Had a proper look at a DS in the showroom today with a view to maybe having a test drive.

Good points -
Looks quite good from the front
Interior trim is great - finish, materials, seat comfort - a great step up from the Freely2 - a nice place to be. It was an HSE Lux version - all a bit frilly and fluffy for my taste but definitely well done.
Driving position comfy and not as low down/car-like as I had feared.

"Not for me" points -
The sloping windscreen meant that the screen top was below my eye level - I would have to lower the seat right down to be able to see forward without ducking - hopeless!
Rear vision is poor with the squashed down rear roofline and thick rear panels - the harse end is well ugly.
Trailing rear suspension arms are too vulnerable for off road use.
No spare and all that folding 3rd seat business is a waste of space.
Unable to stand under rear tailgate without limbo dancing under the tailgate.
This model was £48k.

None of those negative points could be improved if they stripped out some of the bling and brought out a more affordable GS model. For me the design is compromised by the ugly back end and it has almost no LandRover dna.
Why could they not have called this an Evoke Sport and simply tidied up the Freely2 a bit?

I can't see what this offers that an X3 or Q5 does not do better. So no point in test driving it. Keeping the Freely2 thanks.

Some time ago I had test drive, tried MY2014 Jeep Cherokee and ride handling was much worse than FL2. It's a class worse car when talking about stability and on-road abilities.
It was unstable above 100km/s (shakes on small inequalities of the road). And much much more affected by side wind than FL2.

The car I'd tested was common onroad version of Cherokke without low range and without heavy duty suspension.

Driving like in a car engineered a fifteen years ago.

Additionally it's starting from 1st gear with the Diesel with 9 speed gearbox. Good when offroading but not on road.

shilen wrote:

Yes I always thought the original Freelander's 3 and 5 door body designs were a good idea

Until LR sort out their CO2 emissions I am leaving the fold and my new car ordered this week will have blue and white propellor on the bonnet, a quaility interior and a substantially lower BIK rate.

Propellor on bonnet - not driven through the wheels then? 3 x FL1 2 manual + 1 auto
5 x FL2 4 manual + 1 auto
Now Discovery Sport P250 MHEV SE

These guys normaly do a good review , but there was no place in this video that I wouldn't have taken my works kangoo van.
 Do it now ! Your a long time dead !!

As the DS does not come close to filling my requirements I have sadly decided to change marque, I've been in the DS and yes it is fine but 7 seats and no spare wheel or space for a full size spare leaves me distinctly unimpressed and LR inability to let us know what models and trims are in the pipeline does not help. I am also stressed about buying a new car with the old engine in - what happens to residuals when the new engine is introduced - this constant drip feed of information really does not help in planning - despite a brilliant product in the LR2, Land Rover leave a lot to be desired in their customer retention strategy. Basically I need to change my car now and they are not offering a viable option, so...............

It looks as if I will be ordering the new 4x4 automatic Subaru Forrester, had a test drive yesterday and it was very impressive (and SWMBO was impressed).

I have had FL2s from day 1 in December 2006 and thoroughly enjoyed the experience - I would recommend them to anyone and it did exactly what I needed both on and off road.

So off now to start and prepare my FL2 for private sale and await delivery around the end of April of the new vehicle.

I will remain on the forum as I may have something to offer after more that 8 years ownership and happy memories of around 170,000 miles driving. Tony

I know you are all going to hate this but ...

I spend quite a bit of time in Spain and on my last trip ( 2 weeks ago) i had the opportunity to ride in a friends Dacia Duster and to be fair it was not bad.

Yes it is basic but fairly well bolted together no rattles etc.

I asked why he changed from an old Mitsubishi and he said just the price. For the top of the range he paid approx £15k.

We discussed depreciation and as he said if he looses 60% over three years then it is still cheaper to own than most anything else, at even 70% it is still not bad.

He intends to keep it three years and trade it for another avoiding major costs of failures and having any extended warranty cost.

We went over some very rough ground, which is his norm ( not muddy just rough ) and it coped very well.

He says fuel is around 35MPG

There are hundreds of the things about in Spain and when I drove bnack through France there were even more.

I guess they cannot all be wrong in choosing it.

Maybe an option for those not worried about the badge and are happy with the more basic Freelander ( as was )

As an aside my Freelander ( 2013 HSE Lux ) averaged 35 mpg and has already lost the cost of the Dacia

Don't discount the Duster! They do remarkably well here in SA and a mate has one. We have taken it onto the trails and apart from the nudge bar and lack of decent ground clearance, it did surprisingly well!

Reeventu wrote:

I know you are all going to hate this but ...

Had started to look at replacements for next years change. Always bought 1-2 year old in the past but had a look at the Evoque as the residuals look to be really strong, even after 4 years production and thought about buying new. Had messed about with the configurator for the DS and was coming to 36K for the minimum spec I was looking at. The Evoque came in under 34K, mainly due to the fact metallic paint and leather were standard on the base model.

Now with the new engine is being introduced to the Evoque with a minor facelift it looks like there is going to be a 5% hike in prices coupled with a realignment of specifications. From the new configurator it looks like the Pure losses full leather and drops to 17" wheels (which look like the low spec Punto sitting across the road from me as I type). Although no prices set it looks like it will cost >36K for the same spec as the MY15.

Looks like back to the drawing board in the search or hope that a baby disco is released before I change.

Well ... after 3 Land Rovers ... I too am taking a break.
However I am going to the opposite end of the spectrum, due to a great deal through our company car scheme.

Not driven a company car for 9 years but am waiting for a Mitsubishi PHEV to be delivered
With only 5% BIK and our company offering an 'environmental bonus' to anyone willing to drive a hybrid. I decided to give it a go for 3 years.

The Disco 4 is the only one I would consider these days, but they have just driven the prices to a level I can no longer justify ...my MY07 D3 SE cost me 27k 10 months old a similar age D4 XS would now cost me in the region of 40k with a spec that is missing some of the kit the D3 had

Loved my FL2 HSE lux, but they are a a dying breed and it comes to a simple choice of either moving it on while it is still a sought after car or run it into the ground. The latter is not an option for me and the with new company incentive it was time for a change.

Would like to think i will be back, but given where the range is going who knows.
Guess it depends what the D5 turns out like. Cheers Ian
Migrated over from Disco4
___________________________________________
MY13 FL2 HSE lux Orkney Grey (gone but never forgotten)
MY10 D4 XS Stornoway Grey
MY07 D3 SE Zermatt silver (traded in before any issues!)
Massey Ferguson 400 FIS AGTV - Arctic Cat by any other name...

frawdder wrote:

Had started to look at replacements for next years change. Always bought 1-2 year old in the past but had a look at the Evoque as the residuals look to be really strong, even after 4 years production and thought about buying new. Had messed about with the configurator for the DS and was coming to 36K for the minimum spec I was looking at. The Evoque came in under 34K, mainly due to the fact metallic paint and leather were standard on the base model.

Now with the new engine is being introduced to the Evoque with a minor facelift it looks like there is going to be a 5% hike in prices coupled with a realignment of specifications. From the new configurator it looks like the Pure losses full leather and drops to 17" wheels (which look like the low spec Punto sitting across the road from me as I type). Although no prices set it looks like it will cost >36K for the same spec as the MY15.

Looks like back to the drawing board in the search or hope that a baby disco is released before I change.

J77 you may be right. Saw the link on an Evoque forum and had read previously they would be using the SE name again so put 2 and 2 together. Supposed to be 1st April for prices so UK site may update then.

While on the subject, now that you have had all 3 how does the ride comfort compare between FL2, evoque and DS on rough roads?