Pros and Cons..

Intro on this one, just in case anyone thinks I'm '***kin lazy' or something...

I live in France (since 2006), already have a UK RHD '97 Discovery but need a second 4x4 as the winter here (1100 mt altitude) can be a little harsh, and the wife needs something other than our 'voiture de merde' Clio to be able to drive to work. Prices in France for anything second hand are as much as 3x more expensive than the UK so I'm looking to buy another relatively cheap RHD deisel and get it registered here - in effect, I'll be buying one when I'm back in the UK end of this month.

My question is:

Should I buy one with the BMW engine or go for a good condition Rover version, albeit a little dated, some of them seem to go forever?

All advice and witty or not comments appreciated

Harold 4x4 said:

already have a UK RHD '97 Discovery but need a second 4x4 as the winter here (1100 mt altitude) can be a little harsh,

Click to expand...

So the Disco can't cope with a little snow,


go for the L-series.................... the missus can tow you home when the disco breaks down

Hah! Nice one.

In fact, it's (the Disco) the only car I've ever had which does exactly what it's supposed to: towed trees out of the forest, traversed heavy snow drifts, towed the caravan 1000kms, you name it it's done it.

However, it was a little embarrassing when we had 4ft of snow here, as I put the snow chains on the Disco only to find there was no snow at all down in the village , and, was swiftly overtaken going back up to our place by a clapped out old Renault.

Mad Englishmen.

Harold 4x4 said:

Intro on this one, just in case anyone thinks I'm '***kin lazy' or something...

Click to expand...

I think you are mistaken, surely no-one on this forum would level an accusation like that....

as for buying a freelander, go for the td4 everytime. although not without problems the 1.8 petrol is a nightmare.

When it snowed earlier this year, my freelander behaved impeccably. It drove exactly as it would normally without snow. Unless I deliberately provoked the vehicle into a skid, it stayed rock solid.

The freelander is a good vehicle for light to moderate stuff. Anything extreme, you need a different vehicle.

good luck.

My advice, go for a TD4. Tends to very well in the snow (as good as the majority of 4x4's), but I do recommend that you invest in some half decent tyres as I found the stock tyres to be only half useful.

The 1.8 has never let me down in the snow, it comes into its own, same power as a defender, lighter than any diesel, model, nimble, agile and handles better in the snow than any defender ever could, feels much more responsive through steering. All this without traction or ABS, never had to use snow chains.

Then there's the power drifting, but that's just for fun. Keep err lit!
The only thing that has ever overtaken me in the snow was road legal quads flat out.

buy a Diesel and it's a fecking gaylander

Well, if we are talking about snow, earlier this year work gave me a 3.5 V8 110 to use in the snow which was great fun sliding around the roundabouts and up a deserted motorway covered with four inches of snow at 50 mph. Great fun.

Noticed no difference in handling between our Lseries and TD4 Freelander in the White stuff. Heaters were a lot better than the Defenders!

Cheers

Blippie