Thinking of buying a freelander 1 Any Advice?

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I'd only suggest going for a disease-L if you will be towing.
Mpg for the disease-L isn't much better than the petrol, oh just for the record the early 1.8's have more power than the Td4

If it's a reliable run around you might want to consider the non-oval badge variety.
 
P38_love/hatething said:
Andy & howardo, many thanks. Had kind of written off the Di early diesels, as every review you read says they are sluggish and noisy, but i like the sound of a fairly bulletproof engine.

The car is for my wife, so overall reliability is much more important than speed and the practicality is a million times better than her current 2 door celica!

There are a load of year 2000 Di's about - are these a generally a good option??

Thanks
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I've got a 2000 L-series, it is slow but as the speed limit is 70 mph, so I don't find it a problem.
It is more robust than a TD4 and will handle cooking oil better if you wanted to go down that road.

I got all 3 belts changed at an independant 4x4 specialist for £200.

The problem with the early freelanders are the ratios between the diffs, they were improved upon on the later models.
The clutch hydraulics are sealed in the early freelanders, whereas in the later ones they can be topped up. So clutch hydraulic problems can be more expensive on an L-series.

If I personnally was going to buy another freelander I would buy another L-series.
There does seem to be more engine problems with the TD4s on this forum.
 
Thanks folks - plenty to think about. Even the possibility of the non-oval badge variety. As i say, i'm well aware of land rovers quality department (or lack of) with my P38.... its a lifelong project car, when you finish one job, another one pops up.

Can't deny thought that the freelander is the best looking of the small jeep/soft-roader things - whatever they are...

we were offered a nissan x-trail which would have been reliable etc, til we saw one and actually saw how damn ugly they are...
 
P38_love/hatething said:
Thanks folks - plenty to think about. Even the possibility of the non-oval badge variety. As i say, i'm well aware of land rovers quality department (or lack of) with my P38.... its a lifelong project car, when you finish one job, another one pops up.

Can't deny thought that the freelander is the best looking of the small jeep/soft-roader things - whatever they are...

we were offered a nissan x-trail which would have been reliable etc, til we saw one and actually saw how damn ugly they are...
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thats ok - but you have to pay for those looks! :mad:
 
The L-Series can also be boosted by a Roverron tuning module to give around 120bhp instead of the standard 98bhp. Your 2k budget should get a good L-series or higher mileage Td4.
If you're on ebay, then drop this seller a line vcdirect29 (village Car Sales 07836315969 OR 01283 584838) He regularly sells Freelanders & I can recommend as I got mine from him. He has consistantly good feedback too & is worth talking to.
 
Personally I would look for an alternative..I seem to constantly have little or big niggles with mine and would go for anything German..unless you need to go on some dirt tracks......Golf, Bmw,etc....
Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
P38_love/hatething said:
Thanks folks - plenty to think about. Even the possibility of the non-oval badge variety. As i say, i'm well aware of land rovers quality department (or lack of) with my P38.... its a lifelong project car, when you finish one job, another one pops up.

Can't deny thought that the freelander is the best looking of the small jeep/soft-roader things - whatever they are...

we were offered a nissan x-trail which would have been reliable etc, til we saw one and actually saw how damn ugly they are...
Click to expand...

I likes mine, cant stand nissanhondotoyot types - why would you. My exhaust manifold cracked the other day which includes cat. This hurt wallet a bit but now she back to old self. Trouble is its 10yrs. suggest get a new one if you can afford or get the newest FL1 you can.
 
