Handles like a blancmange! (Land Rover Freelander in general)

Member Name: Nick555

Product:	Land Rover Freelander in general
Date:	09/11/01 (1469 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Offroad ability, Classy looks

Disadvantages: Poor quality, Smelly, Cheap external plastics

Now that I have a family & also need to carry around computer boxes, I wanted something larger that could also protect the 9pts on my licence!

I had 3 requirements:
1. Protection from car park damage
2. Good for loading boxes
3. Reasonable mpg

The TD4 matched all these requirements.

Land Rover dealers seem to be a little better than the run of the mill. They take a little more care & treat you well. They went out of their way to let me drive the car on my own & I borrowed all 3 engine types (1.8, TD4 & V6) to find which one I liked. Each time I took the car away for a half day, with no pressures. The car arrived on time & the hand over was pretty good.

I've been used to Japanese & German cars. LR quality is not great, there are rattles & many people have problems with the alarm & also the rear window. My own alarm & window is fine, but it has several rattles & the production quality is not great.

The plastics used are good internally, as you can find it hard to scratch them which is good for kids. My little girl likes it, as she sits higher up than in a car & she can see over hedges. The drivers seat is not height adjustable & the roof line is low, so watch out if you are tall, I am 5'11" & my head is 1" from the roof. I often hit my head getting in & out.

Plastics externally are of a poor quality. If you get them muddy (!), the plastics actually stain & you have to use a "back to black" type product to clean them up again. I have some side protection plastics on the doors & this really helps my peace of mind when parking at the supermarket. The back door is good for loading shopping. If someone has parked to close to the rear of the car, you can't open your back door. However, holding the alarm unlock button for a few seconds, will not only unlock the doors, but wind down the rear window. This is surprisingly useful.

The driving experience is poor & it feel ra
ther like a Ford Transit. You really have to treat it as a fun car, because the handling is terrible. This is good for me however, as it keeps my driving slow. Around bends at any speed, you can feel the front of the car bounce, which takes some getting used-to. I've used it off road on "Green lanes" & it is very good in the mud & water.

My car came direct from the factory & there was a horrible plastic smell from the interior that lasted about 2 weeks. It actually made both my wife & I ill. Now the smell has mostly gone, but we still get a smell of oil whenever the sunroof is open (even after after 2 months). Talking about smell, if you haven't owned a diesel before, they are smelly - very smelly, especially if you park inside a garage.

The TD4 is a modern turbo diesel & I'm satisfied with the performance. It doesn't slow down very much up steep motorway hills & you don't hold up traffic pulling out of turning or away from the lights.

Overall, the Freelander is satisfactory, but it really doesn't match the competition in either drivability or quality. However it's offroad abilities are far better. In the company car park, it does lend an element of class that the other brands of 4x4 do not. The loading bay is good & the back seats fold down very easily. One thing to note is that the seat belt holders can mark the leather seats very badly, so wrap a cloth around them when folding the seats.

The heated seats in the ES are very nice. I've never had hot seats before & they are very pleasant when it's cold. It allows you to have the car heater turned down, which still keeping yourself warm with the seats. I find that this makes the inside of the car less stuffy & helps to keep you fresh on long trips.

Summary: