new to Freelanders and trying to change a few minds about them.

Hi guys,

Iv recently got my first Freelander. Its a 1999 3 door Di. ............. and I love it.

Now iv always had series 3's in the past but needed something with good MPG for commuting plus green lanes and camping at the weekend and 4x4 response work. So I settled on the a diesel Freelander.

Now I know there are a few guys out there with differing amounts of respect for the Freelander. Well i'm here to try and change there minds. Iv go plans for my little Freelander. This thread is going to follow my adventures and modifications to my Freelander in the hope if inspiring and changing a few minds.

Hope you enjoy.

buckingthetrend said:

Hi guys,

Iv recently got my first Freelander. Its a 1999 3 door Di. ............. and I love it.

Now iv always had series 3's in the past but needed something with good MPG for commuting plus green lanes and camping at the weekend and 4x4 response work. So I settled on the a diesel Freelander.

Now I know there are a few guys out there with differing amounts of respect for the Freelander. Well i'm here to try and change there minds. Iv go plans for my little Freelander. This thread is going to follow my adventures and modifications to my Freelander in the hope if inspiring and changing a few minds.

Hope you enjoy.

Click to expand...

Welcome.

Join us then!

You are talking to the converted here.

I green lane, am a member of Surrey 4x4 Response, and definitely am expanding the mind set of Disco, Defender and Rangie owners.... and just got back from the London 2 Brighton run.

Check my thread here

Right, lets begin.

Firstly, here's some pics of it as I bought it.

Its a 1999 Di, 3 door in very light green. Had 12 months MOT and 6 months tax. everythink works (exept the HDC as the wire has snapped on the gear stick).

I needed to test it out, so what to do?...........hmm i know. Impromptu road trip to Stonehenge. So off i went. Followed by a day out and about with the roof off, (you never see them with the roof off).

Looks well , enjoy

buckingthetrend said:

Hi guys,

Iv recently got my first Freelander. Its a 1999 3 door Di. ............. and I love it.

Now iv always had series 3's in the past but needed something with good MPG for commuting plus green lanes and camping at the weekend and 4x4 response work. So I settled on the a diesel Freelander.

Now I know there are a few guys out there with differing amounts of respect for the Freelander. Well i'm here to try and change there minds. Iv go plans for my little Freelander. This thread is going to follow my adventures and modifications to my Freelander in the hope if inspiring and changing a few minds.

Hope you enjoy.

Click to expand...

Good MPG What planet are you on ?.............:lalala:

Really? Iv been well impressed with the MPG. Honestly i'v come from a 206 GTI and the MPG is comparable. I'm relay very impressed with it.

40mpg is a lot more healthy than mpg from other landrovers...hence why I have a freelander

Is that a Mitsubishi L200 Animal graphic..

Ya, it was on there when I got it. But I kinda like it. I would prefer one of those Freelander ones with the mountains in the background. But probably not enough to actually change it.

englishbullterrier said:

Good MPG What planet are you on ?.............:lalala:

Click to expand...

Back at ya!

40 MPG from a 4WD car the size of a Freelander, especially one of that age, is very good. Lets face it the L Series Freelander went out of production in 2000 and after that there was never a Freelander that could match it.

If one adds other running costs into the equation (eg head gaskets, sensors, fuel pumps etc), its by far the lowest cost Land Rover to run - as long s you keep your tyres pumped up! That's even before you start thinking about other options the L Series gives for saving money - eg running on biofuel. You can't do that with a petrol or TD4. You could LPG a petrol, but you're starting from a poor position anyway.

A few new mods over the weekend, I got my 55w spotlights mounted and wired up.

Fitted the dog guard and mounted all of my recovery equipment. I looked into proper clips and fasteners but thay are a little on the expenciver side. So I thought, why not just use cable ties and keep a set of wire cutters handy. It works well and costs nothink.

Finally, whilst at the car boot sale yesterday morning I stumbles across a net the same size as my bonnet. Now I wasnt planning to fit one of these but it was a whopping 50p. So I just couldnt say no. Ill probabley never use it but it looks decent and shuld look evan better the more modufyed the Freelander gets.

Pics to follow. (including a cheeky one outside Eastnor castle, which isn't a chance you get every day.)

Some pics so far.

Iv finally got my new tyres ordered. Kingpin MTs, just like the old BFG MT pattern. Shuld be coming next Friday. Cant wate to get them fitted.

buckingthetrend said:

Some pics so far.

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I like those little cupboard type holders each side at the back but you can only get them on the three door and mines five door/

Hi, I'm also new to the freelander and previously owned a couple of the infamous toyota hilux's, I have a 2001 tdi, I agree with the mpg, the hilux averaged 26mpg, you always lost the rear end in the wet, by the time you realised you needed 4wd you couldnt get it into 4wd quick enough! So I decided I needed a permanent 4wd motor, I use it for my boat and getting wood from the forest, I have been running it around town etc and reckon its hitting 40mpg, so a big thumbs up so far

L Series are the dog's wotzits

buckingthetrend said:

Some pics so far.

Click to expand...

Not sure I like your string vest......

Must admit I'd have left that off but that's a personal preference of course

The best thing about landy zone is we can be honest.... If this was on the FB page we would all have to say that it looks super.....

buckingthetrend said:

Iv finally got my new tyres ordered. Kingpin MTs, just like the old BFG MT pattern. Shuld be coming next Friday. Cant wate to get them fitted.

Click to expand...

Be careful with them
Kingpin tyres are not anywhere near as tough as the BFGs they are modelled from. They perish pretty fast too. I had them less than 12 months before I changed to genuine BFGs.