My fully serviced 4year old Freelander 1.8 xei, 36,000 miles, needs a new engine!! Initially quoted approx £3000.00, then after negotiations £1,250.00. Now Landrover have offered to put in a replacement engine free of charge!!! Not sure if that was down to persistance or the Watchdog programme. We have been trying to sort this out for 4 weeks now and have found that Landrover Customer Services to be anything but helpful and the dealership polite but unsympathetic. We are now looking at taking legal action , the car has a design fault. I have purchased a replacement car a Honda CR-V whilst we try and sort it. Anyone else who has had similar problems with the head gasket/ engine we would be interested to hear from. Thanks
Freelander K series engine, T reg, 35,000 miles.NEEDS A REPLACEMENT ENGINE!! Have returned the above car to Colliers, Sutton Coldfield it apparently 1. Needs a new engine 2. Was offered £1250.00 towards the cost as a goodwill gesture from Landrover. 3. After rejecting the offer and leaving the car at the dealership I have now been offered a replacement engine at no cost to myself.
After the Watchdog report which clearly indicated that the Landrover K series engine has a major design fault and has now in their words 'become an issue'.
I have had a reply from the dealership to the effect that I've had the car too long to complain about it.
I've been offered a replacement engine and under the terms of the sale of goods act I do not have to accept a repair or replacement.
Why do Landrover and their dealerships continue to treat people like idiots. I want to take them to court and get my money back! I want to create a precedent for all other Freelander owners who have experienced this problem with the 'K' series engine and have over the years paid good money which as far as I can see seems to be between £3-£4k.
I believe all of those people are entitled to a total refund and I am now considering a 'Joint and several action' against Landrover. Initially I have to proceed with legal action against my dealership who sold me the car and more importantly serviced it regularly. If you have or are experiencing similar problems please let me know your particular problems (with your Freelander!)and if you are prepared to join the fight! Thanks
I have a 1999 2.0 diesel that has not let me down at any moment since purchased. I live in the Canary Islands where it is all up or down and whilst the early engines power is not the highest there is it has got me to wherever I have asked it without any complaint, often loaded to the gunnels. I certainly am more than happy with my Freelander
It has just turned midnight and I'm very pleased to of found this site. I have just put down £500 deposit on a brand new 1.8 Freelander Serengeti and have been looking forward to collecting it in two days time, but thanks to Watchdog and this site it sounds like I've been saved from throwing my money down the drain, Thank you all. Shame about the deposit though!
I bought a 2 yesr old 1.8 petrol from a reputable dealer. Liked the car but regular niggles sorted under warranty, e.g. defective back window, wiper motor, vibration/tyre wear, jammed sunroof etc. Then at 40,000 miles and 5 months out of warranty, the head gasket blows & takes the wet liners with it; needs a new engine at £ 3 - 4k. LR have refused warranty claim. The most unreliabale car I've owned over 30 years. Clearly unacceptable in any modern car - I would have expected at least some contribution from LR.
The previous comments should be saying something - leave the 1.8 well alone. However ... the TD4 is superb especially with auto box, no problems in over 35K miles from new and tows my caravan very much better than the Disco TD5 I owned before. My next car ... a 'facelift' version due out next month
I have just sold my 2001 TD4 GS. Freelander. Good performance/nice drive. Poor interior, with cheap looking plastic dash - (Is there another 21st century car without an external temperature gauge ??) Had an injector failure - waited for over a week for a replacement. Above all - the ventilation is abysmal - NEVER have I owned a car where it has been so bad. With a rear passenger in cold/wet weather, the car constantly steams up - even the air-con struggles to cope. It is so poor - that regardless of how good it MAY have scored - it is sufficiently bad that I would not buy another Land Rover for this reason alone.
Well, I wish I had seen these reviews sooner!! I've just been dropped home from my local LR dealer(Lancaster of Reading) after my T/1999 Freelander 1.8XEi started belching smoke and overheating this morning. I have yet to hear what the damage is but the dealer has speculated on poss. gasket replacement or NEW ENGINE at 52,000m!!!! By the looks it'll be the latter. Had the car for nearly 2 years without any probs, heard some bad things but thought nothing of it until now! I'll let you wll know how it goes.
