Another "what car?" thread. - LR Freelander 2 experiences?

[watchstudent]

We have just had a kid and while we can just fit what we need at the moment in our current hatchback it is not ideal at all. Thinking of getting a new (to me) car. I know it seems a bit mad due to their reputation but I have always fancied a JLR product... my head says get a Honda CRV/Toyota RAV4 but my heart wants a Freelander 2... I have a habit of getting bored with things I buy with my head. Also considering a Volvo estate, would love an XC70 but prices seem very inflated on those. Raised ride height is not a non-negotiable but is actually genuinely useful when driving around Devon country lanes.

Budget is around 15k, must be automatic. Looking for as late a model as possible.

What have people's experiences been? While no car is 100% reliable, from a quick bit of research it seems that they don't actually seem to be too bad on the reliability front if looked after.

[mjc1216]

Go with your head...Honda CRV

[bambam]

Hi

We have have had the CRV and now have the Freelander 2. The CRV was really good and we enjoyed having it, but the Freelander just feels better and more premium.
We have had ours now almost 6 years and yes we’ve had a few problems with it but on the whole we have really liked it.
The issues have been mainly electrical (apart from wear and tear items) and it is still a really comfortable car to be in with the benefit of the high seating position and the ability to select different programs depending on the surface. We weren’t stuck when it snowed for example.
With your budget you should be able to get one of the last ones which were updated from the model we have.
I would say go for it.

[reggie747]

Have you considered an XC60 rather than an XC70 ?
2 litre twin turbo diesel I had was a pretty good and capacious car.

[watchstudent]

Have you considered an XC60 rather than an XC70 ?
2 litre twin turbo diesel I had was a pretty good and capacious car.

Yep, it is also being considered. I am a big Volvo fan (current car is a V40 cross country that has been great) but they just seem to be really quite poor value on the used market. I'd be looking at the 2.4L 5cyl engines if I was to go the Volvo route

[reggie747]

Yep, it is also being considered. I am a big Volvo fan (current car is a V40 cross country that has been great) but they just seem to be really quite poor value on the used market. I'd be looking at the 2.4L 5cyl engines if I was to go the Volvo route

XC60 available with the more efficient, frugal and "green" 2.0 TDI. Performance is improved too...

[watchstudent]

XC60 available with the more efficient, frugal and "green" 2.0 TDI. Performance is improved too...

And far worse reliability according to the Volvo mechanic I use. Real world improvement in mpg won’t outweigh higher purchase fee and repair costs.

[Michael 38]

XC60 available with the more efficient, frugal and "green" 2.0 TDI. Performance is improved too...

They had massive problems with the egr valves on the 2.0 d4 that was a wide range of opinions when I was looking at one apparently due to the poor quality of the diesel from here compared with Sweden and the cost 1k to replace but never had it on the d5

[noTAGlove]

I'd be looking at the 2.4L 5cyl engines if I was to go the Volvo route

I have this engine in my 13 yo V70 which I have driven from new. I get up to 55 mpg on a long run if I nurse the speed, which matters these days when the oily stuff is knocking on 9 quid a gallon.

Even at 13 years the car is still like new and I can’t bear to part with a car that is barely broken in, and one that I have looked after.

Find a good Indy like I have done, and it is not expensive to service and maintain.

A real effortless mile muncher with the comfiest seats bar none, and 250-300k miles easily obtainable with regular maintenance.

One thing to look out for is that the aux belt tensioner has been replaced under recall, and replaced at proper interval; same tensioner if left too long and snaps, can wrap around and take out the cam belt. Interference engine doesn’t like this.

No issues as long as you keep to Volvos recommended service interval.

[meridian]

Freel 2 prob the best of all l/rovers in my experience, Devon country lanes ring a Jimny bell tho.

[Michael 38]

Matt from high peak autos bought a jag xe with 90000 miles with the same diesel engine had an engine warning light on turned out it was the timing chains cost him 2k to fix it

[sish101]

Had a Freelander2 for a few years and it was faultless. Very spacious and comfortable to drive. We only changed it to go for a Discovery Sport when that came out. That was eventually traded in for a second generation Discovery Sport which we still have. I know they have a poor reputation for reliability but speak as you find. I'd happily buy another one.

Sent through the ether by diddling with radio waves

[Franky Four Fingers]

Yep, id have one no worries, most reliable car they've ever made in my opinion. Lots of things to look out for but buy wise and you’ll be fine.

[gunner]

Had an FL2 in HST spec. Nice car which did everything asked of it, from station run to Kent-Cumbria round trips.


