Freelander as a towcar?

[John_5101260]

Hi all as a newcommer to caravaning I would appriciate some advice. I am looking for something to replace my 2.0L Vauxhall Omega saloon that I am currently using to tow my 1999 Lunar Lexon (Fully laden is 1370).

I have seen a few freelanders going for the 4k - 6k price bracket but they tend to be the 1.8 petrol versions. I have looked in the book at the dealers and they have a kerbweight of approx 1550 - 1600 and a listed max towing weight of just over 2000kg.

BUT are they any good as a tow car.

Thanks in advance.

Kind Regards

John

 

[354]

The Freelanders came in for a lot of critisism in their early days especialy the 1.8 petrol. I would look for a diesel as I would imagine that a 1.8 petrol might struggle a bit with a Lexon on the back. Have you considered a Discovery or a 2.2DTI Frontera as they have dropped in price and make a good towcar.

 

[dave_5094854]

Hi John

i tow with 1.8 freelander , but i gotta say that you do find yourself changes thru the gears alot more often, ( but that was up in the lakes )

overall i am happy to pull my adria 5 berth.

id say its all a compramise , speed vs power vs comfort !!!

the 1.8 has all these on a 7/10 scales ( but thats my opinion )

thanks

dave

 

[cliff_5040076]

Hi John,

I know I will upset all the Land Rover "enthusiasts" out there but they are one of the most unreliable vehicles you can buy.

Check out http://www.reliabilityindex.co.uk/top10_worst.html?apc=3128339010848601

You can't argue with statistics can you?

Blown Head gaskets is a common fault on the 1.8 petrol.

Best of the bunch is the BMW engined TD4 diesel but they may fetch more than 4 - 6k.

Having said that , my caravanning buddie tows with a TD4 and its been pretty relible up to yet.

You get all the image you need with a Land Rover but there are a lot better towcars out there.

 

[chelsea1]

weve got a freelander station wagon TD4 (2002 year) and had absolutely no problems with our car whatsoever.

 

[trucker]

We tow with a Freelander td4 and it is ace. Bought it new and now after 15000 miles nothing wrong (touch wood). Keep away from the 1.8 petrol as they have a tendancy to blow head gaskets, and thats expensive. I towed with a Mondeo estate before this and I would say there is no difference in towing capability and if we had the self leveling suspension on the Mondeo I would have kept it!

 

[CliveV]

We have a 1.8 - but we do not tow with it. We have had it from new and it is now 4 years old. No problems whatsoever apart from a squeak in the dash from new that was fixed at its first service.

The wife loves it as it is nippy, easy to park and far more sure footed than the Seat Ibiza it replaced.

I gather they make as good a tow car as any other 1.8 vehicle - why shouldn't they when you think about it.

A lot of those that do not like 4x4's witter on about how they can tow a twin axle with a Fiat 600 because they know what they are doing, but from my experience once you have towed with an AWD I doubt you will want to go back.

Problems with the Freelander are as said above - watch out for blown head gaskets - not sure why they do this as the same engine in the MG does not have this problem.

The TD4 is undoubtably the best. But do look out for the V6 - whilst it is heavy on fuel, it can make a good buy if you only use it for towing.

Also as someone else has said. You can get a late 1990's Discovery for the same money. Go sit in both these and other 4x4's and see what suits you.

 

[MONKEY1]

I have seen head gasket problems on LR Freelander's first hand and it wasn't as cheap to fix as people believe. Just because it used a very common engine. As I understand the Diesel with the BMW is a good deal more reliable in the long run...

The other point is a 1.8 engine moving a freelander is going to leave you with less power margin because it's already propelling a heavy vehicle on the other hand an estate car could be significantly lighter say 200kgs still give you the space you require, meet the 85% rule and be cheaper to run.

If you are going down the 4x4 route the Discovery can be had for similar money yet in it's V8 form would give you a significant power to weight advantage over the 1.8 freelander.

Like many cars of it's time the choice of the engine was to meet the company car bracket tax position. It means only one thing compromise.

Regards Monkeys Husband

 

[Tom_5073611]

Hi

Looks like its all been said really but for my two penneth, we had a Freelander 3 door Td4 which solo returned about 35mpg and towing it was giving around 28mpg although it was the auto which I found to be a superb box especially with the tiptronic feature. So my advice would definately be for the Td4 Auto and we pulle a 1400 kg van.

Good luck

Tom

 

[wayne_5097681]

the older diesel 2.0l xdi has a bullet proof engine i dont think they had any problems but make sure the cam belts been changed as at landrover this service is around

 

[CliveV]

Just read an interesting article in a LR mag (sad aren't I!!) that by coincidence was covering the head gasket problem in the 1.8 engine.

They say that the engine is basically sound and that tuners like it as it is so strong with the bolts going right thro' the block. However, the problem is with sloppy manufacture that affects some engines.

