Comments on: 2009 Landrover Freelander 2 – Long Term Review and Road Test

By: Ken

Ken — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:56:10 +0000

I bought my Freelander 2 December 2008 and am reasonably happy with it.

Mike, I got a Hayman Reese 2 tonne towbar fitted by the dealer. The only change I made was to the trailer socket. The large round 7 pit socket hangs rather low and would scrape on some 4WD tracks. You can have it mounted on the bumper, but I chose to change it for a flat 7 pin socket which is neatly tucked up.

I have not taken it off road much, but have taken it to my favorrite test track just after wet season here in the NT and the Freelander 2 handled the wash-outs whilst going up hill with no problems at all.

The thing I didn\’t like about the Freelander 2 are the prices of accessories. The roof rails was going to cost me $1700 dealer fitted. I priced the Land Rover rubber floor mats – $500.

I got a quote from a UK Land Rover parts dealer. Genuine Land Rover rubber mats and roof rail kit would cost me 400 pounds sterling, including airfreight to Australia.

While I believe in supporting local business, that is a bit rich, considering that the dealers should be able to get whole sale prices and cheaper shipping.

By: sump-plug

sump-plug — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 02:16:31 +0000

Hi
Its great to hear some positive comments about the LR2, after all the bad press the freelander 1 received. My wife wants the new Prado (Discovery 4 was my choice but budget wont allow), but I may be able to talk her into a Freelander 2, if I can get her to go for a test drive!

By: LR2luver

LR2luver — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 13:00:02 +0000

We’ve had our FL2/LR2 for just on 6 months now and covered 19,000 kms.Ours is a SE TD4 auto,we’ve been off-road in it and it’s brilliant. Great on-road handling, even at 130-140 km/h.Did a 6,000 km round trip from NT to Adelaide and back, and averaged 7.8 lts/100 km through SA. What an awesome car!! The comments by the reviewer Anthony Crawford are spot on, but I disagree about the high loading sill. It is great for those of us 6ft plus. I detest having to bend down to load a wagon. Nothing seems to phase this car. There are so many great aspects to this ‘little’ Land Rover that I just want to drive it all the time! Quite possibly the best car we have ever owned.

By: iain Tait

iain Tait — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 02:57:07 +0000

It came with the deal when I bought it. They call it the corporate pack. Also we have just come back from a long towing trip through Western Australia towing about 1900 kg all up in pretty hot conditions. The freelander 2 was perfect, used no oil towed amazingly well and was very comfortable as well as more economic than other vehicles I have towed with. It also went off road including deep beach sand and rocks etc with equal brilliance. Super happy and this vehicle prefers my garage to the dealers workshop which has not been the case with some brands I have had!

By: James Cortez

James Cortez — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 10:21:12 +0000

John: “Freelander 2s are taking over the streets”. Pretty soon they won’t as many of them will break down. Read the article underneath. They are not not even ranked or perhaps outside the last ranking occupied by Chrysler / jeep.

“US and European car makers have again been humbled in an annual vehicle reliability study.
Asian car makers have once again outshone US and European brands in an influential reliability survey released in the United States.
Other European brands had their ups and downs in the survey, with poor results for BMW’s X3 offroader and the 135i coupe. Porsche’s Boxster also got a below average report, as did Volvo’s XC90. Volkswagen, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz all finished in the bottom half of the survey.
Of the 48 models with top reliability scores, 36 were Asian, with Toyota accounting for 18; Honda, eight; Nissan, four; and Hyundai/Kia and Subaru, three each.
The findings cover vehicles built between 2000 and 2009 and are based on surveys filled out by more than 1.4 million subscribers to the Consumer Reports magazine and website.
Rankings:
1. Scion (Toyota) , 2. Honda, 3. Toyota, 4. Infiniti (Nissan), 5. Acura (Honda)
6. Mitsubishi, 7. Lexus, 8. Hyundai, 9. Porsche, 10. Mercury (Ford)
11. Saab, 12. Subaru, 13. Suzuki, 14. Kia, 15. Mazda
16. Ford, 17 Nissan, 18. Volvo, 19. Buick (GM), 20. Lincoln (Ford)
21. Volkswagen, 22. Pontiac (GM), 23. Mercedes-Benz, 24. Audi, 25. Chevrolet (GM)
26. BMW, 27. Mini, 28. GMC (GM), 29. Saturn (GM), 30. Jeep
31. Dodge, 32. Cadillac (GM), 33. Chrysler”

