Hello everyone,

I need some advice on my Freelander 2 td4e xs nav. AJ59 GGK
I bought this as a 1yr old car from Hunters in Southampton 19K covered by Landrover. I now live in Scotland and travel 35k miles per year.

Everything went well for the last 12 months until November with 53K covered.
Dual Mass flywheel started slipping. local dealer warranty replaced.
Then 2 months later rear diff bearing went (2 attempts to sort)
Then 2 months later Steering rack went – new reservoir, pump and rack
AC was squeaking so booked it in to dealer – however Engine management system died the day before. Dealer found no issue with the A/C.
Now my A/C compressor / condenser has failed. (3 attempts to sort)

My car has had 10 warranty visits in 7 months

Warranty ends 29th Sept 2012 – Are there any more faults any of you have had that I am likely to receive as I am getting sick of the car being in the dealership.

I wrote a polite letter asking Land rover to sort out a replacement vehicle deal as it is the most unreliable of the 3 freelanders (2003 3dr hardback FL1, 2006 5door Facelift FL1) – no joy from LR head office. They said speak to dealer who I purchased from.
He is not interested and offered a rubbish deal.

Options
1. I keep it and hope nothing else goes wrong as 20% of the engine bay is new
2. Take the £750 / year landrover extended warranty
3. Flog it and leave the green oval at pace for something reliable
4. Take it to local dealer, park it in entrance and wheel clamp it there, walking away smiling with outstanding finance forgotten about.

My tip for anyone else looking at FL2’s is get the dealer to show you the warranty work for the vehicle – oh and don’t buy this one second hand....
When it works its lovely to drive, however now I am just waiting for the next thing to break. 2009 (59) FL2 TD4e XS Nav Bali Blue 18&17" rims- Sold DMF fail, rear diff fail, steering rack fail.
FL1 2004 5door black
FL1 2001 3 door hard top (miss it still) so much fun without the roof.

choice is yours, my old FL2 had something like 22 visit for various things in 2.5 years, i bought another one instead and have had 5 in three years

though i have opted for the LR extended warranty with breakdown not its over 3 years, small price to pay for piece of mind

I agree with LR, you bought 2nd hand and its between you and the dealer

Try trading it in with a different one

I would say for the money you will lose PXing it would be better to invest in a years extra warranty and see what breaks.
I really love our one, this was brought 2nd hand and we had more issues underwarranty than I expected, a lot down to a rubbish dealer, keep replacing the same part as it did not cost them.
We extended the warranty after the main 3 yr ran out and had minor things fixed under it, but at the time we had a few things that the dealer could not fix and felt it was a good investment.

What is the worst that can happen!
Its a Land Rover.

If your handy with the spanners keep the car and put the £750 towards any parts you might/will need. You seem to have covered most of the common faults already, with the exception of the odd wheel bearing.
If your not handy with the spanners take out the warranty, or find a good local indi.
Changing badges can be just as fraught, as most manufacturers build down to cost rather than up to a standard - look at the mess Toyota made of the accellerator warranty.

Walk away from this one - done it already with our first FL1. Litterally rang LR finance and said take this pile of junk away - two years old and needed a diff, gearbox, IRD, propshaft and viscous coupling. LR were not happy, but I pointed out that the finance was actually HP and under the Hire part I was at liberty to hand it back after a certain percentage (50%?) of the hire agreement had been paid. It cost less than £100 to part company, best £100 I have ever paid. Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

Im with Andy131 on this one. Most of the faulty parts have been replaced, that doesn't meen to say it wont happen again.
A badge change could be just as troublesome in the long run.
I had many faults on a new BMW when I changed from landrover once before, The new FL2 I have now has had 9 faults of which landrover tried to fix 5 and I fixed the rest.
I dont bother with warranty deals as I just keep the money and replace items myself as an when needed. It works well for me. I guess some people dont know one end of a spanner from the other and that can be expensive lol.
All cars have their problems, landrovers more than most but I just love the car and will keep looking after it with tender care.
You either love them or hate them.

welcome to the club ! at least you had 12 months trouble free, mine was hopeless for 2.5 years and had to buy another car to keep mobile !
"Everything went well for the last 12 months until November with 53K covered.
Dual Mass flywheel started slipping. local dealer warranty replaced.
Then 2 months later rear diff bearing went (2 attempts to sort)
Then 2 months later Steering rack went – new reservoir, pump and rack
AC was squeaking so booked it in to dealer – however Engine management system died the day before. Dealer found no issue with the A/C.
Now my A/C compressor / condenser has failed. (3 attempts to sort)"

Quite frankly your lucky mine developed 14 faults in the first 3 week and has had so may faults it takes 6 pages of A4 to list all the faults, which mine has suffered just the same. Landrover customer service is appalling ! bad bad bad .