Only issue we had was with the EGR valve which I believe a lot of people simply blank off.

[noTAGlove]

My mates 1.4 Superb went kaput at sensible mileage when on holiday in France.

He just left it there and the family got the train home.

If you are going to buy a Superb, get a diesel.

[watchstudent]

My mates 1.4 Superb went kaput at sensible mileage when on holiday in France.

He just left it there and the family got the train home.

If you are going to buy a Superb, get a diesel.

the 1.6 diesel also has the dry gearbox, the 2 litre diesels have the wet one which needs to be serviced every 40k miles which is preferable as it should last if you do that

[Hatco1800es]

As an XC70 owner, I am totally bias 😁

[Michael 38]

the 1.6 diesel also has the dry gearbox, the 2 litre diesels have the wet one which needs to be serviced every 40k miles which is preferable as it should last if you do that

My best mate had a 2010 Audi A3 with the wet gearbox had its services and had problems with oil leaks and then bought a brand new A3 with the same wet gearbox that went bang after 400 miles and cost 6k to replace I don’t care what the people on here say about them they are a flawed design that a lot of garages won’t touch and and a normal auto box will be a lot more reliable if looked after

[watchstudent]

My best mate had a 2010 Audi A3 with the wet gearbox had its services and had problems with oil leaks and then bought a brand new A3 with the same wet gearbox that went bang after 400 miles and cost 6k to replace I don’t care what the people on here say about them they are a flawed design that a lot of garages won’t touch and and a normal auto box will be a lot more reliable if looked after

To be honest, I feel the same way, seems like a lottery with VAG auto boxes. If I was looking for a manual I wouldn't even think about it, I would just get a Skoda Octavia Scout 2.0 TDI.

Although maybe I am a massive hypocrite if I am about to play the Land Rover lottery. From what I can tell at least most things on most pre 2015 Land Rovers are fixable/servicable.

[Michael 38]

To be honest, I feel the same way, seems like a lottery with VAG auto boxes. If I was looking for a manual I wouldn't even think about it, I would just get a Skoda Octavia Scout 2.0 TDI.

Although maybe I am a massive hypocrite if I am about to play the Land Rover lottery. From what I can tell at least most things on most pre 2015 Land Rovers are fixable/servicable.

There is a YouTube channel called high peak autos done by a car dealer who has done a vid on auto cars for less than 5k and he says just stick to traditional autos

[JonRA]

For me, reliability is not just about the cost of sorting a problem out, it's the inconvenience as well. CRVs are excellent cars and highly unlikely to let you down (a very happy CRV owner).

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[sish101]

For the 2.0 diesel Ingenium, is there a kit available to resolve the problem with the chain tensioner?

Our Discovery Sport is five years old with only 43K miles. Ideally I'd like to preempt any issues with the engine by getting the tensioner and any associated parts changed as intend to keep it for a good while yet.

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[Franky Four Fingers]

For the 2.0 diesel Ingenium, is there a kit available to resolve the problem with the chain tensioner?

Our Discovery Sport is five years old with only 43K miles. Ideally I'd like to preempt any issues with the engine by getting the tensioner and any associated parts changed as intend to keep it for a good while yet.

Sent through the ether by diddling with radio waves

I can only provide information anecdotally atm as we've decided due to the following factors not to attempt repair. IMO JLR should be coughing up for these and so at the moment we direct all our customers to JLR customer relations. Its a known issue, the dealers are doing these all the time (i still have many contacts within the dealers) and extracting a large amount of money to sort this doesn't feel right. Im told that there are loads of incidents of repeat failures where the components have been replaced. For that reason I'm not prepared to fix something potentially knowing the longevity of the repair may not be that long in engineering terms.

[noTAGlove]

For the 2.0 diesel Ingenium, is there a kit available to resolve the problem with the chain tensioner?

Our Discovery Sport is five years old with only 43K miles. Ideally I'd like to preempt any issues with the engine by getting the tensioner and any associated parts changed as intend to keep it for a good while yet.

Sent through the ether by diddling with radio waves

May be a good time to get rid. The one on Salvage Rebuilds went around 70k.

For most diesels that is just broken in.

[sish101]

It sounds like this is an issue regardless of whether the service schedule has been followed?

So the choice is : be prepared to spend £2K at some point or spend £15-£20K on a suitable replacement.

Something else to worry about.