Apparently the liners need to be sat perfectly - if this is not so then a liner can start moving and this does for the head gasket - so just replacing the head gasket and/or head skimming is not the answer.

It seems that in 90% of cases apparently upgrading the thermostat is an effective cure:-

" the position of the thermostat seems to be the initial culprit, and replacing this with a blanking plate and an in-hose thermostat (the later Land Rover factory modification) will cure 90% of vehicles" - Land Rover World magazine May 2006 page 94.

They go onto say:-

"A scan of QED's wares on its website (www.qednet.demon.co.uk) gives some idea of the power outputs obtainable from the K-series, not something you would get if the engine was fundamentally fragile".

Needless to say with our 1.8 GS Freelander sitting on our drive with 31K, so far totally faultless miles on it - I am VERY interested in this thermostat modification!

Anybody else know of this as I have not come across it before?

 

[John_5101260]

WOW... you post a message and go away for a couple of days expecting to come back to a couple of replies and find 11 !!!

Looks like the general concensus is that I should at least be careful of a 1.8 prtrol engine (which to me implies steer clear of - as i cant know if its a good un or a bad un until its too late). Other enquiries have led me to believe that I should consider it as good as any other 1.8 litre towcar, makes sense, but that means it probably isnt worth changing from my current 2.0 L Omega. The TD4 sounds a more solid bet but I have noticed that these are at least 2k more (mind you much newer), so I suppose you pays your money you takes your choice.

Thanks to all for their experiences rest assured they will all be taken into consideration when I make the decision - mind you at the moment I think that the biggest factor in the decision is the bank managers state of mind!!!!

Thanks again.

John

 

[Paul_5041248]

In answer to Cliff about the unreliability of Land Rovers.

I bought my Disco 4.5 years ago with 65,000 miles on the clock. Today it had 152,000 miles and what problems have I had?

Replaced the fuel pump, set of front brake discs (and these are items that do need replacing ven more so since asbestos was omitted from brake pads), one battery, both rear anti-roll bar mounting ball joints and the top bushes of the rear shoch absorbers.

Now I do not call that unreliable - so what does that say about statistics?

 

[CliveV]

Paul - similar story here!

Sold my old Range Rover (would tow anything, anywhere up whatever you pointed it at - all in superb comfort) after 9 years and over 100K miles.

It was a 1984 model and no less than 11 people replied to the adverts and it sold without problem to the first person!

Apart from the usual service items - it never let me down.

The wifes Freelander - bought new in 2001 - nothing but total reliability and an ability unmatched for a "Soft Roader".

Now I have a Discovery that is still new to me but so far apart from a niggle with the ABS light staying on, due to a poor connection on one of the relays, that was fixed in half an hour via an Autologic hook up, no problems to report so far.

There is such an enthusiast following for these vehicles that those who do not have one feel left out!

Hence the sour grapes!!

LOL !!!

 

[RichardS1]

John, if possible I would pay the extra and go for the TD4. I ran one of these as a company vehicle for nearly three years and as Paul and Clive V have stated the reliability was bullet proof. In fact the car had over 90k on the clock and it was still running on the original rear tyres having changed the front ones at just over 80k. I towed around 1450kg with the car with no performance or stability issues whatsoever.

 

[Howard_5104095]

Freelander, The 1800 likes a head gasket, and the last one I saw pulling all be it a large caravan the clucth over heated on hills, now I am not sure if this was down to driver of not.

 

[CliveV]

Just read an interesting article in a LR mag (sad aren't I!!) that by coincidence was covering the head gasket problem in the 1.8 engine.

They say that the engine is basically sound and that tuners like it as it is so strong with the bolts going right thro' the block. However, the problem is with sloppy manufacture that affects some engines.

Apparently the liners need to be sat perfectly - if this is not so then a liner can start moving and this does for the head gasket - so just replacing the head gasket and/or head skimming is not the answer.

It seems that in 90% of cases apparently upgrading the thermostat is an effective cure:-

" the position of the thermostat seems to be the initial culprit, and replacing this with a blanking plate and an in-hose thermostat (the later Land Rover factory modification) will cure 90% of vehicles" - Land Rover World magazine May 2006 page 94.

They go onto say:-

"A scan of QED's wares on its website (www.qednet.demon.co.uk) gives some idea of the power outputs obtainable from the K-series, not something you would get if the engine was fundamentally fragile".

Needless to say with our 1.8 GS Freelander sitting on our drive with 31K, so far totally faultless miles on it - I am VERY interested in this thermostat modification!

Anybody else know of this as I have not come across it before?

Having now had a chance to have a good look at their website it seems that what they are saying is that the thermostat can get overly affected by the colder water on the radiator side and it then remains closed for too long causing overheating in the block.

They do a nice separate thermostat housing that fits halfway along the top hose and the original thermostat housing is just refitted without the OE thermostat in place.