By: Kim

Kim — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 07:53:02 +0000

I love my Freelander 2, have only had it for a month but it is everything I wanted and more, and the heated seats are just plain decadent :)
Long live Landrover!

By: robbo

robbo — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 09:37:56 +0000

free servicing for 3 years- who did you go through?

By: iain Tait

iain Tait — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 06:00:39 +0000

I am the owner of a 2009 LR2 diesel and this is my first landrover. I was pretty worried initially about quality and build etc but have been very very happy. Great power…More than prvious Prado, superb ride and excellent towing specs means that this vehicle is an almost perfect fit for us. We go off road and will be towing over 2000 km this Christmas which we expect to be very comfortable. I am now a definite convert to Landrover and seem to see more on the road every day. The package I got was free servicing for three years so no complaints there either! My wife also rates it as the best SUV we have had and we have had patrols, mercede mls, jeeps, subarus and jackeroos

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:53:12 +0000

In the 2009 initial quality survey by JD Power (US) Lexus came out tops. See http://www.jdpower.com/corpora.....009108.pdf

Jaguar was way down and Land Rover the second worst, just above Mini.

I do not know which survey Alex is referring to, but JD Power is well respected and widely quoted. Not by Land Rover and Jaguar, of course.

By: michael

michael — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:34:34 +0000

Have a Freeland 2 2.2 auto and having a diff problem and it seems that the company that supplied the diff have gone into liqiudaition with the the result that it may be up to a month or more before my lrd2 is back on the road

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 11:47:54 +0000

Hello Stu
My experience with Land Rover support has been positive. I use Trivett at Parramatta and the guys there have been great. On my first service, I mentioned that one of the front tyres looked like it was scrubbing a little on an edge. They sent it off for a wheel alignment no arguments and no charge. Servicing is quite pricey $500-$800 (ouch! I suppose they can throw in an alignment at that rate) at 12,000 km/6 month intervals. They claim breakdown assistance Australia-wide no matter if you are on road or off during the warranty period. Both sales and service have assured me to call and give the GPS coordinates and you will be towed to the nearest Land Rover dealer. I don’t know if its always been like that but nobody does that unless they are quite confident that you won’t break down.
Accessories are dear…tow bar is English specially designed for the car and its electrics…$1500, no acceptable after market alternative as the plumbing is too complicated I was told. Roof racks, the wind noise is way too noticeable even with genuine (LR sales guy told me that), a real weakness there. I have the Thule square profile bar and I had to take it off as the noise annoyed my wife too much. Its ok with a pod on though. I spoke to another guy with the Thule aero profile and he said it was ok.
Even with all that, and I am not rich, the car itself is outstanding. I have a winding hill climb at Hawkesbury Heights in the Blue Mtns that I have to do every day. I was expecting the diesel to be way slower than my 6 cylinder Subaru. The FL2 gets up that hill quicker and hugs the road better than my Outback used to and thats saying something. The torque is amazing.
Last thing on the space issue. I reckon the rear passengers have more room in the FL2 over the Outback even though I said the Outback had slightly more room for luggage.
I hope all this helps.

By: Stu

Stu — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 22:53:32 +0000

Thanks Mike. That has confirmed my suspicions. However it has not changed my interest in getting one!

