I am sure there are good and bad with all cars.....we have been lucky and had a run of good cars, our last an Xtrail went all over Europe and never caused a single problem other than sounding like a tractor when cold (Freelander much more refined) and before that a totally indestructable Volvo 850 which went on and on. Having had two break downs in the first 5 weeks of ownership ( our first breakdowns for 15 years!!) plus other issues has dented my confidence though and with a road trip to Norway planned for next year to see the summer sun I have to be entirely confident in the car.

I very much agree though there will be 10's of thousands of delighted FR owners who never have problems or post here. I am just not sure I can get past the last couple of weeks. Anyone tried a Mitsibushi Outlander - they look quite smart.

I have had 3 Passatt, 2 x sport TDi's 140's and one High-line 170 DSG.
I also had key jam, DSG upgrade and tyre wear but they were brilliant and I was doing 2000 miles a week no problem. Great car and the dealer i used was spot on. One of mine got to 104000 miles without a fault !

Just got car back from garage knackered rear passenger side Wheel Bearing.

Also identified slight play Front Off-Side droplink (whatever that is!) - this too was sorted....


Best thing I just walked out with the keys - just love the warranty repairs

The drive back was lovely - switched the stereo off - and listened to the silence - just the Turbo to be heard..... 2002 Honda VFR800
2002 Toyota Celica 140 Silver (mid life crisis - again!)
2007 FL2 GS Manual Army Reconnaissance Green + freel2.com sticker
2004 Toyota Celica 140 Black - Gone
2000 Toyota Celica 140 Silver - Gone
1998 Toyota Celica ST Pearl Green - Gone
1996 Nissan Primera 1.6 - Gone
1994 Rover Montego 1.6 Auto - Gone

On the Friday before we were due to return home our 20month/30k mile F2 also developed a rear wheel bearing problem whilst in the French Alps.

We contacted LR Assistance and they got the local agent (Peugeot Garage) out to look at it within 2 hrs. He agreed with the problem and advised that only local miles were done and that he would trailer the vehicle down to the nearest dealer (1 1/4 hrs away) on the following Tuesday (Monday was a bank holiday) - we were due to return to the UK on the Wednesday 17th. Over the weekend it occurred to us that as we were nearer the dealers in Switzerland that maybe LRA should try them as they would be open on the Monday. Monday the 14th - Swiss dealer unable to look at vehicle till 26th or 29th!

We therefore opted for the hire car - the challenge to LRA was to get 2 adults, 1 teenage girl, 2 Labradors and a Downhill mountain bike home - my daughter had an important race on the weekend of the 20th. No problem they said. They arranged for a Taxi to take us to collect the hire car a Ford Cmax - everything fitted in fine. We drove this to Calais and changed over into UK reg D4 HSE auto. We have had this since our return. Our F2 arrived back at Farnells in Guiseley on 25th. All the gear that we had to leave in the F2 was fine the only thing they had to do was take the roof box which was fine. Car a bit dusty/dirty but I am sure Farnells will give it a wash!

We keep the D4 until ours is back on the road. Wow what service - LRA could not do enough for us very impressed and we got to do an extended test drive on the D4 - very nice!

A BIG thank you to Land Rover Assistance! You helped Emma become the Yorkshire Downhill Youth Champ 2011. Cheers
Gumdrop aka Simon !
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F2 HSE, auto, roof rails, steps, santorini black
Defender 50th
F1 1999, Commercial
Series 1 (1958)
Rebel Replica Series 1

Got to say I totally agree the service from LR Assistance ( AKA the AA) was very good indeed. To round off our story our Landy returned to the UK earlier this week and we recovered our roof box and dirty holiday washing yuk. Having got the money back from Stratstone we are now the proud owner of an Audi A6 Estate Sportline. Totally different car, huge boot and goes like stink. I love it!!...my wife still loves the Freelander Hey ho