It seems to me folks that the early pre 2000 models arnt worth bothering with, Landrover reconised this and launched the fabulous TD4...no complaints about this engine at all....the 1.8 is being scrapped I beleive on the Freelander. So post 2000 models seem to be very much ok? [Log in to view email]
Having owned this moneypit for 14 months I just can't take anymore. As follows: Broken Fuel Pump Broken Electric Window Front drive shaft replaced wait for it.... new engine at 60k - two dealers have said off record they are replacing 10 engines a week !!!! Apparently it is a design fault - fantastic Now it has developed an overheating problem - will it ever stop - oh yes I am driving a Bl££dy LR!!
Buy it if you need more airmiles on your credit card!!
1998 S-Reg XEDi bought May 2003, sold August 2003. Why? Electric sunroof failed within a week of purchase. So-called warranty only covered sunroof *motor*, which had not failed - 400 quid to sort that out. Tip for owners: suspect that the sunroof needs to be kept well used and cleaned to ensure it does not stick and either strip the wormgear on the motor (quite common) or the transport mechanism (in my case). Horrible noises and harmonics from the rear of the vehicle at various speeds led to replacement of nearside rear wheel bearing (again, no joy from warranty - only covers *breakages*, not wear and tear. Noises reduced but still present so decided to replace offside rear wheel bearing as well - 200 quid for the two. Noises slightly better, but very disappointed that vehicle is generally so crude and noisy. Comfortable ride on-road and good off-road ability, good aircon (once it had been re-charged - tip from aircon engineer for owners: run your aircon regularly throughout the year to keep the lubricating oil in the compressor bearings from drying out and allowing the system pressure to fall). Decided that with all the horror stories I've read since, best to cut losses and unload FL before something horrendous fails, so traded in for lovely Honda CR-V auto (manual gearbox on FL nasty; who wants manual when we live on traffic jam island anyway?). All is smooth and civlised once more. Dealer who took FL for CR-V found that replacing rear tyres, which were mis-matched, seemed to eliminate remaining unpleasant harmonics, so perhaps not imminent transmission failure. Didn't need a lot of off-road ability anyway - just muddy tracks/fields etc for shooting. FL felt *very* agricultural. Beats me why so many are sold when they'll never go near a track or field. Diesel economy reasonable and turbo performance good, but trade-off is noise and harshness. Reverse gear too highly-geared so vehicle would tend to shoot backwards at tickover, rather than crawl. Glad it'll be someone else's problem now. A lucky escape I think: never again.
I bought a Freelander Di (S reg) a year and a half ago. I wouldn't recommend this car to anyone unless you like throwing good money at bad rubbish. It was three years old when I got it. I took extended warranty. Once the winter was out of the way I tried the air con but nothing (should have checked it sooner, I hear you say). Landrover wouldn't repair it under warranty as it was due to "stone chipping" so thinking the warranty was a waste of time I didn't bother extending it again. I wish I had. Car developed a coolant leak and a sump gasket leak and a rear diff seal leak. Marshall's in Cambridge had serviced it in the past, and while pointing out minor leaks that they said weren't serious while it was in warranty, suddenly pointed them out as really serious once the warranty had expired. They said the cylinder head was cracked and wanted about £3k to do all the work. Admittedly they tried to get landrover to honour post warranty on the head, but they wouldn't have it. I took it to an independant for repair at about half the price but now there's problems with the injectors. Landrover reckon about another grand to put that right. It's now been off the road for three weeks and I've lost the will to live. It is a high mileage car (90k) but is only 4.5 years old. Surely an engine should be more reliable and last longer. All I ever hear is nightmare stories about these cars. Good old British workmanship, ha, ha. If I ever get it back, it's being traded in for something else straight away, NOT ANOTHER LANDROVER. I WOULDN'T TOUCH THEM WITH A BARGE POLE EVER AGAIN.
