garrycol Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 I keep on hearing about Freelanders going through tyres (and brakes) in about 25-30,000 km but this is certainly not my experience. I have a 98 XEDI with 190,000km on the clock and the brakes have got about 50,000km on them. The disks and drums are still the originals. As far as tyres go I have got about 45,000 km so far and I guess there is another 20,000 km still left in them. The fronts certainly wear quicker than the rears and I have worn the fronts down to a bit above legal and then put them on the back. By the time the new fronts wear down the rears have worn and I am able to replace all at once. I have Bridgestones Highway/Trail tyres which are noisy on some surfaces but good on others. Off road they are not so good but if you tread carefully they are fine. When it comes time to renew my tyres I might go for a BFG A/T and accept a bit less life and a bit more grip offroad. Issues with my freelander - 6 months ago suffered the usual viscous coupling and IRD failure and have now relaced these and the diff with items from a TD4. Better onroad cruising, the design problem is gone but overall gearing is higher - great on the road, not so good off it. Other Issues (noting that the Freelander was never designed as a serious offroad car but realistically an allroad vehicle - we do seem to forget this sometimes) Ground clearance - just not enough under the engine - I have major holes in my undertray from one trip in rocky country - will need to replace it with a alloy plate. Gearing - first is just not low enough for slow rough work on a slope. I can sort of accept no lower range but a crawler gear would have been nice Viscous Coupling - why go this route when a perfectly good center diff and diff lock already existed in other landrovers - put this in a housing - it would be no bigger than the VC - provide full time 4wd rather than part time 4wd on the road and allow the system to be locked when needed. We would never have had the drivline problems of the 98/99 freelanders as a proper center diff would have been able to cope with the different diff ratios in the car. A switch to deactivate the Traction Control and ABS in certain conditions off road. Sand dunes will stop a freelander and discovery with traction control dead - the system with all wheels slipping and sliding doesn't know whether it is Arthur or Martha and the brakes go on and momentum is lost. In Aust many of us carry blown fuses to put in the fuse box to switch off the TC when off road. Plusses - great suspension compliance and reasonable travel. Ease of operation TC is great in most conditions and works really well Great fuel economy in the diesel A great engine - I really don't think the TD4 engine is better than the L series - it just has different characteristics. The 1.8s - never driven one but have read a lot about their overheating problems and resulting damage to heads and cylinder liners. It seems that the cooling system is marginal at best through poor design. A lot of engines seem to be repeatingly fail at 30-60,000km but if the engine gets past this it seems to be OK. While a lot of engines have failed there are also a lot that haven't - so if the sole issue was design all the engines wouold fail - clearly they are not - so I think that it is a marginal cooling system that has little redundancy if cooling is not working as well as it should - whether this be through lack of maintenance or being in a hot environment. I think the clue to longevity is simply keep the cooling system in tip top condition. As I said - I have never driven one, but on the basis of reading others' comments these are my conclusions on the 1.8. These are my thoughts - lets hear some support for the Freelander and lets hear some grumbles and lets get this forum going. Garry V8 Discovery XEDI Freelander Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jules Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 VC arnt all bad most Land Rovers/4x4's now have them 1.8's I have a race one that I had built the engine had 36k on it when it was rebuilt it was only rebuilt to get more power I have had no trouble even when a bottle split on a lap and we completed the 9 mile stage with no water in it. I find them quit nippy for how small they are but you need to rage them a bit. No low gear The freelander has alway been marketed as a second Land Rover and to the new 4x4 people who will never ever use it there for why have a big heavy gearbox thats not needed. the Freelander has never been marketed as the tough 4x4 it was pushes and the ocational house box tower drive across feild etc. I have a bricklaying contrector that works for me and there supervisor's use L series freelander vans and all have about 180k miles on them with out any major trouble. bearing in mind what a bricky will abuse a company van. For what they are and the mpg and the cost IMO you would be hard pushed to get any better for your money Freelander 1.8 racer Freelander Td4 racer Dicovery 2 td5 ES work car Def 90 4.2 v8 auto challange truck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LR90 Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 Sorry but I'm in learning mode here. Don't freelanders have an extra low first gear like the fiat panda 4x4s. Sort of 2nd is what a normal 1st is while 1st is reserved as a 'crawl' gear? