Used Freelander

I'm about to buy a 3 years old Freelander TD4 (44.000 miles).
The car is in good conditions (no doubt whatsoever about that, I personally
know the previuos owner) and the price is reasonable.
My only fear, as I'm living in Italy, where LandRover spare parts and
servicing are quite costly, concerns the chance of having to face expensive
repairs and extraordinary maintenance due to the age of the car and to the
fact that the original 3 years warranty has expired.

Anyone out there knowing whether Freelander is a "gently aging" car?
How does it cope with getting 4, 5, 6 years old?

Thanks a lot for any help.

Think the TD4 Freelander is a good car.Till 2001 there was a problem with
the IRD unit,but after that it should be fixed.I've a 1998 diesel with the
Perkins engine in it.
Has done 160.000 km's so far.IRD has been replaced under warranty in
2003.Still drives superb,engine 100%,
no rust at all,upholstery fine.

"MK" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm about to buy a 3 years old Freelander TD4 (44.000 miles).
> The car is in good conditions (no doubt whatsoever about that, I
personally
> know the previuos owner) and the price is reasonable.
> My only fear, as I'm living in Italy, where LandRover spare parts and
> servicing are quite costly, concerns the chance of having to face
expensive
> repairs and extraordinary maintenance due to the age of the car and to the
> fact that the original 3 years warranty has expired.
>
> Anyone out there knowing whether Freelander is a "gently aging" car?
> How does it cope with getting 4, 5, 6 years old?
>
> Thanks a lot for any help.

On or around Wed, 15 Dec 2004 09:06:25 +0100, "Woodstock" <[email protected]>
enlightened us thusly:

>Think the TD4 Freelander is a good car.Till 2001 there was a problem with
>the IRD unit,but after that it should be fixed.I've a 1998 diesel with the
>Perkins engine in it.
>Has done 160.000 km's so far.IRD has been replaced under warranty in
>2003.Still drives superb,engine 100%,
>no rust at all,upholstery fine.

the BMW "TD4" [1] appears to the engine-of-choice, although there's not a
lot wrong with the previous TD which IIRC was an update on the Perkins Prima
2-litre TDi. This is not a bad engine at all - ask montego turbo-D owners.
It's not as modern as the BMW and therefore not as refined or powerful, but
look after it properly and it should last well. I had the earlier
non-turbos in minibuses and they were fine.

The one to avoid is the 1.8 petrol. Poor economy and a crappy engine, prone
to head problems IIRC.

The V6 one is supposed to be quite nice and fairly fast, but drinks petrol
like it's going out of fashion.

"MK" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I'm about to buy a 3 years old Freelander TD4 (44.000 miles).
> The car is in good conditions (no doubt whatsoever about that, I
personally
> know the previuos owner) and the price is reasonable.
> My only fear, as I'm living in Italy, where LandRover spare parts and
> servicing are quite costly, concerns the chance of having to face
expensive
> repairs and extraordinary maintenance due to the age of the car and to the
> fact that the original 3 years warranty has expired.
>
> Anyone out there knowing whether Freelander is a "gently aging" car?
> How does it cope with getting 4, 5, 6 years old?

Oh, goodness, no. I wouldn't describe the Freelander as "gently aging".
IMHO, it goes completely geriatric as soon as the warranty expires. The TD4
engine may be a good one, but be prepared for lots of other expensive things
to go wrong. In our case, this included IRD (Intermediate Reduction Drive -
the 4wd bit), CCU (Central Control Unit controlling electrical equipment
such as windows/rear door, catalytic convertor (as well as the cylinder head
going - but it was a petrol). And the rear tyres don't last very long. In
the 18 months after the warranty expired, ours cost a fortune - to the
extent that we won't have another.


--
Smorgo (Steve Morgan)
Hello: '01 VFR 800 FI, '86 V8 110
Goodbye: '01 NT650V
E-Mail address is spam-trapped. Use my first name at wormpurple dot com

Think you're talking about early (before 2001) petrol car.
As I mentioned IRD units on these cars last for 40000-120000 miles.Most of
the time they are being replaced under warranty.
The early IRD units also cause the rear tires to wear unevenly (which will
give you a lot of noise) and rapidly.
Catalytic convertor going might be caused by blown cylinderheadgasket /
damaged cylinder linings,resulting in heavy oil use.Defective CCU units are
not common.


"Smorgo" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "MK" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > I'm about to buy a 3 years old Freelander TD4 (44.000 miles).
> > The car is in good conditions (no doubt whatsoever about that, I
> personally
> > know the previuos owner) and the price is reasonable.
> > My only fear, as I'm living in Italy, where LandRover spare parts and
> > servicing are quite costly, concerns the chance of having to face
> expensive
> > repairs and extraordinary maintenance due to the age of the car and to
the
> > fact that the original 3 years warranty has expired.
> >
> > Anyone out there knowing whether Freelander is a "gently aging" car?
> > How does it cope with getting 4, 5, 6 years old?
>
> Oh, goodness, no. I wouldn't describe the Freelander as "gently aging".
> IMHO, it goes completely geriatric as soon as the warranty expires. The
TD4
> engine may be a good one, but be prepared for lots of other expensive
things
> to go wrong. In our case, this included IRD (Intermediate Reduction
Drive -
> the 4wd bit), CCU (Central Control Unit controlling electrical equipment
> such as windows/rear door, catalytic convertor (as well as the cylinder
head
> going - but it was a petrol). And the rear tyres don't last very long. In
> the 18 months after the warranty expired, ours cost a fortune - to the
> extent that we won't have another.
>
>
> --
> Smorgo (Steve Morgan)
> Hello: '01 VFR 800 FI, '86 V8 110
> Goodbye: '01 NT650V
> E-Mail address is spam-trapped. Use my first name at wormpurple dot com
>
>
>
>

"Woodstock" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Think you're talking about early (before 2001) petrol car.

Yes, but only just; it was a 2001 Model, but registered late 2000.

> As I mentioned IRD units on these cars last for 40000-120000 miles.Most of
> the time they are being replaced under warranty.

It was just getting to "end of life" at 72,000 miles. We drove it very
gingerly to the dealers and p/x'd it instead of replacing it.



--
Smorgo (Steve Morgan)
Hello: '01 VFR 800 FI, '86 V8 110
Goodbye: '01 NT650V
E-Mail address is spam-trapped. Use my first name at wormpurple dot com