Unreliable, Fragile Freelanders

[carbore]

Well, no, not really, You see with people taking the mick out of Freelanders you'd of though this section would be stuffed with people asking for help and advice on how to fix them...or make them better.....

...but no. It seems we are all quietly driving around, enjoying our cars and not getting stuck or broken down etc .....    :-)

Where as my proper land rover......that hasn't turned a wheel in 2 years! (mind you its 40 years old ish!)

Double mind you, my Tractors doing fine, and thats 60 years old! Moved a ton of rocks with that last weekend.

[Saffy]

or is it more likely that the vast majority of freelander owners are not LR enthusiasts with only a tiny minority who would carry out work themselves, modify or have any interest in their vehicle? Those that do not fit that bill and are net aware could be scattered to the four winds of the different 4x4 forums.
I would like to see detailed posts of major home DIY rebuilds of freelanders seeing there are so many crashed repairable write-off examples for sale. Is it even possible.

[andyhubbard]

Reliability in the old and the new :lol:,but questionable about the middle aged :roll:. Hang on what am i saying i'm 45 :lol: :lol:.

[mill2020]

Never had a problem with mine, offroaded the hell out of it, including a offroad trip to morocco last year.

God bless softroader's!!!

[V8MoneyPit]

Ours is in the garage as we speak......







But only because a 17 year old ran into it in his Escort  :roll:

[Saffy]

I been looking at insurance write off freelanders at auction but nothing here convinces me I could repair at home in the same way I could do a proper landrover (ones with round headlamps). I am not even sure I could swap out a dead engine with a different model one from the freebie range because nothing is written about such things, just the usually 'what extras can I bolt on" pap and the "I can go anywhere as long as there no ruts above x inch" "look at my pretty photos of my freebie doing so well". 

[V8MoneyPit]

This, of course, applies to all 'modern' cars. Will we ever see the DIY rebuild of an S class Mercedes? I suspect not. The complexity built in to cars to meet type approval makes it increasingly difficult to maintain a vehicle without special equipment. I deal with basic maintenance on our Freelander and have fitted a lift kit to help it's off road ability (it does get used 'properly' BTW). I have, however, little interest in rebuilding one.

Is there yet any point in rebuilding a write off Freelander when perfectly good ones are readily available at little money. This applied to 'proper Land Rovers', as you call them, years ago when they were plentiful and cheaply available. Now good ones are getting thin on the ground, it becomes more viable to rebuild knackered ones.

Whether this will ever happen with todays cars remains to be seen, but I doubt it will happen on the same scale simply because of the complexity of the vehicles in question.

[morson4x4]

softlanders sorry i mean freelanders have improved greatly from there early models like the 1.6 or 1.8 i think it is had its known problems of head gasket failure but the newer freelander 2 has been given really good reviews

[V8MoneyPit]

Not sure there ever was a 1.6 was there?

[littlepow]

Can't see why you couldn't rebuild a freelander, in one of the comics a Disco 3 has been rebuilt from a front end smash.

[Smego]

Well, no, not really, You see with people taking the mick out of Freelanders you'd of though this section would be stuffed with people asking for help and advice on how to fix them...or make them better.....

...but no. It seems we are all quietly driving around, enjoying our cars and not getting stuck or broken down etc .....    :-)

Where as my proper land rover......that hasn't turned a wheel in 2 years! (mind you its 40 years old ish!)

Double mind you, my Tractors doing fine, and that's 60 years old! Moved a ton of rocks with that last weekend.

Probably because this is a forum for off-road peoples most freelander owners wouldn't even think of logging in here.... :lol: :lol: :lol:

[jay2578]

I`m not keen on freelanders, i dont like the look of em, although i have seen the odd one with kits on that look pretty tidy, but what i will say is, i dont doubt their off-road capabilites one bit, after all its still a land rover. they (to me) look a little too car like or my taste, although the F2 is a bit more chunky and capable looking.
 As i say, they are not really to my taste, but thats a personal thing and given the choice between a car or a freelander, well, cut me in half and youll find a green oval running through me like blackpool runs through a stick of rock!

[Gordo]

Freelanders are very capable but, as I'm discovering with mine, there are limitations brought on by the way they're built.

The steering and suspension is very car-like and less able to cope with the abuse it gets off road - I've done a CV joint and a couple of shafts (and my mechanic hates working on it when it's covered in mud  ).

It's a case of the right tool for the job, and if you're on muddy lanes, farm tracks, towing stuff in and out of fields, ice and snow, they're fine - if you want to do some heavy-duty mud-plugging then you need a heavy-duty 4x4.

Keep out of the deep ruts and you'll be fine: mud, climbs, rock-crawling, wading, axle-twists are all good.

I've given mine a 2" lift, and whilst it has improved the ground clearance, it probably hasn't helped the consumption of drive-train components...