Hi guys!,

Quickie on my background before I start asking for advice : )

I just sold my defender 90 td5, I drive 90% on the road, but I honestly cant resist getting into some mud if I see some. I had owned my 90 for 2 and a half years and driven over 120,000 km during that time, mostly adventure roadtrips around scandinavia (I am a jock living in sweden).

Last weekend I was driving home from camping and I had just had enough of driving with the stereo on full blast and pushing my poor car to keep up with the other traffic. It was a sad moment, but I wasnt able to give my defender the offroad love she needed and I decided to sell her to a mate with his own forest and trails cheap.

Obviously having owned a green oval I have a pretty comprehensive toolkit, and diffswaps, clutchswaps, suspension upgrades dont really scare me, I call paddocks, then the guys and we have an evening in the workshop. Pretty much all of that is hardcore mechanical stuff though and the electrics, well... they require that one bloke we all know that is shared among everyone really..

So, onto some questions.

I am looking for a 2008-2011 my car.. max 40 thou miles, Diesel, manual. I know its a big age gap, but being ignorant I would prefer better equipment than a young car with no TR.

I have already been stalking you guys since I sold the car, and I know about the Haldex bearing problem, I know about the fuel guage, steering pump splatter ingress and rear door - have I missed anything else?.

What I also really need from you guys is advice on the difference between the year models, as I know pretty much nada there.. Is the current engine the peugeot with the DPF? what years had the transit engine if any (shared by the defender?) and any info on the drivetrain.

If anyone has had a defender in here, do you find yourself under this car as much, despite not thrashing it like you did the old truck that came before? Whats access like?

Finally, I see that paddocks dont have much on their page in the way of parts, where are you guys getting yours? is it all OEM?

Thanks in advance for the advice, I will miss the charm and circumstance of taking a trip with my defender, I honestly regret loosing her, but my god I cannot wait to get all my gear in the back of a FL2 and finally turn on some cruise control!

/Tony

happy to find a writeup on wikipedia on the FL2.. what vin marked the change over from the Haldex 3 to the Haldex 4 in 2009? : ) do they both share the same problems with the bearing going?

If you think you will still be able to do some serious mud plugging with an FL2 then the auto would be the best bet due to reliability. I haven't had any trouble with my manual FL2 (yet) but I still have the warranty cover.

That said, manual boxes are a lot cheaper to fix than autos out of warranty and as you have some skills in repairing, you could probably do the clutch yourself no probs

The site sponsor Duckworths sell various genuine LR parts so it's worth checking their website.

DPF came in with MY11 onwards and has proved problematic for some but prior to that year you will be DPF free. Relating back to the clutch issue, I am sure I heard on here that when LR introduced the stop/start technology on the FL2 in 2009, a new clutch plate was put in which can handle a lot more pressure than the older one's.

Spec wise it's up to you. HSE has everything. XS has most things including sat nav and heated seats. GS has most you will ever need and S has the basics.

For the price I paid for my new GS, I could have had a used XS or even a HSE but the extra gizmos didn't bother me and I would sooner have the newer car. The GS is the best all rounder and if you can find an 09 or 10 plate you will find good spec.

I added the heated windscreen and washer jets (cold climate pack) to mine but the standard kit includes cruise control, bluetooth handsfree system, Alpine audio system with subwoofer, terrain response, dual zone climate control, all electric windows and mirrors. I believe the winter pack adds heated seats, auto dimming rear view mirror and xenon headlights in addition to the cold climate pack stuff so look out for that.

Don't place too much emphasis on sat nav because I hear many complain about the LR sat nav and they say a tomtom etc is a lot better.

Hope this helps but feel free to ask more questions  LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

LRswe wrote:

happy to find a writeup on wikipedia on the FL2.. what vin marked the change over from the Haldex 3 to the Haldex 4 in 2009? : ) do they both share the same problems with the bearing going?

Freelander 2s have always had the same Ford derived diesel engine in - for the UK DPFs kicked in late 2010 - with the mild facelfit and the new engine variants TD SD etc. For mainland europe the provision of DPFs may well have been different depending on the laws of your country.

richardk wrote:

Freelander 2s have always had the same Ford derived diesel engine in - for the UK DPFs kicked in late 2010 - with the mild facelfit and the new engine variants TD SD etc. For mainland europe the provision of DPFs may well have been different depending on the laws of your country.

