Mine went in for its first service today and they gave me an 11 plate eD4 in white, the 'S' model.

First impressions climbing on board were that it was rather lacking in equipment. If you come from a HSE like npinks and co, you expect to notice such a vast difference but even coming from my GS I was quite surprised.
No buttons on the wheel at all so no cruise, no stereo remotes and no bluetooth and of course no TR dial. The stereo was very basic coming from the Alpine system in mine with subwoofer. Obviously being an 'S' and a courtesy car you dont expect optional extras fitted but to say somone can actually pay £21,995 (according to What Car?) I thought it was too bare and not enough kit for the price - especially bearing in mind its 2WD.

So, whats it like to drive? Well I have to agree with the critics who stated that although it is nice enough to drive, the lack of 4WD means that it is not quite so sure footed and you can feel the difference when its putting the power down. I must say that it was slightly faster though. Although this may well be due in part to the decrease in BHP for MY11 but an increase in torque, I suspect it was mostly due to weight. A 2WD car will always weigh less than 4WD and that I think was the key to it feeling just a little bit livelier off the mark.

Overall not a bad car but I still can't see the point. LR say most will go to fleet customers because the savings aren't enough for private customers to ditch the advantages and capabilities of 4WD.

 LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

Would have driven better if fitted with the auto box  2010 HSE Galway Green auto GONE

charliefoxtrot999 wrote:

Would have driven better if fitted with the auto box

I was hiding behind the sofa terrified they were going to lend me an auto again. Thankfully it was a manual even though it was the eD4

Any actual thoughts on the eD4 folks? LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

No personal experience but this lot seem to rate it highly...

Land Rover Freelander 2 eD4 2011 review

I am very surprised that you never DEMANDED a 4wd as your coutesy car !! I thought that the days of people being fobbed off with inferior coutesy cars were over !! i sugest that next time, as a form of compensation, you DEMAND to be ugraded to an automatic for your courtesty car !! That way they will know that you mean business any never fob you off with an inferior car again !!

Pedro wrote:

I am very surprised that you never DEMANDED a 4wd as your coutesy car !! I thought that the days of people being fobbed off with inferior coutesy cars were over !! i sugest that next time, as a form of compensation, you DEMAND to be ugraded to an automatic for your courtesty car !! That way they will know that you mean business any never fob you off with an inferior car again !!

As long as it gets me the 16 miles to work. Interesting to test the eD4 though. I managed to avoid DOWNGRADING to an auto but as per the post from MudBug, they seem to rate the 2WD very highly including off road. Even 2WD FL2 knocks seven shades of sh out of 4WD Beemers etc when off road  LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

Last time I complained about a courtesy car I ended up with a TDV8 range rover top spec for 3 weeks! And boy I drove it like I stole it!

The Doctor wrote:

Overall not a bad car but I still can't see the point. LR say most will go to fleet customers because the savings aren't enough for private customers to ditch the advantages and capabilities of 4WD.

landy19840 wrote:

Last time I complained about a courtesy car I ended up with a TDV8 range rover top spec for 3 weeks! And boy I drove it like I stole it!

Dealers are never generous tho! And it's standard issue in a hire/ borrowed car to drive it like you stole it!

I guess that explains why dealer's insurance companies are now asking for excesses as high as £2,000, or for us to pay for collision damage waivers. What goes around, comes around.

Don't take it to a dealer then!! And don't crash!

The Doctor wrote:

First impressions climbing on board were that it was rather lacking in equipment. If you come from a HSE like npinks and co, you expect to notice such a vast difference but even coming from my GS I was quite surprised.
No buttons on the wheel at all so no cruise, no stereo remotes and no bluetooth and of course no TR dial. The stereo was very basic coming from the Alpine system in mine with subwoofer. Obviously being an 'S' and a courtesy car you dont expect optional extras fitted but to say somone can actually pay £21,995 (according to What Car?) I thought it was too bare and not enough kit for the price - especially bearing in mind its 2WD.

Tigger wrote:

The Doctor wrote:

First impressions climbing on board were that it was rather lacking in equipment. If you come from a HSE like npinks and co, you expect to notice such a vast difference but even coming from my GS I was quite surprised.
No buttons on the wheel at all so no cruise, no stereo remotes and no bluetooth and of course no TR dial. The stereo was very basic coming from the Alpine system in mine with subwoofer. Obviously being an 'S' and a courtesy car you dont expect optional extras fitted but to say somone can actually pay £21,995 (according to What Car?) I thought it was too bare and not enough kit for the price - especially bearing in mind its 2WD.

Playing devil's advocate here, the S model does save £3,000 over the GS model, without even taking into account the additional £750 saved by going to 2WD. I suppose that a £3,000 saving has to found from somewhere and there are a still a lot of widgets left including (now) terrain response.

I hear what you're saying there and think we can pretty much agree.

However, what I would say is that all manufacturers tend to have an entry level model to entice you into the showroom (the Germans are past masters at that one!). When you're there, you'll then see the sense in spending that bit more to get the model that you really want (i.e the GS). Alternatively, if you had you're heart set on a new car, a £22,755 4WD S would make a lot more sense than spending the thick end of £20,000 for a pretend 4WD from, say, Nissan...