Kingy wrote:

We'll still be Freelander owners for a short while as the V5 form has been delayed (after putting our plate on retention) so selling the Freelander 1 will have to wait a while.

Ah well, end of an era! My 'new' V5 turned up on Saturday late morning and one phonecall later the Freelander 1 is now sold as of earier today. We are now car-less until Wednesday when we get the X3.

I'm glad to read that folk are happy with their F2's and some are happy with dealers. Hope that carries on and thanks again for all of the advice and understanding on this thread.

Its a shame the dealers did not meet your needs and that this put you off a great car. My HSE has only ever had one problem and that was on the day I collected it. ( Sun roof would not open after they fitted the towing electrics, quickly fixed with a software update) I too would certainly buy another - not that that is likely to happen for a long time given the depreciation issue.

I also deal with Stratstone and their service to me has been excellent.My two FL1s came from the same garage under differnt ownership. I did have a couple of issues then but things definitely improved after Stratstone took over.

All the best and I hope you enjoy the X3 He who dies with the most tools wins!

Toolking wrote:

All the best and I hope you enjoy the X3

Many thanks for that!

We collected the X3 today. It wasn't a local dealer so my wife (following me on the way home) had a great journey of roughly 100 miles to see just what the car was like. A combination of small A roads, fast national speed limit, rough roadworks, busy towncentre, motorway and finally the Woodhead Pass from Sheffield to Glossop with the small windy/ bumpy B6105 from Crowden (off A628) to Glossop which is a favourite biking road of mine. Happily she is over the moon with the X3! Whether its down to our Freelander 1 being old technology and no doubt a bit tired or the benefits of the revised suspension BMW introduced I dont know, but the biggest potential disappointment (ride quality if you buy into the old model X3 reviews) has turned out to be one of the cars strong points in my wifes opinion.

Another plus point was the computer showing average mpg of 44, which bodes very well for my wifes longer motorway trips down to Heathrow.

Anyway, enough said as I appreciate that most on here will not be interested in me bigging up a BMW. I still find it a shame our Freelander 2 plans went so wrong, so as suggested in this thread a letter is off to the dealer principle of the dealer who effectively changed our minds. Whilst it makes no difference to me now, I do think constructive feedback (positive or negative) can help if accepted. Thats down to the dealer though.

Thanks again for everyones help. Best wishes to you all and I hope you all have enjoyable and troublefree motoring.

Do we really want bmw drivers on here lowering the tone

Good luck with the X3, you'll need it if it is built as well as a bm I once owned  At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

Bit late now, but did you actually test drive an FL2? you'll be surprised how comfortable yet controlled the ride is, nevermind the refinement. Phil

chicken george wrote:

Do we really want bmw drivers on here lowering the tone
Good luck with the X3, you'll need it if it is built as well as a bm I once owned

Lol
I don't think build quality will be an issue. The build and finish (inside and out) look and sound spot on. Plus, the model/year we bought is one of the newer variants so has the upgraded/more refined interior with a few options added which are nice.


phil_wkl - No, we didn't drive the FL2. I didn't need to tbh as we knew for a fact that the ride would be excellent. That was a given based on our Freelander 1 ownership experience. We intended to test drive the F2 that we arranged a deal on, as driving it was not a priority with knowing that would be one of the cars strongpoints. With the BMW on the otherhand it was imperative we drove it because of the early reports on poor ride quality (which we found was not the case or we would have walked away from the X3).

I honestly won't have a word said against Freelanders and certainly won't be talking them down just because we have moved away from the brand. Excellent vehicles and I can only hope that the X3 is as good for as long as our old F1 proved to be.

Haven’t read all the stuff that Kingy has written about the pros and cons of an X3 and I hope he will be happy with his choice but I understand he chose the BMW without testing a FL2 – what a He really does NOT KNOW what he will be missing .

Firstly, most of us have gone down the same road but most of us have tested all the opposition before deciding and many of us have all chosen the FL2 over the X3. My earlier drive was a BMW and it was the X3 I was going to buy, but still tested all the lesser species as well, but had forgotten the LR. Went for a test just before I put cash down for an (high spec.) X3 and honestly there is no comparison at all – the FL2 was the best drive I had tried and just had to have, cost what may .

Secondly, you can’t compare the Freelander (1) with a FL2 so all previous experience should be forgotten when choosing new.

Thirdly, the existing X3 is old hat that is about to be replaced with a much “better” vehicle that probably will kick out of the old one and will be more competition for the FL2 no doubt.

Good luck Kingy with your choice, I wonder how long it will take for you to regret choosing an out of date X3  2007 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Manual with Premium Pack & Moonroof.
Stornoway Grey with Ebony Black Pleather, Clear Indicators, Body Side Mouldings etc.

