Land Rover Freelander 2.0 Td4 HSE 5dr > Reviews (31)

The Land Rover Freelander is one of Land Rovers most popular cars of the last few years, and its understandable for my experiences. It’s a 2005 “55” plate facelifted Freelander. In black, which is without doubt one of the best colours- along with silver.
My dad owned the TD4 Adventurer, but I drove it everywhere. It has a 1951CC Diesel Engine, which was virtually the same as you get in the 2.0D BMWs. Its an excellent engine, it pulls well upto 70mph and beyond where its safe to do so and has plenty of torque, it also makes a nice fruity sound and is without doubt (having test drove the other engines on offer) the best engine available for the freelander.
The off road capability is tremendous, it just can go anywhere, we went down on the dessert (sandhills near where I live) and the car didn’t get stuck once all day, and when my girlfriends horsebox got stuck in the a rain soaked field the Freelander helped drag them out, so if you need off road capability in a smaller 4x4 this is highly recommendable.
I like the looks of the car as well, its aggressive and manly, and not like the Rav4 which appears a feminine 4x4 to me. Also, if you can get a facelifted model, the interior is better and the front looks much better and rids in the horrible plastic bumper.
Many people when upgrading to a 4x4 worry about parking, however I find the freelander very easy to park even though it is the bigger 5-door model and I drive a seat Ibiza most of the time (see my review of my Ibiza by clicking my name at the top) So don’t be put off any 4x4 by parking threes no need to be panic.
The clutch is very good in a car this big though, it feels better than the one in my Ibiza by a long way, it seems lighter and somehow more easily manageable.
The interior is satisfactory, and there’s not really much to comment on, you don’t get overloaded with toys in this freelander and the seats are supportive. However it does look a little too black and plastic for my liking so I’d opt for one with leather in and different colour trim.
As with virtually any car there are negatives, the main one being the service. At first it seemed great- because when the car was purchased the car didn’t have the fuel pump fitted correctly and Land Rover sent someone out the morning after, supplying a courtesy Discovery car as well. The car was taken for a service, around 8 months after purchase, where the mechanics “found” there was a leak on something and the intercooler needed servicing, however they didn’t realise it was still under warranty and tried to charge £500, Which they eventually did for nothing when they found out. But I doubt that if they realised it was under warranty they would have found the problems.
Another negative, which has only came out recently is that the car really struggles to start after being left stood for a long period of time and as it is a 2005 car, this is of concern to me and my dad at the moment.
Overall, I like the car and would recommend it, however it must be the diesel engine and in black or silver, as the petrol does seem torquey enough when you need it to be.