Freelander Servicing

[CliveV]

Cliff - I have no issue what soever with your telling like it is re the Citroen - I know the problems having had one myself!

And you are speaking from experience!

But you are not speaking from your own exprience when you pop-up and say how untreliable LR's are.

My question to you is what motivates someone to take the trouble to post a negative post about something that you do not own?

Whereas I do, as does emmerson, Steve Sparkes etc etc - and we seem to be part of that happy 41.2% that go back for more!

 

[emmerson2]

Cliff - I have no issue what soever with your telling like it is re the Citroen - I know the problems having had one myself!

And you are speaking from experience!

But you are not speaking from your own exprience when you pop-up and say how untreliable LR's are.

My question to you is what motivates someone to take the trouble to post a negative post about something that you do not own?

Whereas I do, as does emmerson, Steve Sparkes etc etc - and we seem to be part of that happy 41.2% that go back for more!

Yes, I agree. I'm on Range Rover number 4 now, all bought cheaply, s/h and utterly reliable.Oh, and by the way, I had lots of Citroens before that! I really am a glutton for punishment!!!

 

[cliff_5040076]

Afternoon Clive

Let me just paste my post here for you to have another read ---

"It's a bit late to think about reliability now you have bought the car.

A small amount of research would have indicated that Land Rover vehicles are amongst the least reliable vehicles on the road.

Only this week Warranty Direct's survey put Jeep and Land Rover bottom of the list for reliability. This is a warranty company that has to pay out when vehicles need repair, they have no axe to grind,they are just reporting facts.

Most other car comparison sites comment on Land Rovers woeful reliability record."

Best of luck

Nowhere do I indicate that I am speaking from personal experience but am referring John to comments from Warranty Direct and other car comparison sites. Its up to him wether he reads them and takes on board what they say or dismisses them as journalistic bull and believes what the green oval brigade say.

But, and this is the most important thing, at least he gets a balanced view by hearing both sides.

You would have everyone hear just your opinion as you seem to dismiss any contrary opinions with your usual contempt for other posters.

Your assertion that unless you own a particular thing you should have no opinion on it is a bit bizarre!

 

[CarolineSimon]

Ok Clive,

Fair do's we are all caravanners together and lets face it we do need to stick together as we collectively get the blame for every traffic jam that has ever existed and anything else they can pin on us vanners.

The great thing about this country is that we have freedom of speech and we are all entitled to our own opionions whatever they maybe and I have far too much going on in my life dealing with my two toddlers without getting embroiled in cross words on here, especially as I may need your advice one day so lets keep it friendly and agree to disagree.

As to all the other sillyness & name calling that has gone on my 3 yrs old does that and I tend not to listen to that much either as i prefer to make my own decisions on people.

It actually was my Husband who typed the last post as he was slightly annoyed as he felt belittled by your comments at the time as he isn't a garage mechanic and so doesn't repair cars & charge over the odds as he actually is a roadside breakdown mechanic who does small repairs to get you home or larger ones to make safe your vehicle or recovers you & your vehicle home when breakdown assistance has been called out,and based his opinion on the amount of freelanders he deals with at the side of the road,He does however have a sense of humor has since laughed about it all.)

PS he has just bought a Subaru legacy outback as he has never had a callout to one of those and read the JD Power survey on them.

TTFN

Caroline & Simon

 

[John_374237598]

I'm beginning to wish I hadn't started all this.

Now that things have calmed down a bit and we all seem to be friends again, can I bring everyone back to my original questions?

Many thanks to those who have given us the benefit of their experience - be it good or bad. What I was really looking for was the knowledge of people who have towed and are currently towing with Freelanders. The experiences of people like Simon who carry out roadside repairs is also invaluable but needs to be more specific, regarding our TD4 only.

With regard to the towbar, we currently have the electrics together on the near-side, one under the other. We were considering having a towbar with a bumper guard fitted and the electrics - one at either side. Can't see any draw backs to this but again, comments and observations welcome.

We did tow with a VW Touran 1.9TDi. but decided on the Freelander because of the increased visability and the greater towing capacity. This gives less restriction when looking at any new vans in the future.

Cliff - I could do without the sarcy comments. If I do end up waiting at the side of the road, I will be worrying about getting my family and propery home safely, no matter what badge is on the car.

Again thanks for the comments to date.

 

[cliff_5040076]

John

The comment was not meant to be sarcy. it was meant to be a joke.

Note the LOL at the end, that means laugh out loud.

As someone who has called out Green flag twice in the last 2 weeks, the 2nd time needing to be trailered 14 miles to the Citroen Dealer who had the car for 8 days for repair, I need to have a sense of humour.