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJ101 Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 Well I can post here as well, on behalf of "her indoors" had 5 in total,,all been used for towing a horsebox,and general work tool, with very few bother with any of them the first one a 99T Di,, 95k if I remember, and no bothers bar for some suspension bushes, used off road a few times, pic is exmoor jaunt, on road tyres,, only stuck once, due to the deep ruts !! Number 2 was a 00 Di millennium in red,this one had the most troubles, had a door mirror taken off,, the local stealer wanted £180 odd for a painted one,,or 50 odd in black, 2 window regulators, new clutch at 40k number 3 was a 01 TD4 gs, a few problems, but not a lot,, mainly air flow meter, (c-r-a-p go, and poor mpg,) but ran to 110k number 4 was a 03 TD4 se only 20k,, but had a clutch under warranty and to the current,,another TD4 05 se and no bothers at yet,, will also add re the comments of the org Di diesel,, it seem a little more punchey that the TD4units ---------------- copied from 'last post killed it' thread, by order of the boss --- That ok ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DEANO3528 Posted October 13, 2005 Share Posted October 13, 2005 copied from 'last post killed it' thread, by order of the boss --- That ok ??? Thanks Tim, I'll lock 'the last post killed it', therefore directing all future comments to this one in reply to your post Garry. Hope that is ok with you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
white90 Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 We've had a TD4 Auto since March. good MPG 32-34+ around town. ecellent power characteristics after having a few 300TDI Discoveries. we can actually overtake at will. had a few probs so far, daft ones IMHO TC/ABS light coming on, dealer replaced a module twice to fix it and power fold mirrors played up new switch sorted this. sqeeking front brakes, new discs pads fitted under warranty only minus point I cn think of is the seats, they're not that comfortable, the sqabs design is poor, my defender seat are more comfortable. Aircon is great/pre heater is also superb. after being a little fearful of getting one I'm very pleased with it and enjoy driving it onroad. no need to take it offroad as I have a defender for that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJ101 Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 Nah,, take it off road Tony,, sure Val will not mind !!! Sort a nice wide shinny route, and will join you with the TD6 !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon_CSK Posted October 14, 2005 Share Posted October 14, 2005 er in doors had a V6 F/L until april when I tradedit in for a TD4 and she went back to her Polo. It goes in for its first service on Monday it has been great. The V6 was a pig and needed a new engine after 26k. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garrycol Posted October 17, 2005 Author Share Posted October 17, 2005 No low gear The freelander has alway been marketed as a second Land Rover and to the new 4x4 people who will never ever use it there for why have a big heavy gearbox thats not needed. the Freelander has never been marketed as the tough 4x4 it was pushes and the ocational house box tower drive across feild etc. I agree with your point about what the Freelander was designed for BUT Landrover themselves do not seem to know what they wanted from the vehicle. They do not give it good ground clearance or low range - as sure sign of a softroader BUT They give it hill descent and have proper breathers on the diffs etc like proper 4WDs do - a sure sign there is a pretence of serious off road use - neither is needed on a softroader. I cannot speak about the UK but here (Aust) hill decent allows you to get down hills that you are then not capable of driving back. Proper 4wds have been known to be stuck in valleys for days after entering and then it rains making it impossible to get out because the hill is too steep and slippery. For a softroader this type of capability is dangerous because it creates a false sense of security as you can get yourself into dangerous situations - for me I would rather have a low range. As far as a big heavy gearbox (transfer case) - subaru and suzuki have been building softroaders for years with low ranges and they are far from being big and heavy. On a freelander a believe that a dual range system could have either been fitted in to the space in the gearbox where the diff went when the original engine gearbox combination was used in 2wd cars - or like Subaru, a dual range box could have gone on the end of the gearbox (near the front left wheel) where drive inside the box switches back to head towards the IRD. I know both are easier said than done but not such an issue at the design stage - as I said both Suzuki and Subaru are able to do it. Garry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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