Should I bother?

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tommyc2004

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Hi please help me. After another scenic has bit the dust I was thinking of buying a 1999 1.8xei Freelander. Mileage is 70k which if true I'm very impressed with. What should I be looking out for, I've read loads saying reliabilty is rubbish over the internet, but is that a fair reflection?

thanks in advance

Chris
 
Buy a diesel the petrol ones are pain and horrendous reliability
 
What do you need the vehicle to do Chris? Scenic is quite a different motor to Hippo

Stay away from Petrol versions as some fool made a huge mistake putting a K series car engine it them. There are numerous Head Gasket Failures (HGF) reported on both 1.8 and V6

Diesels, esp BMW TD4 versions, seems quite solid though do well with a Synergy Tuning module upgrade.
 
Think that answers my question as was looking at a 2004 1.8 with 55K, thought it would have been ideal for the daughter for snowboarding and general runabout. Might look at a Vitara now.
Cheers
Davie
 
if you do allot of miles you wouldnt buy such an old car anyway


so whats wrong with the petrol, there is only one thing that goes wrong

and you maybe get it twice in 120k

1.8 petrol freelanders can be had for the cost of them in parts

they dont eat the ird's as often and are so much cheaper than diesels

the price difference could buy a hell of allot of petrol!

and the diesels are starting to get unreliable, not in the spradic k series way but most have mega miles

spend between 1k and 1500, you havent got much to loose that way

if your asking about spending more money than that, petrol isnt the way to go
 
tommyc2004 said:
Hi please help me. After another scenic has bit the dust I was thinking of buying a 1999 1.8xei Freelander. Mileage is 70k which if true I'm very impressed with. What should I be looking out for, I've read loads saying reliabilty is rubbish over the internet, but is that a fair reflection?

thanks in advance

Chris
Click to expand...

I would say buy one only if you are not doing mega miles and if you are prepared to do some or all work on it yourself, its an older car so bound to have the odd issue.

I bought a 1998 Freelander in December as a winter runabout but the K series engine doesn't frighten me (I also have an MGF and TF) if something goes wrong I will have to fix it although fingers crossed it wont ;)
 
tommyc2004 said:
Hi please help me. After another scenic has bit the dust I was thinking of buying a 1999 1.8xei Freelander. Mileage is 70k which if true I'm very impressed with. What should I be looking out for, I've read loads saying reliabilty is rubbish over the internet, but is that a fair reflection?

thanks in advance

Chris
Click to expand...


Well just my two penneth, dont buy any Land Rover unless you can do any work it needs yourself.

As everyone else has said avoid the petrols they are ****e.

On a positive note, Land Rovers have the best independent support network consisting of forums and local enthusiasts and clubs etc so help always available.
 
Mantamad said:
I would say buy one only if you are not doing mega miles and if you are prepared to do some or all work on it yourself, its an older car so bound to have the odd issue.

I bought a 1998 Freelander in December as a winter runabout but the K series engine doesn't frighten me (I also have an MGF and TF) if something goes wrong I will have to fix it although fingers crossed it wont ;)
Click to expand...

I agree with many of the sentiments said here, the 1.8 petrol versions are OK as long as you don't mind getting your hands dirty and are prepared to spend a few quid. The way I see it, the difference between a 1.8 petrol and a td4 is about £1500 at the minimum which means that if you buy the petrol and change the head gasket, oil rail, fit the remote thermostat, etc then you're still about £1200 up with a relatively reliable motor.

After that, you have all of the other annoyances of owning a freelander such as 3 amigos, condensation, VCU/IRD/Rear Diff, window cables, etc which are relatively simple to fix and parts are easily accessible and cheap.

It may be cheap and cheerful but if that's what you want then they are great.
:D
 
And another good thing for the freelander

No one will ever try and nick it!

and they have orrible plastic bumpers which can take any car park scrapes you care to throw at them

so even trashed ones look tidy as they get old
 
absolutely - I know they're not for everyone but every car has issues, the difference is that normally you don't know how common they are. I appreciate that freelanders are not particularly well put together and if i had paid shed loads from new for one then i'd be sick but as a cheap and cheerful motor for the weekend mechanic, I think they're great.
 
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