AndyC wrote:

Good luck Kingy with your choice, I wonder how long it will take for you to regret choosing an out of date X3

At least it isn't dishwater grey  At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

chicken george wrote:

AndyC wrote:

Good luck Kingy with your choice, I wonder how long it will take for you to regret choosing an out of date X3

At least it isn't dishwater grey

Did'nt see what colour Kingy has gone for, but in any case if its black it is double out of date  2007 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Manual with Premium Pack & Moonroof.
Stornoway Grey with Ebony Black Pleather, Clear Indicators, Body Side Mouldings etc.

AndyC wrote:

Good luck Kingy with your choice, I wonder how long it will take for you to regret choosing an out of date X3

The bottom line to why we didn't bother driving a Freelander 2 is that there are many reasons (bad dealer experiences, too many recurring faults for a two year old car and significant concerns about longterm reliability both mechanical and particularly electrical) which put us off buying the F2. Tbh the ride was irellevant once it was clear there were so many other problems which we simply weren't prepared to accept or risk with longterm, cash financed ownership.

By comparison, (despite being rolled out 2 years before the F2) the X3 has had no reliablity issues, dealers have proved very good for us, the ride quality is excellent, servicing costs are less, fuel economy better and residuals forecast as better.
Add into all that - my wife loves the drive the X3 gives (after all this size of 4x4 - F2/X3 - are aimed at women owners ) and prefers the look of the X3 and for our circumstances it turned into an easy decision.

New BMW X3. Yes, I looked at the net reports (Eg Topspeed) and pics on that. Due 2010/11 and intending to evolve the model rather than change its apprearance dramatically. Looks very nice and maybe something we will consider upgrading to when they have been out a couple of years (around 2014) and taken a good hit on depreciation.




.... is that ^^ enough food for the Troll?!

This story once again shows what an incredible stupidity the marketing dep. at Land Rover made by calling this car Freelander (2) again.

it's a bit late now, but maybe still interesting to read:
http://www.freel2.com/forum/topic223.html

.... is that ^^ enough food for the Troll?!

Kingy, I am afraid not - But if that is hers (oops sorry, YOUR) decision, than as I said, the best of luck. Maybe in 2014 or whenever you’re going to swap again you will understand what I was talking about (well maybe not ).

Our last drive a BMW (wife’s choice) was very good for the first years, but then expensive electrical problems, and some strange mechanical ones, long discussions with the importers and terrible service centre’s (both the closest to me) killed off much of my wish to continue with BMW .

So far the FL2 has been trouble free with none of the many problems discussed on this forum . The dealer was excellent and gave us a good service and a great deal . Servicing has been excellent (except for 1 dirty thumb mark on the roof lining ) although more expensive than what I remember from BMW service, but otherwise a very economical vehicle to own regarding insurance and MPG (KPL in European terms) . The FL2 is NO WAY a Freelander (1) and beats the existing X3 in every way as far as we are concerned (and my wife has always been a BMW fan) The FL2 has excellent road handling and is very comfortable on long journeys as well . Off road – well we do some – beats the X3 hands down – I would love to see the X3 on a LRE for comparison .

Yeh – that’s about it – good for you and your X3, but you have certainly missed out on the best 4x4 ride around in that class  2007 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Manual with Premium Pack & Moonroof.
Stornoway Grey with Ebony Black Pleather, Clear Indicators, Body Side Mouldings etc.

Paul wrote:

This story once again shows what an incredible stupidity the marketing dep. at Land Rover made by calling this car Freelander (2) again.
it's a bit late now, but maybe still interesting to read:
http://www.freel2.com/forum/topic223.html

Can't get to a link through that? Get a Ford ad then a website front page but no road test. As you say, its academic (for us) now anyway as we've made our choice. Tbh I wouldn't be influenced into a purchase by a magazine (virtual or hardcopy) of any sort that relies on advertising revenue. Stopped buying bike mags years ago as they generally became a known joke for that.

Anyway this vid is far better for the early model BMW X3 .... http://www.topgear.com/uk/videos/dirt-war#...?Phrase=x3. Quality.

Anyway if people didn't buy X3's etc, us FL2 owners would have nothing to feel superior about , So buy away make CG happy


Andyc did you finger get stuck on the emoticon button in that last post? At work
At home

"I can't always believe facts I read on the web" - Charles Dickens

winner by default of the tractor vs caravan race

@ Kingy: you're right. Apparently the name of the site has been changed so I edited my post. It should work now.
Just watched the top gear vid. Very convincing...