never thought I'd buy a landrover.... probably won't.

yes I never thought I'd buy one or particularly want one, although I've always had a bit of a soft spot for defenders but that's irrelevant... I was out car shopping today and stumbled upon a 2002 freelander, old I know and high milage but it was the most appealing motor I'd encountered on the day and seemed to tick boxes I didn't know needed ticking... I might have bought it there and then but it was close to closing time and dude wanted to go home, so better for me it saved me from impulse buying and gave me opportunity to read up on freelander experience. I'm sure you're all aware of the stuff I've read so I won't rehash it. Needless to say this expains 50% of my thread title "probably won't"... I wouldn't mind a freelander, but I do mind unexpected failures, and what car at 15 years old wouldn't fail somehow, but right now I don' t need a car which might crap out and leave me stranded when I'm starting a new job. Now I'm good with cars, used to be a mechanic and a damn good one... doing head gasket and fixing other things are no problem.... I just don't want to have to, so that's my dilemma. The car's done 125k already, and I can test drive it tomorrow if I decide I want to, so how many gaskets, transmission works it's had, problems solved and remain to be solved I just don't know ... uh, I just wanted a straight forward and cheap-ish car purchase I could rely on well for at least 6 months of my new job. Thanks for reading so far, I guess freelander posts like this won't be rare, but this is mine and dunno what to do.

Don't do it.

Once you've got it, you'll probably like it a lot (despite the regular need for attention), then you'll find yourself hankering after some modifications and just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, you'll start looking longingly at Discos and Defenders and it will take over; everything else will seem like crap afterwards and hold no interest at all!

Walk away now and buy a nice safe used Focus; keep your life nice and simple and interesting car free!

wow so much sarcasm, you almost make me want to buy it now.

After reading some post here about freelanders I've decided to forget the one I looked at yesterday, it was an 1800 so I assume it was K series, now I've spotted a td4 version for sale locally I'm going to look at that one instead and pull the trigger on it.

Wow thats a tough one, its the old heart over head scenerio! I was fortunate enough not to need my Series 3 for commute but I do when the sun is out! Good luck with your decision

Not all K series are bad. In fairness, some are now so old, so the repetitive failures may have been weeded out. There are still obvious things to look out for, as per many threads on here. TD4 or even L series is the safest bet tho.

poolander said:

After reading some post here about freelanders I've decided to forget the one I looked at yesterday, it was an 1800 so I assume it was K series, now I've spotted a td4 version for sale locally I'm going to look at that one instead and pull the trigger on it.

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Pending on the Freelander age I would make sure you have all the receipts and service history first. Freelander forum will always give you excellent advise and pointers to what are the pitfalls in relation to the drive train. TD4 and 2.0L are bullet proof beasts and with the body work being robust against rust problems. Mine is a late 2002 model and only running on FWD due to previous owner, but otherwise still going strong except for my bank balance.

thanks for replies. yes I've considered the fact that the first one I looked at had reached 127k miles and did so somehow, maybe it's problems are gone, but maybe they're not... for just a bit extra cost for peace of mind I rather get diesel over 1800 petrol. I don't quite understand why the k series has such bad rep when I really feel they did quite well in the cars, but saying that maybe the cars had more issues than I've heard of. I've done a few head gaskets in my time and don't ever remember doing any on rover cars with k series when they were common. I did test drive a 418 once I think it was, but couldn't quite afford it at the time... nice responsive engine.

and I must say I've been very impressed with the condition of the body work, remarkably new looking for 15 yr old car. one I looked at yesterday was 2002, the TD4 I'm hoping to get is 2004

poolander said:

wow so much sarcasm, you almost make me want to buy it now.

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Yep, go for it! I wouldn't be without mine, even if it is parked outside the dealer's waiting for the workshop to open on Monday!

that does it. I'm getting one... I'm hoping it'll make me as funny as you. from what I've read, freelanders should come with sense of humour fitted as standard.

K series problems never go away, they just hide for a while. At 127k it's probably on it's third HG, If not it soon will be.
I still have a soft spot for them tho, too stupid to know any better.

had a test drive of the TD4 today, brakes sucked, bought it, collect tomorrow when the brakes are done... still trawling freelander posts and not finding much useful info, just fun and games.

poolander said:

had a test drive of the TD4 today, brakes sucked, bought it, collect tomorrow when the brakes are done... still trawling freelander posts and not finding much useful info, just fun and games.

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look in the CFAQ section. filter by "freelander"

thanks.

poolander said:

had a test drive of the TD4 today, brakes sucked, bought it, collect tomorrow when the brakes are done... still trawling freelander posts and not finding much useful info, just fun and games.

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Brakes should be good on a TD4 so something wrong there, they were crap on the L series tho. TD4 can easily last over 200k miles but like any car has it's issues. Loads of threads here but the 4WD system is the biggie to watch out for. Search for VCU threads.

guy at company I bought it from said it been stood for few months, likely they just need stripping, cleaning and whatever new parts/pads.

hi when you are old and sitting in the chair in the old folks home will you think of the ford focus that just kept getting you where you wanted to go or the freelander that broke down all the time, you spent more time working on it than driving it some times life is not just about getting there it is about the journey

it does have a vcu and both props?

well the first car I went to look at yesterday was a focus ST... I left it standing there due to the sub-par bodywork someone had done at the rear wheel arch/sill corner... hidden rust and lumpy paint bubbles. anyway, quite happy with the poolander... still can't tell if all this talk of breakdowns is just humour or not lol. /confused