What the author of the article was talking about re a "blanking plate" I have no idea.

So any one out there like me with a 1.8 Freelander, MG etc - you are behind me in the queue for one of these!

 

[CliveV]

Re the Head Gasket problem on the 1.8 Freelander, I have just bought the last in line thermostat holder from QED. So sorry to anyone else who wanted one - they are due some more in tho!

Interestingly they recommend going down to an 82 deg C thermostat within their inline housing if you tow a lot with this engine or run it for a long time at motorway speeds.

Apparently they have sold loads to Freelander, MG, Rover and Lotus owners all wanting to prevent a catastrophe!

 

[CliveV]

Re the Head Gasket problem on the 1.8 Freelander, I have just bought the last in line thermostat holder from QED. So sorry to anyone else who wanted one - they are due some more in tho!

Interestingly they recommend going down to an 82 deg C thermostat within their inline housing if you tow a lot with this engine or run it for a long time at motorway speeds.

Apparently they have sold loads to Freelander, MG, Rover and Lotus owners all wanting to prevent a catastrophe!

Standard temp is 88 deg C

 

[chelsea1]

In answer to Cliff about the unreliability of Land Rovers.

I bought my Disco 4.5 years ago with 65,000 miles on the clock. Today it had 152,000 miles and what problems have I had?

Replaced the fuel pump, set of front brake discs (and these are items that do need replacing ven more so since asbestos was omitted from brake pads), one battery, both rear anti-roll bar mounting ball joints and the top bushes of the rear shoch absorbers.

Now I do not call that unreliable - so what does that say about statistics?

here here! we have freelander td4. no probs.

landrovers are great cars! wouldnt swap mind for anything apart from the new discovery 3!

 

[MONKEY1]

Clive,

Your magazine has it spot on, when I worked in fleet management we had a few 1.8's on the fleet they all went at low mileages. When I took this up with a regional engineer from LR he would just look at you blankly. (as a fleet we would buy this without warranty so it was coming off our bottom line)

Any way when we recruited a service manager from an LR dealership he knew exactly of the issues LR had with Rovers casting suppliers and the fact that Rover wanted first pick of what came off the line in effect a UV system was used to test a variety of parameters and a grading system was developed. Rover believed at the time it was better for a customer with a 418 to have more reliability than one with a freelander (strangest decision they could have taken)

If it's any consequence VW adopt the same thing with 2.5 TDI engine the best ones off the Dyno go to Audi the worst go into transporters vans but as a service manger explained you couldn't notice on the road.

Monkeys Husband

 

[emmerson2]

Clive, have you converted to LPG yet?

 

[cliff_5040076]

I have had a good chuckle at CliveV's comment and I quote

"There is such an enthusiast following for these vehicles that those who do not have one feel left out!

Hence the sour grapes"!!

I would imagine that the drivers of Kia Sorento's, Xtrail's, Crv,s, Hyundai's etc etc really do feel left out when they pass some poor individual standing next to his 1.8 Freelander on the hard shoulder in the pouring rain waiting for the RAC to tow them to the garage yet again.

The majority view on this thread is that the 1.8 petrol Freelander might be a vehicle to avoid if absolute reliability is required. Also the consensus is the TD4 is a much better vehicle.Both of these views I broadly agree with and said so in my orignal post.

The " enthusiastic following" may choose to ignore that and thats their choice. But to suggest that people who purchase any vehicle other than a Land Rover may suffer from sour grapes is stretching credulity a bit far.

I think they are probably suffering from a sense of smugness.

Happy motoring

 

[sparkes]

I have had a good chuckle at CliveV's comment and I quote

"There is such an enthusiast following for these vehicles that those who do not have one feel left out!

Hence the sour grapes"!!

I would imagine that the drivers of Kia Sorento's, Xtrail's, Crv,s, Hyundai's etc etc really do feel left out when they pass some poor individual standing next to his 1.8 Freelander on the hard shoulder in the pouring rain waiting for the RAC to tow them to the garage yet again.

The majority view on this thread is that the 1.8 petrol Freelander might be a vehicle to avoid if absolute reliability is required. Also the consensus is the TD4 is a much better vehicle.Both of these views I broadly agree with and said so in my orignal post.

The " enthusiastic following" may choose to ignore that and thats their choice. But to suggest that people who purchase any vehicle other than a Land Rover may suffer from sour grapes is stretching credulity a bit far.

I think they are probably suffering from a sense of smugness.

Happy motoring

Cliff

Majoritory? where did that come from? there are more pro than against for the freelander in this thread.

I have never driven one, so cannot comment. BUT, if the head gasket problem was that bad then landrover would have been forced into a recall. Was there one?

 

[Lol1]

Is this turning into a Landrover bashing thread?

If it is, can anyone join in?

Are there sides?

Here I am, pick me. Pick me, awww, bet I get chosen last again....