A fairly well balanced review here...for me, the last sentence of the write up says it all!

http://goo.gl/t6LKd Foraging near Gaydon....
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MY13 HSE Lux SD4, Baltic Blue - current, 30,000> miles without fault
MY12 HSE 2.2 SD4, Sumatra Black - gone after 10 months/43,000 fault-free miles

Fitting an electronic handbrake to the 2013 models will surely bring on the faults of the D3 - I wouldn't call that an improvement.

Other half has one of those hand brakes in her car.... hate it.... but like many things its some thing we have to get used to.

T Terran



'The' Car For The Modern Day UK Roads ( ie all the pot holes )

'A Freelander that leaks oil is just marking its territory' - Wise words

Now a member of the FL2 'Silly Bill' Club

love it or hate it, hats off to the evoque those sales figures are amazing At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

I read somewhere that it is a different EPB to the disco one.

"But while the Freelander has been overshadowed by the fresher Evoque — Landie are adamant that they appeal to different buyers.
The Evoque is for fashion, while the more rugged Freelander is for farmer-types"

hahahaha...maybe I'm a closet farmer wannabee! I hope LR are in touch with their customers and that the FL2 and Evoque weren't a fluke by the design department!

..and for the electronic parking brake it's probably still better than the foot operated parking brake I had in the Merc. In the future the clever bods in the labs will work out how to do away with a driver operated parking brake of any type soon and it'll all be done behind the scenes by the car second guessing when the parking brake should be on or off. 11 SD4 HSE Stornoway Grey / Black Windsor Leather

"how to do away with a driver operated parking brake"

The future is already there - look at the VW Passat with "auto hold" - been there since 07! 10MY (Sept 09) TD4 HSE Auto in Stornoway Grey (Now Gone)

08 FL2 TD4 SE Manual in Rimini Red (Now Gone)

Yes Badger it is a fairly good review. There is little mid life progress for them to appraise however. Very modest changes to the car - and some of debatable value as others mention. No evidence of them improving much - just styling them differently. The rotary terrain response control knob has gone for example -that is a pity as I thought it looked and felt purposeful and was a nice component to the touch, something that makes the car interior different from lesser breeds. In place we have a supposedly stylish row of push buttons - so are they actually better? What if for example one was to accidentally spill a cup of coffee on the stylish row of push buttons - I imagine that the gloop will run into the buttons and knacker them sharpish. But nowhere in LR marketing philosophy is there argument for making things more durable, stronger, more reliable, simpler. Alas all the effort is at style - look at the effort LR put into making the front ends of the cars more bloated and bulbous every few years. Wish they would leave the front of the cars as they are and get those designers improving the quality of components - that would be progress.

Robin

Noticed the rear view picture....it is an HSE, where's the spoiler??

Rear spoiler is not standard on MY13 HSE.

I'd still really like another one when mine comes up for replacement in 14-15 months time, but it will be despite of these changes, not because of them.

That hugely over engineered TR knob gives going off road a real sense of occasion, while electric handbrake levers are a curse that should have been assigned to the same bin that the push button start should have been assigned to. Meanwhile, while the non Xenon equipped headlamps are a stupid backwards step! Argghhh

Quite like the clock though

taztastic wrote:

Rear spoiler is not standard on MY13 HSE.

I was 100% going for a new MY13 freelander but in light of the sh*t I have had with the clutch/dealer the jury is out. However putting that aside for a moment, I am not convinced the updates/refresh make it any better than the MY10 I currently have. I agree the loss of the rotary terrain response knob is a step backwards, as are some of the styling updates. However I felt the need for a new vehicle and the Freelander still ticked all the boxes. (Coming) 2016 RR Evoque td4 180 HSE Dynamc
(Going) 2013 TD4 GS Auto - Santorini Black with black leather. Cold Climate, UK Lighting & Armrest Packs. Privacy Glass. LR Rubber Mats. Full size spare.
60 000 miles averaging 35mpg

(Gone) 2010 TD4 Manual GS - Stornoway Grey. Sold at 3yrs old & 64k miles. Final average consumption 39.2mpg.

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FYI...

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/motor...r-SUV.html

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Be true to yourself. That way happiness lies...