Land Rover Freelander Hardback (2003 - 2006) 2.0 Td4 Sport Premium 3d Owner Review

2.0 Td4 Sport Premium 3d

29 July 2019

In their own words

I love this car! It is fabulous to look at and is more economical than a same-year mini cooper! It's small enough to get into parking spaces larger 4x4's would struggle with, and the permanent 4 wheel drive and ability to cope with extreme weather conditions gives you high levels of confidence. I have monitored the fuel consumption and economy from new (never missed a fill-up) and I have averaged 33 mpg over 14.5 years. The current mileage (72,000) is less than half of expected 'average' use (i.e. 10-12,000 per year), which means it's still only a quarter of its potential total lifespan maximum. Best fuel performance I ever had was 42.6 mpg while on holiday in August 2013 (that total trip averaged at 35.7 mpg). I have looked after it servicing and repairs-wise, and it still looks like new apart from the usual car-park marks you get over 14.5 year's worth of use... An excellent car and something to be proud of! Best choice of engine is the BMW sourced TD4 as the other two petrol engines both have their (major) issues. Like all cars it also has it's own issues, but they are well worth tolerating as the fun and joy you get are worth it. If it wasn't for the two major repairs I had to deal with it would definitely get a full 5 star review from me. Can't recommend this version (TD4 Sports Premium 3-dr hardback) enough!!!

How reliable do you find the car?

Two major issues with the car from new; The first was a clutch replacement at approx. 17,000 miles (within 3-yr warranty). The clutch failed (burned out) while pulling a small caravan in stop-start traffic. Although the ambient temperature was high the caravan and car 'train' was well within the tow-limit for the vehicle so I was very disappointed by that. I subsequently learned that this model has a known issue with standard factory fitted clutches and has an up-rated 'heavy duty' clutch that is recommended to be replaced in cases of failure. However, Land Rover did not issue a recall knowing that replacement-on-demand was cheaper than a full recall, i.e. wait for a failure and then repair rather than preventing it from happening in the first place! This happened whilst on holiday abroad with both my elderly parents so was costly in terms of money, inconvenience and time while we waited for the replacement clutch to be fitted. The 2nd issue was an injector and fuel pressure sensor replacement at about 50,000 miles. The injector apparently developed a small leak and the repair was to replace the leaking injector and the fuel pressure sensor on the common rail system. This sort of cured it but I am sure the engine is still not as smoothly reliable when cold starting as it was previously.