(hopefully) buying a Freelander 2 tomorrow - anything to look out for?

Tomorrow we're going to look at, hopefully buy, a 2007 2.2 td4 S. It's silver, has black leather, looks lovely.

Any particular points that are important to check? It's 8 years old, I'm assuming no rust issues? I any particular well - known reliability issues I need to be aware of?

The car was stolen and recovered back in November, has a cat d against it from this. I'll have to chat about what damage it suffered. I'm not too scared off by this, insurance certainly don't mind as long as I inform them about it.

I guess it's just got the standard stereo, would it still have the screen above, or is it just a cubbie hole in this model? Or a blank? I can't tell from the photos!

Any tips appreciated! Thanks

S is the base model, shouldn't have leather unless someone has fitted a leather interior. Screen above dash is a sat nav, again, that car is unlikely to have it, more than likely just a cubby hole.

No real rust issues to speak of, mine is a 57 plate with 81k on and not a mark on it, but as with any car, check for panel gaps, accident damage, ripples in metal etc, check the underneath too, make sure it's not too overly rusty or damaged.

With being a V-Car, it wants to be seriously cheap to even consider it.

I'll check if he fitted the leather himself.
I've not heard that phrase before, what's a V-Car?

Sorry, now I know it's a reference to being written off (that phrase was new to me). I guess I need to ask about what the damage was, and how the repairs were handled.
Most I can find for sale are 140k for 7,500. This is on 71k and I'm going to get him down to £7000 or lower hopefully. I'm not too nervous about cat d, if it was a serious front-end rebuild or anything it surely would have been c? Hopefully something simple with bodywork... I'll investigate.
The biggest pain with cat d I'm thinking would be when we resell in the future.
Right now we can't find any in budget but this, so cat d is working in our favour in a funny way!
I'll definitely investigate exactly what the damage was

V car means it's listed as a write off, in any group A-D.
HPI check is a must. Was this the current owners cat D or did they buy it cat D. Many people buy their cat D back from the insurance if it's viable, especially if it's a theft and been stripped, rather than accident damage.
However, in general the vast majority of cat D's are sold by would be wheeler dealers not reputable dealers, which to me says it all.
Bought a cat D once, never again.
You have to ask yourself, why are cat D's so much cheaper in the 1st place if they are sound as a pound

Well I bought it! The guy tells me the only damage was it needing a new ecu and clocks to change keys apparantly, no physical bodywork or engine damage. I've only got his word for it!
I'm impressed the Freelander 2 is such a nice drive! Smooth, powerful when needed. This one's on 18 inch Evoque Alloys and it still seems smooth over bumps etc. So much nicer than the wife's outgoing 2006 Suzuki Grand Vitara!
(Then anything is really)

I'll do an introduction tomorrow once I've given it its first clean!

I've never heard of a car being written off for an ECU and clocks to get new keys to work.
If it's all working as it should then no problem.

I phoned an ecu specialist to ask them and they told me there may be a reason like that. Seems odd though, surely reprogramming two new keys would disable the first ones? No idea why the ecu would need replacing under any circumstances!?

Anyway, does seem a lovely car

Maybe the original keys were not recovered

It was something like that apparently. Can't work out why this key looks so knackered though!

second hand ecu and keys :doh:

Yeah, that is kinda obvious isn't it! Didn't engage brain!

Can I check my S the should have aircon? It's got a button labelled 'econ' which I assume turns off the a/c compressor if you want to save fuel? But it doesn't get very cold, even when it's set to the coldest.

S does have air con - all Freelander 2 has air con.

Was the Econ light on or off when you tested it?

Should be off from memory for AC to be on

I've had two Freelander 2's in a row - I've owned my current XS from new and it's now about two years old - the original was also purchased from new and was about four years old when I sold it. No issues whatsoever with either other than the current vehicle which had a minor problem with a small amount of rainwater entering in to the sides of the boot. The LR dealer in Barnstaple knew all about this which was a water seepage past the high level brake light seal - resealed with no further prpblems.

Yeah, that's a as I thought - Should be on until Econ is pressed.

Hmmm, it's not running cold, will have a little investigation when I can

BenB said:

Yeah, that's a as I thought - Should be on until Econ is pressed.

Hmmm, it's not running cold, will have a little investigation when I can

Click to expand...

most things with A/C,make sure its not on econ,put aircon on,lift bonnet,fan should run

I stopped by my local garage - inlet and outlet pipes on the compressor felt hot and cold, but could be better - he thinks it just needs a re-gas.

Will think about that for sure when the weather hots up a bit - right now we're spending a little facelifting it!!

Thanks, I struggled to find a brochure for the correct year when I was googling.

Our (only) remote stopped holding its charge yesterday. Great! have ordered a new one (£110 +Vat with free coding, from our local specialist, LRS Engineering, Sible Hedingham, near Halstead, Essex) and only then will I risk opening our only key to change the battery!

Until then I'm unlocking the car with the blade key!