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 10:39:27 +0000

I would have to say that the Outback could fit slightly more than the Freelander which seemed strange because the Freelander reads bigger. There seems to be more thickness in the paneling/interior lining in the Freelander. I know that my golf clubs were an easier sideways fit in the Outback even though the Freelander is way wider on the exterior. The Outback I had was an excellent car and I was truly surprised to find that the Freelander was so much better (at a price!). You can’t lose with either really, unless you are looking for some off road action. I found the Outback pretty ordinary in that department. The terrain response settings in the LR kick butt.

Cheers

By: Stu

Stu — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 07:25:12 +0000

To Anthony: Can’t wait. In particular can you give an update on how you have found the service support. It seems that there is such a massive range of opinions on LR support in Australia, and I’m a little gun shy to follow my heart with a LR if the support is lacking.

To Mike: Thanks for your comment. I am currently in the market for a 4 cyl wagon. On the shopping list is the Outback (2.5) or a SE Freelander 2 TD4 (amongst others). How does the rear storage on the FL2 compare with the Outback? Visually I felt that the FL2 was smaller than outback but I was wondering if this is your experience.

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 05:57:17 +0000

I forgot to mention that I traded an ‘04 6 cylinder Subaru Outback (180kw) on the Freelander 2 and I really was expecting to take a hit on the power and on road handling capabilities I was used to with the Subaru. Pleasantly surprised to report that the Freelander 2 more than matches the Subaru in these areas using less fuel in the process. And it goes where the Outback wouldn’t have a hope of going.

Starting to rave a bit, sorry.

By: Mike

Mike — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 05:40:51 +0000

I’ve had my F2 for 9 months with 36000 km’s on the clock (I just want to drive it everywhere). I can’t believe how good it is, on and off the road. Everything the reviewer said is correct except the fuel economy…I get 8.5 l/100km average. Also, servicing is on the pricey side. The diesel motor is just brilliant. If it had height adjustable suspension to give another few inches in some of the more dicey off road situations then it would almost be the perfect car in my opinion.
You could say I’m a fan

By: Anthony

Anthony — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 06:02:53 +0000

Hi Stu,

update coming up next week – this will be an off-road report, as we are heading into some meaty trails tomorrow in fact.

We decided to leave Stockton for another time, as we thought the sand dune thing has been done to death.

Cheers

By: Stu

Stu — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 05:57:40 +0000

Any updates on the long term freelander 2?

There has not been any updates since the first post in April… Didn’t it make it back from Stockton?

By: Brian Sullivan

Brian Sullivan — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 23:41:47 +0000

am in my 4th discovery and I travel extensivly in outback Australia. In total I have travelled over a million klms, I am in my 4th Discovery and have travelled 1.4 million kms in them, so I know them well. Unfortunately the company in Australia have closed nearly all their country service agencies and if one gets into trouble in the bush, and I have, there is up to a week to wait for the parts and then only an ex service person has to be found to fix it. At the moment in Australia they are trading on their well founded reputation of an excellent vehicle, but now only driven by city wankers on the coast who have no idea of the Landrover capability. I hope the next owners will be a bit more proactive and promote them where they really perform. As much as I love them, I can’t afford the risk of another

By: David

David — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:13:34 +0000

Had my HSE TD4 for 6 months now. Very happy – brilliant both on and off road, city driving and country cruising. Comfortable and capable in all situations. Yes, diesel a bit noisy when cold at idle, but as soon as it’s warm, it’s quiet and surprisingly quick. The torque is fantastic! Took a guy who owns a Lexus for ride via Freeway to the city – he was totally surprised with its quietness, ride and comfort. Took the baby Rangie to the melbourne 4×4 proving ground – it conquered everything the big brothers did. Amazing! Easy cruising sees 8.1 l/100km – terrific for a small truck. Note that with the standard HSE sound system you can adjust volume of I-pod with steering wheel buttons, and sound quality is kick-arse great! Don’t bother with expensive Tech-pack!