So you have had couple of bits go wrong ! DMF common Diff common PAS very common Air-con issues, fairly well known with compressors failing. Attempts to fix ? normal. some dealers totally incompetent but just because they have Landrover over the door it gives the public the impression they know what they are doing 1 THEY DO NOT !.
Technically a compressor should never fail unless contaminated, overfilled with gas, under filled with oil or has moisture in the system.
It sounds like you have had a bad experience but if Thats all you have had go wrong, its done you well ! if you want reliability buy Japanesse.

You will loose so much dosh in PX just stick with it and give yourself a repair budget. Mines actually just done 2210 miles yes two thousand and ten miles without going wrong ! not bad in 20,000 miles !

Yes Reliability, if you want that just get a Toyota, they just keep going

ad210358 wrote:

Yes Reliability, if you want that just get a Toyota, they just keep going

It' stopping them that's difficult  Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

I've had exactly the same problems with the exception of diff bearings and it's been fine for the last 12 months. I've decided to keep it for now as most of the crap bits have been replaced. I may think again in another 15k miles or so. Another member of the failed FL2 clutch/DMF club, twice.

Just wondering??

Is it the dealer experience that causes so much stress when our FL aren't well?

Apart from running out of fuel mine has always got me home, and I thought was reasonably reliable. Then SWMBO pointed out the amount of time I spend playing with "That Car" rather than spending it with her.
I am happy with the reliability so far, OK the steering system was replaced under warranty, but no strees she got me to work and LR dropped off a loaner. The aircon clutch was replaced as part of a service, again no strees as there was no inconvenience. Fuel gauges failed, did them myself, no stress as I accepted it as part of the accident damage. Radiators blocked/broken, I blocked them so why should I worry. Change to Mud tyres and back at least 6 times a year - means I am having fun. Take underbody protection off, clean, refit - means I have been having fun . Three sets of rear pads and two sets of fronts in 74k miles, easy to change and my fault cause I fill them with mud and brake late. Waiting for the diff and wheel bearings to fail - parts in shed for diff, why should it stress me, I drive her hard, and it means I can spend another weekend playing with the other woman.

Come to think of it the only stress she has given me is when the numpty drove into the rear and I had to fight like to get her back. Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

LR do two warranties - I bought the cheaper one. It's £46.00 a month and so far had a horn replaced (surprisingly big job), steering system replaced, rear wiper motor replaced. And a wash and valet each time. I'm getting too old to do the jobs myself - happy to let LR do it and I seeem to have hit on reasonable dealers so far.
Can't see the point of the more expensive warranty or the breakdown insurance. LR Recovery used to offer an excellent package but seemed to be getting less and less helpful so I stopped it. FR2 (07) is proving more reliable than the any of my Discos and more fun to drive!

Horn £14 - labour 3 hours at £120 per hour, +£10 valet
Thats paid for 8 months warranty.

And yes they are fun to get at  Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

And I suspect that it's wading that finishes the horn off. Silly place behind the bumper. At least there are two, so you don't HAVE to replace one if it dies (the dealer advised me not to bother until I pointed out it was covered under the extended warranty). I don't know how complex the wiring is (very, I suspect), but I'm sure it ought to be possible to fit an extra one somewhere convenient and just wire it in. After all it's basically a doorbell system.

Her Ladyship's FL2 will on the 19th November be out of LR's 3yr new car warranty.

Here in Switzerland the distributor has 2 "extended" warranty programmes - the first is so complex I'll not go into details but you pay the annual cost dependent upon the mileage your Fl2 has done on the anniversary of its 3rd birthday, and then you pay 10% of any claim.

The second offer is the "Premier Owner" warranty which costs a great deal more but is not restricted by mileage and you do not pay an "excess" on any claim during the year. It also includes Europe wide roadside breakdown and replacement courtesy car or flights to get you home etc etc.

Neither warranty product is openly advertised with a price attached - a bit like the old double glassing salesmen's trick, or the now bankrupt Moben Kitchen TV ad.

So my post here is to seek comments from UK owners of their experiences of LR's UK based extended warranty schemes so that I have a baseline for when I open negotiations with the always very secretive Swiss on a warranty for her Ladyship's FL2.

Your input is most welcome. Thanks.

Athelstan - I assume you've already tried https://landrover-extendedwarranty-extend-...-details-1 - not much help unless you can pretend to be someone else on the forum, I suppose.