Hi all - I bought a Freelander 2 to replace my slightly aging X-trail - liked the interior & a reasonable amount of toys - a lot smaller in the boot & a lot slower on the road - a tuning box helped pep it up a bit without hurting the fuel consumption - In snow & ice the FR2 is a lot better than the X-trail, but on ordinary roads I find the spring rates are too soft & the damping is just god-awful - checked all are still sealed & springs are still in 1 piece - tyres are in good condition, good make & correct tyre pressures - but if you drive over slight undulations at a steady 70mph (as often happens on todays rotten roads) a slight wobble in the steering can quickly develop into a pronounced weave on the road - requires both application of brakes & steering input to correct. Handling on twisty roads is frankly . I like the car but if I can't sort this it will go - a swift search on line reveals only springs & dampers to OE spec & when I spoke to the nice salesman at Stratstone I found out that this isn't restricted to my car, but that's how Landrovers drive.......Also the tailgate won't open

Any ideas - or do I go back to a nice solidly built Nissan with swiss watch reliability, 128mph top speed, lovely supple suspension a huge boot & more toys than you can shake a stick at

snob value is not all its cracked up to be...

that said - I really do like the car - it's massively comfortable & the sound from Meridian system is just soooo nice.

Please help a confused soul

Last edited by alsy on 17th Jul 2018 5:39 pm. Edited 1 time in total

No ideas, except to go back to "solidly built Nissan"...

Welcome Alsy.............oh wait a minute............Bye. If it wasn't so bad it'd be funny.

🐑
Freelander 2 HSE auto 2014 ( Florrie ) ..... Try again.
Freelander 2 GS 2012...... Gone.

Try A 4 wheel alignment check ,mine was way out and drove wonderfully when all adjusted.

will try the 4 wheel alignment thing

cheers

alsy

JulesK wrote:

Welcome Alsy.............oh wait a minute............Bye.

my money would be the shock absorbers, they may look ok but could have lost the damping. my rear ones were not leaking and looked ok but I later found out I was driving around with just the springs, very unstable on pot holed roads (as I found Out when they were replaced totally Not that expensive either.

Car had only done 39000 when I got it - but as you say the dampers may well be gubbed - will look to get some & replace them (looks to be an easy job both ends - nice to get hands dirty again)

alsy wrote:

JulesK wrote:

Welcome Alsy.............oh wait a minute............Bye.

sorry to upset you - is just an honest appraisal of a car -

I reckon JulesK was replying in response to your original unedited post praising the X-Trail to the detriment of the FL2.

 FL2 now gone and have a couple of items left for sale:-

Brodit active iPhone holder + Brodit dash clip,
Bluetooth Music Streaming Module.

Alsy, my FL2 copes well with reasonable speed on twisty, single-track, West Highland roads, so I am a bit surprised about your comments, although I did find that it did some funny things on fast corners until I got rid of the Pirelli Scorpion Verde tyres. I wonder if your DSC is either not doing what it should do, or doing things that you don’t like it doing? Perhaps try switching it off (or on!) and see if that makes a difference!

Not much you can do about the boot space, though, and I agree that it is a disappointment! 2005 D3 2.7 Auto
Previously:
2010 MY FL2 TD4e GS - Now gone at 199,500 miles, about 135,000 of them mine.
‘93 Defender 110 200TDi CSW
‘87 Defender 90 4 cyl Petrol
‘83 110 CSW V8 - best ever!
Range Rover 2-door V8 (not sure of year - 4-speed box and vacuum diff switch)
Series III SWB Diesel

sometimes the truth is inconvenient or perhaps more likely I am a bit biased - love a good Nissan - just so far found the x-trail to be a better all rounder & no squeaks, rattles or break downs - in a year with the FR2 had all of them - maybe I'm unlucky - anyhow not to oversell the x trail or undersell the freelander 2 different beasts & winter was a lot easier in the freelander -

Current fleet - Freelander, Nissan Juke (dear lady wifes car) MG TF, Robin Hood & Mk 4 escort (Sons car)

wish list includes almost all old cars (especially old Ford) , a defender, a Suzuki Jimny & many many others

loved my Nissan.. though it was a 350z, not really practical living a mile down a dirt track hence the Freelander.

Fl2 handling can't be exactly described as sporty, but it handles well enough for me when it gets chucked around the moors and the dales when I need it to. It is a bit wallowy but it swallows bumps and potholes like a black hole. I've never noticed it weaving over 70, normally rock steady, out of interest, what size alloys do you have?

alsy wrote:

... but if you drive over slight undulations at a steady 70mph (as often happens on todays rotten roads) a slight wobble in the steering can quickly develop into a pronounced weave on the road - requires both application of brakes & steering input to correct. Handling on twisty roads is frankly .

Could be alignment, could be tyres.

With Standard Goodyears or winter Goodyears the handling was fine all they way up to the cars maximum on the motorway, bit like a barge on country roads. Then again 185k miles on the original suspension, it was probably past it's best - still brilliant on rutted off-road tracks.

But worn Goodyear Mud terrains required a lot of concentration above 60mph, and touching a white line at 70mph in the wet was a recipe for swearing.

Haven't driven a Nissan apart from the wife's Micra and that was like a go-kart, bloody dangerous on pot holes - she wiped out several wheels and wheel bearings! A college used to swear by his X-trail, parts did seem cheaper than LR, he chopped it in for a Hyundai when he bought a larger caravan, as he couldn't stretch to a Disco 4. Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner