Hi there, being new to the Freelander 2 world I would aprieciate your advice. At present we have a Classic Range Rover diesel and we tow a Bessacar 470/2. We are changing the caravan because we now need more space because I hope to be retireing in the New Year and we have 2 grand children who will enjoy some time away with us and the FL 2 because they appear to be more than capable. We have never had to worry in the past about what hung off the tow bar with the RR, what with 3.5tonnes towing capacity so plenty of leeway. Even with the Bailey coming in at just under 1,400kgs , 6,00kgs below the FL 2 max I do feel that I might be a little more vunerable to bad loading. You guys must have stacks of experience with the Freelander + caravan, please share.

Regards Paul.

I have a Sterling Eccles Onyx which weighs in at 1450kg loaded. Very stable, better with weight (ie, awning etc) on the floor in the centre of the 'van rather than in the boot! Noseweight always in excess of 75kg with 2 x gas bottles in the front boot. Easy cruising in 5th below 60, 6th above (I have a long driveway) 25 - 27mpg
Bob 10MY (Sept 09) TD4 HSE Auto in Stornoway Grey (Now Gone)

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

1500kg is no problem to the freely, best tow car I have ever had and I used to have a disco 1 V8.

The tourque is amazing, I pulled my van (1500 kg) up the hills away from Whitby leaving the solo traffic behind. The freely is very stable at speed, the only minor gripe I have is 6th is just too high for some roads at 60, at 70 it's fine but of course, we don't do that do we ...   MY2014 SD4 XS
Ipanema Sand

MY10 TD4-e GS Manual
Lago Grey Now retired after 8 trouble free years

We have long driveways in Nottinghamshire........ 10MY (Sept 09) TD4 HSE Auto in Stornoway Grey (Now Gone)

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

And w I d e  MY2014 SD4 XS
Ipanema Sand

MY10 TD4-e GS Manual
Lago Grey Now retired after 8 trouble free years

I drive an '07' FL2 TD4 160bhp + Coachman Highlander 560/4 at 1440kg unladen. No problems towing, best with a bit of weight on the front. As above posters, A-roads in 5th at 50-55ish, 6th gear can be a bit dour. Manual can be a bit of effort trying to reverse uphill with the van on the back.

All i all a great towcar.

LoP

I'll second that, LoP, I "modestly" think I am quite adept at 'van reversing, but the reverse gear is too high for slow speeds uphill. I ended up fitting a Reich Mover!  10MY (Sept 09) TD4 HSE Auto in Stornoway Grey (Now Gone)

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

Even though I have had 25 years as a class 1 HGV driver I have chosen an automatic as one of the reasons. The other reason being that I just like a good auto, there is nothing worse than a bad one, and believe me I have driven some rubbish , also when off roading it would be a pain having to slip the clutch. Although I did see a video of Ed Cobley giving instructions to someone in a FL2 rock crawling down hill and just using the foot brake to slow him down making use of the anti stall device on the manual model. Very interesting what will they think of next.

Cheers

I think I would next time..... Anyway I like autos 10MY (Sept 09) TD4 HSE Auto in Stornoway Grey (Now Gone)

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

Well, we tow one of these and its a breeze ! Freelander tows a dream down to Spain !

Click image to enlarge

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That looks like an awful lot of caravan, well done you

Thank you Paul
Tows great and often forget its on the back. We don't load up to the hilt and no issues at all. I have managed the Med to Calais in a day towing non stop cruising at 80 + all the way.
We used to have an Avernge , great van. We have had 7 Baileys over the years and they have all been fab. We spent over a month touring Europe few years back with a Bretange and x-type Jag.
We have never had any instability issues with Towing baileys.
May be partly due to the fact that the chassis design is carried out atBristol university so it gets the best design and testing.
Enjoy Jaguar x-type sport gone
Jaguar x-type 2.2d sport one of my best cars ever sadly gone
Freelander 2 GS auto 2008 most unreliable ever ! gladly gone
Freelander 2 GS manual 2013 only time will tell !

Hi oldgeezer, I was just a bit concerned due to the fact that we are upsizing in caravan and downsizing in tow car. Still a LR but a bit lighter so the tail could wag the dog but hey! the FL2 has 160bhp and the Range Rover tdi only has 111bhp and that was when it left Solihull and a few horses might have escaped by now

But thanks for reassuring me anyway.

Regards Paul

LT,
I tow an Abbey GTS Vogue at 1480 MTPLM with my 57 plate Td4 no problem. Very stable and as has already been said, unless at 63mph or above, 6th gear is slightly laboured. I have customers who tow 1250kgs easily in 6th. The extra 200kgs must make all the difference. in fact, my Freely tows better than my Disco 2 Td5 auto, in terms of grunt going up hills. Stability wise the Disco was awesome.
Just need to watch your nose-weight from a hitch perspective - Alko and Winterhoff are both 100kg max ( ie lower than the Freely). Exceeding this 100kg will cause issues in the long term (especially with the overrun piston bushes). FL2 2007 57 GS
D2 2005 Td5 - gone and not missed
FL1 2005 Td4 - gone and missed

Well all my concerns with regard to caravan weights have now gone out of the window, because I have just bought a D3. I have always wanted one and after my wife traveling in my daughter's FL2 and found it uncomfortable so was compelled to go for a D3, 08 plate, 116000 miles 12 months MOT + 2 years , yes 2 years comprehensive warranty. Well it would have been rude not, now wouldn't it.
Cheers Paul.