What can do in my new Freelander??

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Sit

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78
Afternoon all,

Well I a chuffed to bits with my recent purchase, an '04 plate TD4 Sport which is gleaming.

We chose the Freelander as it suited our lifestyle and was an ideal vehicle for our impending baby in 4 weeks time!!

I am interested to know what more I can do with my Freelander and what benefits it has over a normal family type car. I am particularly interested in it's abilities when the going might get a little tough or the weather conditions turn inclement, which if this year was anything to go by is quite likely!?!

It was also see duty towing our jetski around but that's more likely next summer now.

Would love to hear from some owners and to know what I ca and can't do as it stands.

Cheers

Si
 
Afternoon all,

Well I a chuffed to bits with my recent purchase, an '04 plate TD4 Sport which is gleaming.

We chose the Freelander as it suited our lifestyle and was an ideal vehicle for our impending baby in 4 weeks time!!

I am interested to know what more I can do with my Freelander and what benefits it has over a normal family type car. I am particularly interested in it's abilities when the going might get a little tough or the weather conditions turn inclement, which if this year was anything to go by is quite likely!?!

It was also see duty towing our jetski around but that's more likely next summer now.

Would love to hear from some owners and to know what I ca and can't do as it stands.

Cheers

Si

One thing you won't be doing much of is offroading, the sport has shorter struts to make it even lower than a normal Freelander ;)
 
In the snow and mud etc it will do just fine but as mentioned above, ground clearance will be even worse than the standard freelander, which combined with not having low range is the freelander's 2 biggest pitfalls.

If you do get stuck then dont be tempted to ride the clutch while you put the power down, light on the gas, bring the clutch up, let the wheels start to spin and then once foot off the clutch, press the gas and the traction control will step in and help to pull you out.

Mine only tends to get stuck when lack of ground clearance means im grounded (but only ever get in these situations when we have an ATV or farmers tractor nearby to pull me out!)

Enjoy, Steve
 
Freelanders are great in the snow, it'll definatly get u up hills that the adverage 2wd family car won't.
U should also find it tows the jet ski brilliantly. I use mine to tow a small caravan. a friend has just bought one for towing there caravan because there fed up of there skoda getting stuck on camp sites when it rains.
Hope u have fun with it, cheer's, chris.
 
That's a cracking vid Hippo! Think that answers all my questions.

Is your Freelander a standard road spec one or have you made improvements to allow you to tackle that sort of terrain?

It's good to know it's going to serve me and the family well, I feel confident we made the right choice.

Was chatting to a guy at work who suggested booking a Land Rover Experience day down in Honiton which I think j will look into.

Si
 
Hi

Thanks. He’s a standard 2001 v6 Freelander, with a different sump guard, and a set of General Grabber AT2 tyres (which were removed as they were orrible), as pictured below. No other changes, apart from the usual repairs.

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Thanks Hippo - how do you find the grabbers on the road?? Do they generate much noise on a run.

Having said that somebody said I a a bit limited on tyre choice as I have 18's on my Freelander - not sure if that's correct or not.

Had a defender once - missus hated it, it leaked more oil than a BP pipeline and as a da to day car was completely impossible. I do realise though that for the sole purpose of off road bashing they are the one to use.

Si
 
defenders are a practical day to day car.... i used my series 3 for 2 years as a day to day car was brilliant could fit loads of stuff in it ok it wasn't the most comfortable or warmest thing on the roads but was a ****load better than the L200 works pickup i had
 
Thanks Hippo - how do you find the grabbers on the road?? Do they generate much noise on a run.

Having said that somebody said I a a bit limited on tyre choice as I have 18's on my Freelander - not sure if that's correct or not.

Had a defender once - missus hated it, it leaked more oil than a BP pipeline and as a da to day car was completely impossible. I do realise though that for the sole purpose of off road bashing they are the one to use.

Si
I think a lot of people change to 16inch wheels as they have a wider range of tyres with more aggressive tread patterns. Grabbers are a bit noisy on road. Bearable though. Tread patterns like that will be a little less directional than normal road tyres, with a more radial tread pattern. I get along ok with them. Noticed a little bit more wobble with them, but I’ve got to know the feel now and I’m happy with them. Run them at 30psi as I get a little bit more grip as before that they were nearer 32psi, and the front end felt as if it was loosing grip round corners a little. I'd buy Grabbers again.
 
We run one of our Freelanders on BFG ATs and I notice NO extra noise and the handling is fine.

Certainly worth thinking about though the Grabbers seem to have a growing fanbase.

Cheers

Blippie
 
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