Just picked up my new freelander 2 TD4 SE, Stornaway grey. on Friday the 30th of March, from Stratstones of Perth. Had a trip down to Cockburnspath with the caravan on tow, managed 27MPG on the way down, but only got 24.5 MPG on the way back up today, but there was a strong wind. The caravan is a Coachman Pastiche 520/4 and it weighs in at 1500KGs fully laden
The only thing that I have seen wrong with the FL2 so far is the rubber gromet the goes round the handle for the back passenger door will have to be pushed into place.

I am very pleased with it so far.

How can you tarnish the good looks of the FL2 by attaching a GRP tent on wheels to the back of it . That is tantamount to painting a Pot Noodle on the lap of the Mona Lisa

Trust you had a good time though and the car behaved itself. MPG seems pretty good too.

you just asked for that!

Joiner_8 I am glad your FL2 went ok with the caravan on.
Which towbar did you opt for and do you find you need towing mirrors?
I have a Swift Carisma weighing 1400 kg fully laden and should have the FL2 TD4 SE within 4 weeks.

waaxh03

I tell you what elephant, I've had a a fantastic day and you come back with that... excellent!!!!!!

[quote="waaxh03"]Joiner_8 I am glad your FL2 went ok with the caravan on.
Which towbar did you opt for and do you find you need towing mirrors?
I have a Swift Carisma weighing 1400 kg fully laden and should have the FL2 TD4 SE within 4 weeks.

I have a brink towbar fitted, and regarding the mirrors I did not need any, I managed to see past the caravan without additional mirrors fitted.

Just thought I'd add my 2p to this this discussion.

Just returned from our first FL2 outing with the van (1450kg) ... complete success!

Total mileage of trip was 735 of which 485 was towing, at the end of this trip the computer showed 27.1mpg overall (though my full to full tank reconciliation puts this at 26.4mpg). Either way I'm quite pleased with that because the towing mileage was mainly around 60 mph and the none towing mileage was mainly low speed, single track roads with passing places, (oh and and of course some time playing on the beach - sand, pebbles etc ...).

My previous car was a Mazda 6 diesel Estate which had been awarded the Caravan Club tow Car of the Year, and it was a great car all round; it goes without saying that the FL2 improves on the Mazda by a significant margin. About half our trip was motorway, the remainder being A and B roads (Gretna to Stranraer on the A75 for those that know it!), it was a great drive!

As regards mirrors, well I've got more than a few miles under my belt in articulated fuel tankers, to me mirrors are top of the shop important. The FL2 mirrors are quite wide but not wide enough to just rely on the car mirrors; we tow a Fleetwood Sonata which being a European van exploits the width limitation to the max (2.39 metres, I think) so as good as they are the car mirrors don't quite do it for me. I've got a pair of (Cobra?) mirrors which add about 220mm on each side; with these fitted I'm in the happy (for me) position of actually being able to see the rear corners of the van when in a straight line.

Another interesting discussion which will develop for those of us that tow is ... to use 6th gear ... or not ??? that is the question? At 60(ish) the car will pull OK in sixth gear but I'm not sure if its better to use fifth and let the engine spin a bit more freely? The trip computer doesn't give an "instantaneous' reading so its difficult to know which is better; holding 60 in fifth at just about 2000 rpm (max torque) or sixth at about 1700 rpm. I'm tempted to think that a lighter throttle and higher rpm in fifth might be the better option, interested in what others think.

avtur, thanks for your interesting comments.
On the site below, you can make a simulation of your car + caravan and get an answer on your last question:

http://www.towcar.eu/report.php

Thanks Joiner_8 and avtur for your comments. I have asked Land Rover to fit a standard height towbar and electrics to the my FL2 before I take delivery. I was unsure if there was enough clearence for the Alko stabiliser with the swan neck type.
I also will be pleased if I get similar mpg when towing.

waaxh03

[quote="waaxh03"]Thanks Joiner_8 and avtur for your comments. I have asked Land Rover to fit a standard height towbar and electrics to the my FL2 before I take delivery. I was unsure if there was enough clearence for the Alko stabiliser with the swan neck type.
I also will be pleased if I get similar mpg when towing.

I thought that I would add, that when I connected my caravan to my detatchable tow bar it was a bit close to the back bumper . I put a cloth or a towel over the bumper just incase the bumper gets damaged, what I also do is if I have reversed the caravan into a space, I put the caravan hand brake on and move the car forward to pull out the bellows so that when disconnecting the hitch the alko hitch does not move forward and hit the bumper.

Interesting views, I tow a Fleetwood Heritage TA that is a fair bit heavier and get about 22mpg towing, its an auto and does use 6th but readily drops a gear or two. I'm not sure how you get by without mirrors though, I wouldn't personally. Witter have released their own tow bar for the Fl2 now, so you have a choice! D4 HSE Lux for me
FL2 HSE Zermatt & Alpacca for the wife now gone
Skoda Yeti L&K for the wife.

waaxh03 wrote:

Thanks Joiner_8 and avtur for your comments. I have asked Land Rover to fit a standard height towbar and electrics to the my FL2 before I take delivery. I was unsure if there was enough clearence for the Alko stabiliser with the swan neck type.
I also will be pleased if I get similar mpg when towing.

waaxh03

Thanks Joiner_8 and Avtur for your comments. I finally got my new FL2 on May 7th. I have checked the fixed towbar out and it came with a 1 inch spacer fitted. I haven't tried the caravan on it yet but I was wondering if I should fit a bumper protection plate at the back of the spacer. I am not sure if it would trigger off the rear parking sensors or if I would need to turn the parking sensors off completely when towing anyway.

waaxh03

I think the sensors are only supposed to come on when you select reverse, so if you start up and drive away forwards, they shouldn't be on.

boiledgnat wrote:

I think the sensors are only supposed to come on when you select reverse, so if you start up and drive away forwards, they shouldn't be on.