I have 3 defenders previously, I find with the freelander it has more electronic stuff to go wrong. Most of the work can be done on the freelander your self, I replaced my brakes, glow plugs, electronic throttle body housing, various sensors and did the facelift with out any issues. You can't crawl under a freelander like a defender tho, so it does go to a garage for some work to be done.

The only other thing I miss is the space. Everything else is all good, get a good set of A/T on it and you will go anywhere. Oh and buy top spec not the poverty specs!!

after 16 years of Defenders, we replaced the last one( stolen) with a two year old 30k miles GS Auto which we have had for about 8 months . A few obvious comments. 1) The Freelander is fantastic to drive compared to the Defender absolutely 1000% better in every respect. 2) we had Pirelli Scorpion all terrain tyres fitted two weeks after buying the car and it will do everything on those that a Freelander is expected to do Mud Snow Sand no problems,it was better in the winter snow than the defender the hill descent contol is brilliant. 3) if you want to regularly go " off road" buy an auto it really suits the Terrain Response System and you can still do manual shifts when you need to . buy a car with 17" wheels for the best choice of off road tyres. 4) Unlike Defenders Freelanders do not look better with big dents and huge scratches 5) I will not do half the work on this car that I did on the Defender because of the need for electrical diagnostics and programming, It is just a modern car, a drive it forget it sort of experience 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

LRSwe
Just to clarify a couple of items that are specific to "Cold Climate Market LHD FL2's".

The DPF appears on MY2010 onwards and on a diesel unit you may well have a Webasto FFBH (fuel fired booster heater) fitted as standard equipment.

The manual transmission in a Volvo M66 unit so as you're in Sweden parts for this should be easy to locally source outside of official LR channels. We find the manual 6 speed unit is smooth in operation (but it is no way a "fast" car gear change) but it does have two negatives: firstly some owners have found that the cable linkage "sticks" but if you search on the forum here the "greasing fix" is well described - it has not happen on our unit yet at plus 42,000kms MY2010. Secondly we always experience in sub zero temperatures when cold starting that the gear box oil is very sticky which results in a stiff first to second gear change until the oil in the box heats up. This has always happened and (not that it counts for much but) our local Swiss LR Service centre has told us that this is "normal" ha ha ha.

nice one folks, thats pretty much cleared it all up for me, especially on the powertrain.

I found it especially interesting to hear that there are other defender owners out there that are thinking along the same lines and went ahead with the comfy option.

I just need to hunt around a little and see what I can find : )

(By the way, I am really liking the bumper/grille on the 2011MY!, is it a straight swap onto a 2009?)

Don't worry about what Landy19840 said about 'poverty specs', that really only applies to S spec and even then it's a snotty way of putting it because some will be happy with the S.

Buy XS or HSE if it's what you need but GS spec is superb and the only extra I think that's worth getting is the cold climate pack. Different ball game for Sweden but over here there is no need for heated seats on cloth as they warm up the moment you sit down but they are a necessity with leather. Depends what gizmos you need buy i'd never swap my GS for an XS or HSE. Go take a few for a spin and decide for yourself. LL.B (Hons) - University of Derby
LOT (Lord of Time) - University of Gallifrey

I agree , plus compared to a County 90 Defender a model T Ford is executive trim, so anything in the Freelander 2 range is an upgrade ! having researched the models I came to the conclusion that for functionality the GS gives the best bang per buck, but of course each to their own that is just my opinion, not an onslaught against those who want/like/need Leather and SatNav etc. 2009 GS Auto Zermatt Silver - Sold June 21 after 10 years of ownership

2016 Subaru Outback SE 2.0 diesel SE Premium Lineartronic Sold 2024 after 8 years and 80k miles . Best Car I ever owned !

2023 Toyota Hilux invincible X 2.8 Auto .

All my defenders had amazing trim, the last two had leather and and heated seats, air con and heated front screens

LRswe
MY2011 Facelift Front Bumper slots onto pre MY2011 models like a glove.

Search this forum for AndyMc's thread on how to do it that includes pictures etc. More experienced search "hands" would post a link for you - I'm a hopeless IT chap - sorry.

https://www.freel2.com/gallery/albums/user...emoval.pdf

Very easy and bumpers are cheap as chips over here

Also this one with the complete low down

https://www.freel2.com/forum/topic7917.html