassing moments when your supposed to look like you know what your doing). First one was for sale in Birmingham but service history revealed it had lived all its life in Scotland and had a bill for a rear subframe replacement of over $5k. drove really nice but underneath was just rust upon rust.
Couple more were OK but lack of service history let them down along with " local garage did it regularly but cash in hand" then there was a really nice one that somehow did minus 3 miles in 10 month!
Finally came across one for sale inside the M25. As i'm based north of the M62 it was a bit of a trek and the wife decided she wanted to come along too. So, we booked into a hotel for the evening and off we went. The car turned out to be a doctors car and they had owned it for the last 5 yr, reason for sale was simply the new Ulez charges (Thank you Mr Khan) it's Nov 2014 Metropolis with 111000 miles on the clock, full service history unfortunately all main dealer apart from the last two which are independent.
It's difficult trying to haggle when the wife is stood next to you saying how much she loves the black paintwork and the cream leather but a deal was done.
Told the wife it was better if I drove the 200 plus miles home as it was a strange car and she wouldn't be confident but I would make sure she could follow me all the way home in her old car. Managed to lose her within 10 miles
and thoroughly enjoyed the drive home and the great driving position.We have done around 1000 miles now and she loves it. Had the haldex unit stripped cleaned, new filter etc by a haldex specialist who commented that it had actually been done before which was reassuring and had the oil and filters done this week. next thing will be the timing belt and water pump.
So, I will probably be asking lost of Q's as I try to build my knowledge of these impressive cars.
