Owing to elderly bint reversing into my stationary Freely in a local car park last week (and catching her red-handed), I need a new N/s rear door and associated trim. Total bill £1089!! I'm clearly in the wrong job, as the damage looks to me like it could be done for about £200.

Anyway, be that as it may, I have insisted that I have a like for like vehicle or better, and was looking forward to a Discovery 4 arriving tomorrow, but I have now been told it will be a BMW X5, which I believe is a Q5/Disco equivalent. As I am saddled with it until next week, I shall put it through its paces both on and lightly off-road, and update this thread with my unbiased findings accordingly.

Watch this space... 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

Just pray it doesn't snow Badger.
Otherwise you might need the help of fellow Freel2 members to help tow you out  Another member of the failed FL2 clutch/DMF club, twice.

In light of Shilen's review of his new X3, and having had the X5 for most of the week (and will until Tuesday next), I thought I would update this thread with my unbiased findings. These opinions are purely based on my preferences, what I do for a living, and I have tried to be as objective as possible without being biased either way.

So at 8:30 Tuesday morning, this arrives:



3.0d X-Drive MSport. Initial impressions are that it is Discovery sized as opposed to Freelander, and in typical German style, the lines are sharp, giving it a somewhat aggressive stance.

The interior is mimialistic. Again, this seems to be a characteristic of German Marque's nowadays, but the cabin I find dark, soulless and frankly boring. I did however like the iDrive control, which reminded me of my old Insignia Elite...a lot less far than a touchscreen.



The rear legroom is plentiful, as is the boot, so no complaints on that front. If anything, one of my gripes of the FL is it's lack of space when the rear seats are up - the BMW has an abundance of space, which Mrs. Badger will be putting to good use this afternoon when she takes it shopping!





Performance-wise, the 3.0 straight six engine is incredible.....I am hugely impressed by the instant low-down torque, which pulls all the way up to approx 4000 rpm - it's powerful, fast, grunts nicely when floored, is quiet when cruising and returns approximately 46.8mpg over the last 4 days...this has been a combination of Town driving, rural, and dare I say it - downright mischievousness on the Fosse Way on the odd occasion

The 8-speed gearbox is smooth, not jerky, seamless and will happily slip into 8th at a mere 47mph via flappy-paddles. On that subject, this is the first car I have driven with paddles, and I particularly like the fact that when in D, you can still override the Autobox's selection without having to shift the gate across to the left. I don't know if the Disco 4 can do this, perhaps someone who has one or is in the know can advise?

Now, the important bit - Off-road characteristics.

This car has HDC (presumably a retained part of the deal when they sold LR to Ford), and Autohold, but no other Terrain setup at all. At best, you can turn the traction off, but nothing more than that.

For those of you that know the Oxfordshire/South Warwickshire border, I took the X5 to Avon Dasset yesterday afternoon, where there are some nice gentle grassy gradients. Bearing in mind that it was wet and quite slippery, I thought that it would be ideal to try it out in the same location that I know the FL2 can master with ease.

Well.....it managed the first incline reasonably ok, but the slightly steeper one was a disaster. By that, I mean that it got about 8 meters, then started to spin and bog down. TC off, HDC on made no difference. Tried it manually in 2nd, but no way was it going anywhere - just all four wheels trying to find grip. Incidentally, the car is running on Bridgestone Dueler HP 20"s all round. I know nothing about this tyre, and can only assume that it is a road tyre given the disastrous results. After 10 minutes of trying to coax it, it was evident that it wasn't going to happen, so I rolled back down in reverse and got it back onto Tarmac.

So, the positives:

Great engine and gearbox
Great MPG
Very good emissions for a 3.0 straight six
Plenty of room
Comfortable drive
Better infotainment control

And the not so goods:

Bland interior
Fugly
Not impressive on wet grass
Perception of BMW drivers is not brilliant. (Neither are LR/RR drivers for that matter)

If I was still a Sales Manager haring around the country's motorway network, and wanted a comfortable car that was relatively cheap to run, and had the reassurance that it *might* get me out of trouble in inclement weather, then the X5 is very difficult to ignore, and I can see why there are so many on the roads. What this experience has done for me is highlight that even with the MY2013 revisions, LR still have a long way to go with the soundproofing/emissions/economy/gearboxes in current models. I would like to think that all these will be addressed in the FL replacement next year, as if they get the new engines right first time and mate it to the current 9-speed box found in the Evoque, they will surely be onto a winner. For me, living in a rural area and not doing anywhere near the mileage I used to, and knowing from past experience that the FL will pretty much tackle most conditions thrown at it, is enough for me to swing the pendulum back towards the green oval. However, as raised elsewhere, they (JLR)need to get a handle on the negatives, as the BMW makes the Freelander appear dated in many respects.

I have this car until next Tuesday, so any comments or other minor tests that anyone wants me to try and perform, please let me know....

