[Dave]

OK, when browsing what I can get for the money (£5K max) , I found a 98 Landrover Freelander 5 door 1.8Xi with 58K miles for £3,700. Went & test drove it & was just about to talk money when I saw steam coming from the bonnet & water pouring out below. (Might have been me though not puttting radiotor top back on ) Walked away

Anyway I know the Freelander had some reliability problems, especially with the K series engine, but thinking is if I find one with approx 60K miles on it, by then all probs should be sorted & engines OK ? Has anyone owned one of these cars & can advise on service costs etc ?

Seen a 2000 model , 1.8eXi with full leather & less than 50K miles for £3,995....so once again tempted to have a look ........ or will it be the Puma

[Dabhand16]

And there I was thinking that Dave is a pretty sensible chap.........

911 to a Freelander??

GET A GRIP.

I'd rather have a Fabia RS.

[Dave]

GIven up on having a car dedicated for myself (Gordon Brown has my Posrche money aka Stamp Duty ), so decided to use the missus's BMW 120D for work miles (possibly twice a week) , which means I need a 2nd car available for school runs.... I thought 4x4's were compulsory for that

Oooh, so if the 2nd car may only do 20 miles a week, I don't need to worry about fuel bills Now how much are Range Rovers going for

[Dabhand16]

OK. School runs = 4/5 door (no coupes), reliable, reasonably roomy. Economy not an issue as long as the school is in the same locallity. In no particular order:

Seat Cupra (RS? - never remember their models) / Focus Zetec 2 litre / Toyota Corolla GTi / Honda Civic / Volvo S70/80 / V5 Golf / Mondeo ST200

And I was not kidding about the Fabia RS.

[emmettleffel]

I was looking to buy a Freelander for getting to difficult photo oportunities, but what eventually put me off was that they did appear have reliability problems with the 1.8 petrol model blowing a head gasket at approx 30000 miles. (gleaned from various internet scources and groups) Obviously not all of them LOL but enough to make you stop and think. I think that a diesel would be OK.

I was also looking to get an old Jeep Cheroke, but what with all this talk about "Green taxes" I think that I will wait a bit.

[Hacker]

I wouldn't touch a Freelander with a barge pole, I know plenty of people with them and Landrovers and they have all had lots of reliability problems.

This tale was told to me by someone senior in the industry. Apparently all manufacturers have reliability/warranty problems built into their pricing structure, for instance Toyota expect 2% of their vehicles to be returned because of problems, Honda and Nissan are about the same. If the figure goes above 2% questions are asked and heads will roll.

Landrover are currently running at just over 37%. Says it all really.

[Sparhawk]

Originally Posted by Dave

GIven up on having a car dedicated for myself (Gordon Brown has my Posrche money aka Stamp Duty ), so decided to use the missus's BMW 120D for work miles (possibly twice a week) , which means I need a 2nd car available for school runs.... I thought 4x4's were compulsory for that

Oooh, so if the 2nd car may only do 20 miles a week, I don't need to worry about fuel bills Now how much are Range Rovers going for

Dave
About time you went totaly GREEN, either USE THE BUS or better still
TRY WALKING
Regards
Sparhawk

[Gary Bagshawe]

My sister had a freelander and to be honest it was gutless, I have a 95/6 discovery with 120.000 miles on the clock and have had no problems with reliability, 2.5tdi and around town or on the motorway it will do 30 mpg, living on the edge of the peak district in winter it is lots of fun and you can get to those photo ops others cant.

[IanHoughton]

Part of my job is to analyse warranty for Jaguar / Land Rover / Aston Martin vehicles.

I certainly would not buy a Land Rover from what I see.

Dave if not a 911 why not these 5th car down

or one of these Drool.... drool.....

On a serious note, get yourself a copy of the latest JD Powers survey, the Freelander i'm sure is well down the list.

[Dave]

Some nice cars there Ian.....bit watsed on a 3 mile journey...but hey, it would be faster That 1st Celica is straight from Sega Rally

Thanks for advice for guys.....Freelander now off the list. Have just seen a Puma at lunchtime, but too tatty. WIll get to see 32K miles version tomorrow hopefully. This is taking up so much time.....can see why people buy new