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[noTAGlove]

A sobering read.

https://www.discosportforums.co.uk/t...-needed.12051/

[Franky Four Fingers]

A sobering read.

https://www.discosportforums.co.uk/t...-needed.12051/

Jesus Christ, they really do employ some monkeys in these dealerships….theres so much to pull apart there i cant believe it. His service manager should have reviewed that and stopped him from sending it (the link within your link)

[sish101]

The problem is you just don't know what lies in store with whatever make of car you buy.

A friend of mine was Dealer Principal for a large Ford dealership and they had serious problems with the Ford 1.0 and 1.6 Ecoboost engine which led to total engine failure.

Maybe all electric is the way to go.

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[Franky Four Fingers]

The problem is you just don't know what lies in store with whatever make of car you buy.

A friend of mine was Dealer Principal for a large Ford dealership and they had serious problems with the Ford 1.0 and 1.6 Ecoboost engine which led to total engine failure.

Maybe all electric is the way to go.

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The 1.0 ecoboost is another lemon…throw away engine and too costly to repair so Ford were just chucking engines in them…probably still are

[sish101]

Wasn't there a large recall of BMW cars in 2022 for an engine fault?

It's very much pot luck out there. Which is nice

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[noTAGlove]

It's very much pot luck out there. Which is nice

Don’t know about that. My Volvo with the D5 engine will easily do moon miles as long as regularly serviced and belts replaced at recommended manufacturer intervals.

Just one example; loads of good reliable engines out there.

[sish101]

https://www.motorbiscuit.com/kia-hyu...e-replacement/


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[watchstudent]

You really do need to do your homework these days. My rules of thumb:

- no dual clutch transmission gearboxes unless meticulously maintained (they rarely are)
- no tiny engine (usually 3 pot) with a turbo slapped on it
- no ingenium!
- I'd be wary of any hybrid that isn't made by Toyota/Lexus
- no diesels if not likely to go on a long motorway speed run once a fill up

I am currently running a Volvo V40 Cross country which is one of those fragile DCT gearboxes but it has been serviced regularly and so far reliable after 97k miles. The PSA 1.6 diesel in my car also doesn't have a great reputation but with good servicing there is plenty of folk that have done good mileage in them!

[RobDad]

You really do need to do your homework these days. My rules of thumb:

- no dual clutch transmission gearboxes unless meticulously maintained (they rarely are)
- no tiny engine (usually 3 pot) with a turbo slapped on it
- no ingenium!
- I'd be wary of any hybrid that isn't made by Toyota/Lexus
- no diesels if not likely to go on a long motorway speed run once a fill up

I am currently running a Volvo V40 Cross country which is one of those fragile DCT gearboxes but it has been serviced regularly and so far reliable after 97k miles. The PSA 1.6 diesel in my car also doesn't have a great reputation but with good servicing there is plenty of folk that have done good mileage in them!

The trouble with forums is illustrated in your post. I ran a 1 litre fiesta eco boost for 3 years and the engine - in fact the whole car - was brilliant. Faultless. It’s the only petrol car we’ve had in the family, all the rest are diesels and - living in Norfolk where the are no motorways - we’ve never had a problem with any of them, no dpf issues, used them for short and medium journeys (admittedly the country lanes up here allow spirited driving). One was a XC60 D5, the rest various VW’s. Not a single problem with any of them apart from regular servicing. Admittedly they’ve all been manuals - my wife hates automatics - but it’s really hard to make sweeping statements. Just imho of course but based on my own experiences


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[Kingstepper]

The trouble with forums is illustrated in your post. I ran a 1 litre fiesta eco boost for 3 years and the engine - in fact the whole car - was brilliant. Faultless. It’s the only petrol car we’ve had in the family, all the rest are diesels and - living in Norfolk where the are no motorways - we’ve never had a problem with any of them, no dpf issues, used them for short and medium journeys (admittedly the country lanes up here allow spirited driving). One was a XC60 D5, the rest various VW’s. Not a single problem with any of them apart from regular servicing. Admittedly they’ve all been manuals - my wife hates automatics - but it’s really hard to make sweeping statements. Just imho of course but based on my own experiences


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Well of course, not 100% of cars flagged as having issues will have a problem, it's just more likely. Good that we can read about these issues on this and other forums.