Tatooboo said:
Personally I would look for an alternative..I seem to constantly have little or big niggles with mine and would go for anything German..unless you need to go on some dirt tracks......Golf, Bmw,etc....
Good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Yeah, but if he wants a 4 wheel drive BMW at the 2 grand level then he's looking at a 525ix. I had one of those (an auto touring model) & even though it had a full BMW service history & only 87,000 miles it was never away from the garage & cost me another £1500 in repairs in the less than a year that I owned it. Most of the problems were related to the four wheel drive system & weren't there when I bought the car but trickled out so regularly that I gave up & got rid after repairing for the umpteenth time. Also the fuel economy wasn't anywhere near as good as the Td4 though performance was obviously better. Don't know about the Golf, but would think anyone looking for a Freelander might find it a bit small & I'm not sure how common the four wheel drive versions are.
 
chromiumuk said:
Yeah, but if he wants a 4 wheel drive BMW at the 2 grand level then he's looking at a 525ix. I had one of those (an auto touring model) & even though it had a full BMW service history & only 87,000 miles it was never away from the garage & cost me another £1500 in repairs in the less than a year that I owned it. Most of the problems were related to the four wheel drive system & weren't there when I bought the car but trickled out so regularly that I gave up & got rid after repairing for the umpteenth time. Also the fuel economy wasn't anywhere near as good as the Td4 though performance was obviously better. Don't know about the Golf, but would think anyone looking for a Freelander might find it a bit small & I'm not sure how common the four wheel drive versions are.
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I really mean a non 4x4 as unless its a necessity. I my self would go for a nice estate if there is no need for any light offroading. I wish I had kept my old 325i tourer...ok the freebie is a good general vehicle but just a few too many problems..I love mine when it works just hate it when it goes wrong,which in my experience of car ownership is more often than not. Its the silly things that normally other cars do not suffer with like 2 batteries,backbox falling off,starter motor needed replacing,roller idler on drivebelt seized, tensioner on the same has just fallen off,heater matrix leaking,brakes squeel and now looks like new discs and second set of pads in a month,antiroll bar bushes just went and bar was moving 3 inches each way,aircon condensor and pump bracket snapped,rear brake piston changed as it just sprung a leek one day, multidisc cd blew up,water in cubby hole,window pops open,and I am sure many more problems before it eventually dies. Oh btw this was a 1 previous owner with full Landrover history from a dealership top price paid and still has less than 80k miles and not abused by me mainly local use and the odd venture on a few dirt tracks( km over here and now reading 125 kilometeres)
:D
 
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Tatooboo said:
I really mean a non 4x4 as unless its a necessity. I my self would go for a nice estate if there is no need for any light offroading. I wish I had kept my old 325i tourer...ok the freebie is a good general vehicle but just a few too many problems..I love mine when it works just hate it when it goes wrong,which in my experience of car ownership is more often than not. Its the silly things that normally other cars do not suffer with like 2 batteries,backbox falling off,starter motor needed replacing,roller idler on drivebelt seized, tensioner on the same has just fallen off,heater matrix leaking,brakes squeel and now looks like new discs and second set of pads in a month,antiroll bar bushes just went and bar was moving 3 inches each way,aircon condensor and pump bracket snapped,rear brake piston changed as it just sprung a leek one day, multidisc cd blew up,water in cubby hole,window pops open,and I am sure many more problems before it eventually dies. Oh btw this was a 1 previous owner with full Landrover history from a dealership top price paid and still has less than 80k miles and not abused by me mainly local use and the odd venture on a few dirt tracks( km over here and now reading 125 kilometeres)
:D
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not too bad then...... . .lucky it wernt a new one .. ..;) :D
 
Quick update on the tensioner problem..the bolt holding in place had snapped in the block. Asked the mech if this was normal he told me first time he had seen it in 20 yrs on any car, new bolt fitted and full service runs great again now, but for how long.:eek::eek:
Its one of them love hate relationships ya see:eek:
 
Northern Irelander said:
There is a local boy..........MAD who has beefed his L-series Rover to near 150bhp, nice

L-series gets my vote over the diagnostic dependent Td4
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150bhp from the l-series is excellent. i've got the Td4 & whilst you're right about it being more diagnostic dependent it doesn't have the expensive timing belt changes & easily gives 150bhp wit the roverron + egr bypass. Both are good engines & it's down to personal choice, but for sub 2K budget the L-series wins especially if it can be tweaked to those levels.
 
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