To try and avoid scaring off potential new owners you can avoid main dealers as the likes of Famous Four offer fixed price servicing for example 150,000mile service including cam belt change £489 and 10 year service £225. (no connection to the firm)and I am sure other independants will charge similar or less. I did my own cars belt and water pump recently and spent £185 in total for quality parts including auxilary belt, water pump, genuine coolant and the crankshaft locking tool.Took a couple of nights on my driveway to do the work. It`s a very easy belt to do as there is plenty of room to work on it compared to some others so any local garage should be able to do it. I don`t think anyone with a 8 year old car could afford to go to a main dealer for any kind of major work although some dealers will offer special prices on servicing and the like at various times. You can run a Freelander as cheap as any car if you can find a good local garage for repairs and spend a bit of time surfing the net for best pricing on parts etc.

Thank you Don. I appreciate your words of encouragement and I shall quote you to my worried wife about running as cheap as any car.
Last week when I first saw the car, the salesman took me out in it for a test drive, but we only got a few hundred yards and the ECU lamp came on and it went into limp mode or something so we had to abort the test drive.
Ive heard this morning from the dealer that they have had to put a brand new EGR valve in it so that's good news for me. They've also put two new tyres on it, and new front discs and pads. They're going to touch up some big stone chips, repair a small dent, repair a split in the side of the drivers seat and service it for me.
All in all, now Ive heard that, I'm very keen for it to all go through smoothly.
The test drive is later today. Ive never driven one so hopefully that will be okay. Fingers crossed.
I'm impressed at the rapid responses from people on this forum, thank you all.

As with most things it always pays to shop around as much as you can for best prices etc especially as most peoples wages have stood still or went downwards in real terms over the last few years. I am shocked when I see invoices for work that people have had carried out on their cars when a quick check on-line can find the parts/labour for a fraction of what they have paid. I am fortunate that I can do all my servicing and repairs myself and using a mixture of new/used/genuine/pattern parts can keep servicing and repair costs to very sensible levels. However be warned that most Land Rovers owners can easily develop an illness that makes them want to spend all their money on buying upgrades and other bits for their pride and joy that the car doesn`t really need. Since getting mine I have upgraded to Hid signature lights , led rear lights , Dynamic body kit, and am currently awaiting delivery of a rear view camera kit and a heated steering wheel! I have told myself that my wish list is now complete but I am sure a little voice in my head might disagree with that!

Yes, I know what you mean. I have fallen into that trap with my Jag XKR.
I have heard the Halogen headlamps on the LR2 are poor, so I would be very interested in an upgrade one day.
If I do get it (I say if, I've already made my mind up, lol) the first job will be getting it treated underneath to protect against corrosion.

The FL2 is actually a great car, great to drive, versatile (as good in muddy fields as is it on a stately home driveway), comfortable and will go anywhere your likely to want to with ease.... but like any other modern car it has its Achilles heels.

As long as you buy wisely, don't be afraid to walk away, and budget accordingly they are no more expensive than buying a Ford Mondeo or 3 series etc.

Hi

Great forum, lots of info.
Owning freelander for 6 months now, happy bunny

Delboy wrote:

Thank you Don. I appreciate your words of encouragement and I shall quote you to my worried wife about running as cheap as any car.
Last week when I first saw the car, the salesman took me out in it for a test drive, but we only got a few hundred yards and the ECU lamp came on and it went into limp mode or something so we had to abort the test drive.
Ive heard this morning from the dealer that they have had to put a brand new EGR valve in it so that's good news for me. They've also put two new tyres on it, and new front discs and pads. They're going to touch up some big stone chips, repair a small dent, repair a split in the side of the drivers seat and service it for me.
All in all, now Ive heard that, I'm very keen for it to all go through smoothly.
The test drive is later today. Ive never driven one so hopefully that will be okay. Fingers crossed.
I'm impressed at the rapid responses from people on this forum, thank you all.

Paying almost £100 per hour labour isn`t cheap in my book!

Valve costs circa £180 off ebay remember LR dealer cost is more and then add full refill with coolant at silly money . Also remember a LR Stealer will have already charged you to do a fault code test at circa £100 and the labour rate is North of £140 per hour plus VAT for at least 3 hours. So £500 is as cheap as it gets unless you save the labour doing it yourself.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LAND-ROVER-FREEL...SwcUBYU~TE FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

Independent garages will have much lower labour rates than a main dealer so always worth shopping around. As an example Famous Four £49.50p +vat per hr and some local garages (not Land Rover specialists) will charge around half that. If you have a decent local garage then you will find that if they are getting the work then diagnostic tests and fault finding will in most cases be done free of charge. That is my experience anyway and although I do almost all my own repairs on the very odd occasion that I don`t then there are still lots of ways to avoid paying anywhere near dealer prices. As an example Group-on deal to get local Aircon service and regas for £19 or on-line National Tyres voucher for £15 wheel alignment or cheap MOT. Again no connection to any of the businesses mentioned.

We can all save money in theory but in the middle of Winter when you are locked on reduced power needing to get to that important appointment its immaterial what your mate around the corner charges. I now still run this car from new as I still like it and can afford it but I would not buy one second hand (now edited) knowing what I know now without a factory type warranty and I did a 5 year apprenticeship in the car repair trade 50 years ago. FL2 MY10 TD4 GS traded in at 2 years
FL2 MY13 TD4 GS Current

Just trying to give a balanced view of Freelander ownership. It is as reliable/unreliable as any other modern car and can be run and repaired at reasonable cost if you choose to shop around. I could have bought a brand new Duster/Fiesta/ Corsa etc for the price of my used Freelander but chose it as I have always liked the brand and have had well into double figures of different models over the years even although there are much cheaper vehicles available that will do the same job. Hopefully we both have many more years of trouble free motoring ahead for both of us! Enjoy!

Well, the deal is done. I collect Friday next week.
I had a good long test drive on all types of roads, the salesman must have thought I was a right PITA!
It was a pleasure to drive and very comfy (I've never been in one before, so first time for everything). The only things that weren't too good were the level of noise at 70mph, but I was expecting that for such a box shaped vehicle, and that it is gutless on kick down, there is just no more power there for overtakes when travelling a reasonable speeds. (2.2 TD4 auto).
Apart from that, I love it.
I managed to get a look underneath too and I was surprised at how clean it was. A bit of mud packed in a few places and some light surface corrosion which I will have sorted but no sign of off-road damage or abuse. It even has DAB.
I just wish it had the xenon headlamps but life is a compromise.
I'll post a photo once I get it.

Delboy, It will be a long week waiting I would think! Surprised about the lack of get up and go you mention. Although mine is a manual it is still surprisingly quick (for its size) when you change down and need a bit of fast overtaking. Using command shift might be worth trying when you get it to see if that makes a difference.Road noise at motorway speeds is also not an issue although the type and make of tyres fitted can make a big difference to that. Looking forward to the photos!

pre-emptive welcome to the FL2 clan

regards the auto kickdown etc, its designed to be a more leisurely drive so changes in D don't like to be rushed. S mode or command shift can speed things up for you though. Also an auto box fluid change would probably help