 

[sparkes]

John

Auto ignition on the lakeside will fit a witter towbar and twin electrics. Great service and high quality work.

As for that lot up there, ignore it. Your car will do great if you look after it.

If you want to fit your own towbar, pop into GCE on howard road and they will get you a bar and electics in.

Steve

 

[Robert_374236752]

No matter how you dress it up there are clearly reliability issues with Land Rovers and reading the above posts and adding it to my own bad experiences with them bares this out.

The blinkered views and romantic ramblings about the green oval by certain members does not mask that it is an inferior product.

 

[emmerson2]

No matter how you dress it up there are clearly reliability issues with Land Rovers and reading the above posts and adding it to my own bad experiences with them bares this out.

The blinkered views and romantic ramblings about the green oval by certain members does not mask that it is an inferior product.

Gosh, I've never been called a romantic before!! And the views aren't blinkered, Robert, just factual. You may have had bad experience with LR, I've only had good ones.Therefore, I repeat, not romantic, not blinkered, but factual.

 

[johno1]

Blimey you opened a can of worms there!

I have a discovery 200tdi, its 14 years old has 176,000 on the clock and apart from regular oil changes (every 4000 miles) it is no problem what so ever, it starts first time every time and gets me to and from every where and any where NO PROBLEM!!!!!!

 

[sparkes]

My Disco has 85K miles on the clock after 4 yrs and its the most reliable car I have owned. Never see's the garage except for its normal servicing.

My brothers is a year older and about the same amount of miles, and thats the same on reliability.

Now, if you want a peice of junk, then buy a Lexus. Owned one for 3 yrs and the garage saw more of it than i did.

 

[cris_408518]

I went to the local Club yesterday with my neighbour a Farmer in his newish Landcruiser. Talking cars he got to mention Land Rover and his catalogue of disasters on his last Disco a late new 2003 model that had gear box, engine,electrical, water leaks and othere quality issues and his wifes two year old diesel Freelander he described as a piece of "Friday afternoon crud". His problems not mine, but he said he has had 14 new Land Rovers and has never had a reliable one.

I asked why he'd bothered, and was told his Son worked for Land Rover! He doesn't any more, part of his job was dealing with the poor reliability after twenty years he could stand no more when his new TD3 failed for the 3rd time in three weeks on the M6.

Mentioning this forum, he added his brother in-law is in the breakdown recovery business and picks up caravans and tow cars.

When the calls come in for a Car and Caravan pick up they lay bets on what type of Land Rover it is as Land Rovers are their biggest earner!

There is also still the survey last week that reported that Land Rover is only beaten in to last place for poor reliability by Jeep with average Land Rover breakdowns costing

 

[Jason_374242390]

John - Can you tell me more about the Freelander 2. I am about to change my car either for the Freelander 2 or the new Honda CR-V. The caravans Kerb weight fully loaded is 1480KG which leaves the Freelander at 84% and Honda at 89% (both have a towing limit of 2000kg). I am really unsure which to go for. The Honda is alot cheaper (

 

[ed1]

We have had our freelander 2.0 TD4 since a few months old and in 4 years it has been a very reliable car and tow car.

I commute to work 30 miles every day and its never broken down *touch wood*.

We bought our bailey last April and the freelander tows superbly and effortlessly, if we go steady we can get a good 30mpg when towing.

Servicing is expensive if done at the dealers, parts arent cheap, at our local dealer's the freelander is dearer to service than the new disco 3 ! However, hubby is more satisfied when the main dealer services our car as he feels they check it over properly/more efficient.

We test drove the new Freelander 2 just before christmas and the disco 3 a week ago - as we were un-decided on what to purchase next (it will DEFINETLY be a Landrover), although the disco 3 will give us more room and obviously more towing power, we prefer the "drive" of the Freelander much better, so will be considering another Freelander for our next car.

we had a freelander from new 2 years ago and up graded to a new discovery 3 after 1 year because i needed a bit more power. i love the discovery and we tow a abbey vogue 460 , dont even know its there. have another go in the discovery weve taken it all over. done 12000 miles in 9 months .......perfect....

 

[redbullsid]

Hello John,

I have a Freelander TD4 52 plate, I bought it second hand just over 2 years ago and have done nearly 40,000 miles with no problems at all (touch wood). I tow a Swift Challenger 540 and it tows so easily I have to look in the rear view mirror to remind myself that its still there, I get around 40 mpg commuting to work and around 25 mpg towing.

Yes there are some bad ones around but I have mine religously serviced by a Land Rover approved garage in Bicester (half LR prices) and considering what I paid for the car (less than