[watchstudent]

The trouble with forums is illustrated in your post. I ran a 1 litre fiesta eco boost for 3 years and the engine - in fact the whole car - was brilliant. Faultless. It’s the only petrol car we’ve had in the family, all the rest are diesels and - living in Norfolk where the are no motorways - we’ve never had a problem with any of them, no dpf issues, used them for short and medium journeys (admittedly the country lanes up here allow spirited driving). One was a XC60 D5, the rest various VW’s. Not a single problem with any of them apart from regular servicing. Admittedly they’ve all been manuals - my wife hates automatics - but it’s really hard to make sweeping statements. Just imho of course but based on my own experiences


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Totally agree, which is why I posted the bit about my car which is supposed to be unreliable but isn’t. I think a lot depends on how long you keep your car also. I tend to buy cars at 5-8 years old and keep them a long time after, so 3 years of trouble free motoring from a Fiesta doesn’t mean a lot.
As I said, it is all about maintenance a lot of the time.

[Saint-Just]

The trouble with forums is illustrated in your post. I ran a 1 litre fiesta eco boost for 3 years and the engine - in fact the whole car - was brilliant. Faultless. It’s the only petrol car we’ve had in the family, all the rest are diesels and - living in Norfolk where the are no motorways - we’ve never had a problem with any of them, no dpf issues, used them for short and medium journeys (admittedly the country lanes up here allow spirited driving). One was a XC60 D5, the rest various VW’s. Not a single problem with any of them apart from regular servicing. Admittedly they’ve all been manuals - my wife hates automatics - but it’s really hard to make sweeping statements. Just imho of course but based on my own experiences

I think you're the one drawing the wrong conclusions here.
Ford is a gigantic car manufacturer. If all its cars from a certain line failed, that car would not be on the roads. At all.
If a significant proportion failed, you should know about it and choose accordingly.

People are up in arms because a few people got some undesirable symptoms after a vaccine. Are they linked to the injection? we don't know. But should they be flagged? Of course they should. And investigated in full (and they were).

After that you make your choices. In your case, I do not know the rate of failure within the first 50k miles; the first 100k miles. It could be as high as one car in 5. But if (having no motorways and only driving locally) you only did 20k, your chances of NOT having the issue are good (which doesn't mean negligible).
So you had trouble free miles with it. Good. That's how it should be. Do you know how your car buyer fared? or the next car to come from the assembly line after yours?

Again, the majority of people with an eco boost 1l engine will be fine. It doesn't mean you shouldn't keep the issues in mind, especially if you're buying second hand with no guarantee. So that's the beauty of a forum, not the trouble. (Having a member that does it for a living helps).

[vagabond]

On the topic of Ford 1.0 Ecoboost - one of my elderly neighbours has a 66 plate 5 door Fiesta with the 1.0 Ecoboost engine, only done 20k miles. He's been told by the dealer that the "belt in the engine has failed or is about to fail" and that it would be cheaper to get a new engine than repair. He's not very happy at all.

[noTAGlove]

https://youtu.be/eMUTXTTIi-k

[gorrie]

Picked up this 28yr old thing today. If the repair costs don’t get me, the fuel consumption will !! The 4.0 sounds lovely, but 15mpg… ouch.



Andy.

[Kirk280]

I can’t be bothered reading this thread fully. Sorry.

But…the only thing I’ll say is…for anything Land Rover related trust Franky Four Fingers. I will personally vouch for him.

[bambam]

Picked up this 28yr old thing today. If the repair costs don’t get me, the fuel consumption will !! The 4.0 sounds lovely, but 15mpg… ouch.



Andy.

Would be interested in how you get on with that as I’ve often been tempted by one. What’s the spec like?

[gorrie]

Pretty basic… it’s the final year of the YJ version (square headlights). So leaf springs, drum rear brakes (discs on front)… which do stop you, eventually… with some forward planning.

Auto box only has 3 speeds, and it seems to choose one at random.

It’s got an OEM sound bar with speakers that work when they want to. The fan blows 2 speeds… and the temperature controls are either hot or cold. Apart from that, it’s pretty spartan inside.

I declined the hard top, was never going to use it.. and it takes up far to much room for storage. So the seller still has that. It did come with an extra set of steel wheels with rubber on them, a pair of half doors for summer, plus all manner of bikini tops, weather covers etc.

Have done a couple of hundred miles in it this weekend, and so far nothing has fallen off.

Andy.

[Franky Four Fingers]

https://youtu.be/eMUTXTTIi-k

Next vid along, if he's doing the chains he should do the shaft…and i wouldn't put to much faith in the turbo long term, its why we wont touch these.
https://youtu.be/G2LFNgaP6_U

[electorn]

The video for replacing the timing chain is up. Dropped off at an Indy garage to do the work.
The mechanic knows his stuff and does a great job filming the work.

[sish101]

^^^ Not sure there is such a thing.

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