Please beware if anyone else is thinking of buying - we thought it would be the dream car and ended as the ultimate nightmare. Constant problems concluding in head gasket which we had a patch up job for £900 - a proper job would have been £3500 Unless you have a serious amount of time and money to waste stay well clear - believe me there are many better options out there !
Just a note. The 1.8 K-series engine has head gasket problems in any car including the fabulous Lotus Elise. Gutted to hear about so many other problems out there and may well not buy one now! Thanks for the warning! Maybe the Ford boys can turn things round!
I wish to thank everyone who has contributed to this site for just saving me nearly 20k on an intended purchase of a Freelander TD4.(Family very keen on one )A few years ago I spent 14 years using Range Rovers and Discoverys , admittedly to big milages - around 180k.My department had to run three vehicles to keep two on the road - but this could only be done by driving around with lists of faults in vehicles that would not pass an MOT.Even when Landrovers are young it is a job to keep up with all the repairs you will need.Our team of mechanics could not keep these vehicles roadworthy .I knew the Range Rover and Disco were shocking for reliability - I now realize that the Freelander is carrying on a sorry tradition.Few customers in the States , Middle East or Australia which touch them .I'm binning the brochures and walking away - thanks.
Update to review on 12/12/02 2002 model Freelander hardback TD4es , has now covered 13400 miles , 12000 mile service done with no problems (£290), though is a bugger to keep clean in this weather with all the accessories on !still a great pleasure to own and run, looking forward to summer again ! ...come on all those people who have had good experiences, write in with somthing positive ...it cant just be me !!!!!!!!!!!
I started with the Freelander nightmare by buying an R reg with 60k on the clcok. It went well for a year or so, then the rear diff went - £500. then, just a month later, on the journey to Scotland from Gloucestershire, the !"front diff" or IRD went. Apart from the hassle of unloading the car, reloading back into a hire car and endless phone calls, the £2500 bill was unacceptable. Got a deal from Green Lane in Glos ( had to pay an extra £5000 but that included repair of the now part exvhanged R reg)for another Freelander - this time 25k on the clock and a few months newer -well, about 8 months later, the clutch hypdraulics went, causing Lrover assistance to have to come out and sort - another journey delayed (by 3 hours) Another thing-this model (1999 XEi) does not have folding mirrors. We live on a narrow street and the wing mirror costs £80 to replace each time. Folding mirrors are £166 (and half an hour of labour) Now looking around to get another 4X4 as both mirrors need replacing and the Assitance package needs replacing in March. Not sure I'll be getting another Flander, after all this! Think v carefully before buying a Freelander - I have only broken down in a car 4 times in my life - but 3 of them in a Freelander!! I also think they are overpriced - you can get a Honda CRV for £2000 cheaper, same age and more extras!
I had the pleasure of purchasing a 3dr td4 es 2002 year model in april this year , since then it has covered nearly 11,000 miles with no problems at all, it is used as a family car on a daily basis, fantastic engine(bmw common rail)...returning 33mpg, great towing car, refined on the black stuff and awsome off road, (has shamed a few die hard mud plugging mates of mine !)and a top pose in the summer with the hard top off !!! Only niggles are poor quality interior plastics ..not what id expect in a 22 grand car, even in es trim (leather), you have to pay to get all the kit, so not great value for money.No seat height adjustment.Rear power point only takes landrover accessories..bit of a con (can be easily converted to accept standard ciggy lighter unit from halfords !) Thick "a"pillar limits visibility round corners ... rear elec window has a mind of its own !!!and if you buy new from a dealer make sure they give you the roof bars they come with the car .... but i do love it ..go buy one!.feel free to contact me if you would like to know more about this model.
People People!!!! ive just bought a brand new 1.8i 3 dr serengeti model and after reading all these reviews im sh"£$ing myself about just how far the bloody thing will go before it goes tits up!!! i must admit ive had it for 4 days now and its aready booked into the garage next week because the rear window can be opened from the outside as the catch is dodgy but i put that down to the fact its brand new teething problems i hope thats all it is!!! anyone with any tips or stuff to look out for please email me.But i must admit i love the car so far its comfy it looks great and theres bags of space i reccomend [Log in to view email]
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