All the best 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

I think you have summed it up quite well although I think the X5 would be more comparable to the FFRR or RRS than the Disco? The m-sport comes with a black roof lining which in combination with black dash and seats makes the interior very dull. I opted for the oyster leather with brushed aluminium trim which really uplift the interior considerably - see below



I have never been a fan of the X5 it looks too bloated, the X3 that I have is far more attractive (but i have to say that don't I?)

Not tested on wet grass and probably never likely to hence why offroad capabilities is not high on my wants list - in 6 years i never went off road.

Have to agree with all the positives that you mentioned, its only when you see the opposition that you realise how far behind the Freelander 2 is - especially for how much its costs!! If it was priced £10K cheaper than it is its short comings could be accepted but LR insist on charging premium prices for something that is sadly lacking. No doubt all will be addressed with the new baby disco appears but for the moment there is no comparison

Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated  Now - 2017 BMW X3 M Sport Carbon Black
Gone - 2014 BMW X3 M Sport Space Grey, faultless!
Gone - 2011 Freelander 2 SD4 HSE Bali Blue with xenons
Gone - 2008 Freelander 2 TD4 HSE Rimini Red with bodykit

Quote:

its only when you see the opposition that you realise how far behind the Freelander 2 is - especially for how much its costs!! If it was priced £10K cheaper than it is its short comings could be accepted but LR insist on charging premium prices for something that is sadly lacking.

Badger in response to your question
"I don't know if the Disco 4 can do this, perhaps someone who has one or is in the know can advise?"

Discovery has paddle shift which can be used in both Drive and Sport and allows you to override the automatic selection providing the vehicle is going fast enough to change up or slow enough to change down.

Presumably the X5 (and X3) have run flat tyres?

This was one of the main reasons I moved away from the marque (had E39 5 series prior to the FL2). They are expensive to replace, don't actually run very flat from owner's experiences that I have read, and certainly the earlier models with them fitted had serious ride comfort issues.

I believe that the suspension has been tuned in the more recent models to pair better with RFTs.

I know they can be switched to regular tyres but then you don't get a spare, and there is no option for one. One of the reasons for opting for the FL2 was knowing I could fit a full size spare. One could argue that with roadside assistance membership there's no need for a spare, but many of them don't carry RFTs, or they didn't, or the range was minimal and very expensive.

I am in doubt that they are great to drive. I loved my 5 series and the engines are excellent, but with the other car being a Boxster we needed something more practical, and that could get us out and about in heavy snow if it came to the worst.

To paraphrase pab - "you can say what you like about my wife BUT don't you dare criticize my car"  MY 09 GS manual in Lago Grey, Wood Co arm rest and side bumper strips - now sold.

MY 15 SD4 SE Auto Orkney Grey with colour coded Bumper Door Mouldings

pab wrote:

Quote:

its only when you see the opposition that you realise how far behind the Freelander 2 is - especially for how much its costs!! If it was priced £10K cheaper than it is its short comings could be accepted but LR insist on charging premium prices for something that is sadly lacking.

This simply demonstrates a lack of understanding of what the FL2 actually is! It's not a competitor for the X3 - the X3 is a road car whilst the FL2 is a genuinely off-road-capable vehicle, and it's on that off-road capability where the money has been spent. If you're not interested in that capability then why buy a Land Rover in the first place? Basically you bought the wrong car when you bought the Freelander, but rather than admit that you criticise the car for not being what it was never intended to be.

For those of us who actually want the off-road capability the FL2 is worth every penny, and none of its so-called competitors comes close!

Like I said: This simply demonstrates a lack of understanding of what the FL2 actually is!

rchrdleigh wrote:

Badger in response to your question
"I don't know if the Disco 4 can do this, perhaps someone who has one or is in the know can advise?"

Discovery has paddle shift which can be used in both Drive and Sport and allows you to override the automatic selection providing the vehicle is going fast enough to change up or slow enough to change down.

pab wrote:

Like I said: This simply demonstrates a lack of understanding of what the FL2 actually is!

For your argument to hold water if i was looking to replace my FL2 with a similar vehicle i would have to have considered a tractor or a tank...

ad210358 wrote:

rchrdleigh wrote:

Badger in response to your question
"I don't know if the Disco 4 can do this, perhaps someone who has one or is in the know can advise?"

Discovery has paddle shift which can be used in both Drive and Sport and allows you to override the automatic selection providing the vehicle is going fast enough to change up or slow enough to change down.

But the annoying thing with the D4, unlike the Freelander, when you put it in Command Shift, it stays there, with the D4 if you use the Paddles to change gear with, if you don't change gear again after 60 Seconds or so, it drops back in to Auto, don't think it does this in Low but does on the road.

Will try it next time, should make excellent progress, Disco, in Sport Mode, with the van behind

I have noticed in Sport Mode, you get much more engine breaking.

[quote="Badger1970"]

Bland interior
Fugly
Not impressive on wet grass
Perception of BMW drivers is not brilliant. (Neither are LR/RR drivers for that matter)

I think I've solved your issue

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