After many years considering, and weeks of lurking and education I finally took the keys of our '09 HSE TD4 auto today.

Collected from the Chile LR Importer DITEC in Las Condas Santiago, I headed East 40km into the Andes.

As far as places go for reflecting on a purchase, my hotel here in Farellones is not bad. At 2500m altitude under a clear night sky I can gaze over the handsome outline of the Freelander2 into the lights of Chile's capital Santiago 40km below. Beyond that the outline of the Pacific coast mixes with the nearby Andes peaks against the faint light of the South West sky, still with 4 weeks to go until the Southern summer.

Is it a perfect car? Not quite. Like most things in life it's got a few warts, but with 70000km it's in good shape. We'll get a working relationship over the next couple of days. See how high I can get on gravel from here tomorrow before taking some pictures. Then it's up the Valley De Maipo before heading South for Temuco. Catch the BMW GS Trophy Challenge in Pucon and give it a polish before handing it over to my GF.

I'll post a list of snags when I'm done, but I'm not planning on tearing it apart for another few months. I have the LR 1 year warranty for now.

Looking forward to tomorrow... Freelander 1 HSE TD4 Manual in Falklands
Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Auto in Chile

That sounds interesting keep us posted please. Gone, 2007 TD4 SE Auto Baltic blue, clear side repeaters, full sized alloy spare.

English by birth..... Yorkshire by the grace of God.

Hi Speedway. I guess you're into bikes without brakes but you would heve been impressed with what I seen yesterday. In a secret location 80km SE of Temuco, over 100 BMW Gs's at the finish line of the 2012 GS Trophy Challange. Riders from all corners of the globe coming to terms with the end of their dream, wet but not miserable. It's a kind of 2 wheel version of the Camel Trophy.

The trip down from Santiago went very well, keeping to the speed limits of 100/120KMPH I was able to get fuel consumption between 7-8l/100km which is about 34mpg or near enough. I'm happy enough with that with diesel here costing about 95p/ltr. Was really pleased with the comfortable quiet cruise for the 7 hour trip. I didn't get to play much with the auto box but was pleased to see the relaxing cruise rpm of around 2000.

Before I left Santiago though I made a visit to the dealer to report what I felt was a slightly noisy front left wheel bearing/tyre during RH bends, also a slightly rattleing screechey noise from the eng/gearbox during up-changes to 3rd & 4th under a light throttle. I put this down to torque converter lock-up clutch noise as it appeared to come during that phase. As expected, the noise could not be replicated when the very obliging Service Manager came for a test drive! The wheel bearing noise didn't get much sympathy from them as that couldn't be heard either in the vast city. So with no remedial action all I could say was that I tried, and the faults have been reported for history. I have 1 year for them to manifest further. To be honest they don't detract from the overall pleasure of the purchase too much, but like every other owner, I will have to take my chances with reliability after the warranty runs out.

Yesterday I discovered a nice bonus with the 'command shift' (manual gear change). I was still getting a feel for the gear change regime and feeling that it was missing the nice thing about a good turbo diesel. Meaning that in 'drive' it was a bit too eager to ponder and drop a gear when all I wanted with a slight press of the accelerator was a little more torque in the same gear. So I was thinking wouldn't it be nice to have a normal Auto for city driving, but be able to still work the turbo hard in a high gear without it dropping gears for open road driving. Well as most of you already know, that is pretty much what you get in command shift. Change up early if you wish and work that turbo. Lovely bit of kit.

I can see what you guys are on about now. It really is a wonderful car. A serious machine, nice but modest looking inside and out, turns well, gets a move on and stops well. That'll do nicely for me! Freelander 1 HSE TD4 Manual in Falklands
Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Auto in Chile

Thanks for the response those BMWs and the event sound great, keep the story going please. Gone, 2007 TD4 SE Auto Baltic blue, clear side repeaters, full sized alloy spare.

English by birth..... Yorkshire by the grace of God.

Yes they are proper BMW's with factory mechanics running about, and looking like they haven't turned a wheel. I offered my services for tomorrow with the packing up ready for shipping everything back to Germany but no-go! I've got a promise of a couple of stickers though so I'll go with that.

Not much action today. Only a family familurisation trip with a few close shaves. Filled up with COPEC diesel showing 32.7 mpg so far. But this has to be valued against the nice high ride, good road presence, and enough performance to please most folk when you want it. Otherwise it's a very nice drive that makes me want to keep going and going.

Looking forward to getting some polish on it tomorrow. Freelander 1 HSE TD4 Manual in Falklands
Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Auto in Chile

Went for a nice off-road drive today towards Liaima and Lonquimay volcanos near the Argentine border. 300km round trip up to 5000ft altitude. Played around in the lava and Volcano dust.

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