Thoughts please. I am thinking of downsizing from my 2002 Disco 2 auto to a Freelander.
Local garage has a 58 plate manual for sale at £4995, MOT oct 2020, 95 k, two owners, timing belt changed, FSH.
Love my Disco 2, but costing too much.
What do you experts think. Local guy has good reputation. Neighbour has bought last two cars from him.
Thanks in advance
Jim A

you dont say what spec the FL2 is ....GS, XS, HSE ? as this could have an effect on price however for an 11 year old car probably not too much of an effect in reality.

4995 sounds like a good price to me, and good that the belts have been changed.

as always check overall condition, does everything work on it as it should, does the rear diff whine, does the haldex seem to operate as it should, even tyre wear etc etc.

haldex service and diff oils change is around £250
rear diff replacement around £500 for an uprated item from Bell Engineering + fitting

if you go for it, you will notice a massive difference in driveability and running costs without losing out on too much interior space other than the smaller boot.

Thanks RogB for your info and suggestions.
The car is an "S" and has a tow bar fitted.
Intend a test drive tomorrow and will make sure everything works.
My Disco is actually running very well st present but both myself and SWMBO are not sure of it.
Just fitted. 4 new tyres and a big Yuasa battery, fully serviced, but always niggle at back of head.
Thank you again
Jim A

janderson41 wrote:

Thoughts please. I am thinking of downsizing from my 2002 Disco 2 auto to a Freelander.
Local garage has a 58 plate manual for sale at £4995, MOT oct 2020, 95 k, two owners, timing belt changed, FSH.
Love my Disco 2, but costing too much.
What do you experts think. Local guy has good reputation. Neighbour has bought last two cars from him.
Thanks in advance
Jim A

Timing belt and water pump at an Indy is sub £400 value - mine goes in next Thursday for the job. Bit grumpy about that as it was supposed to go in tomorrow but that is another story...

As mentioned in the post above, the price does depend on spec a little. I recently bought a 2 owner facelifted 60 plate auto HSE SD4 for not much more than that but with 111k miles, full SH (not cambelt, so purchase price haggled!) and full MOT and good MOT history online with respect to advisories being attended to before the next one - it seemed to have been looked after on that paper trail. I thought I got a good deal based on condition and spec but bought privately (didn’t want to but dealer stock I saw at that age was rubbish). It HPI checked clear too.

Looking at cargurus for up to £5k the 7 2008s listed at up to 95k miles range from £3995 to the max price I set of £5k. There are more expensive ones too, and the 7 found are all labelled as “good deal” based on their analysis tool. Newer cars also fall into that price bracket. Other car sites are available...

As I found when buying mine, price varies enormously with condition, and I tend to buy on condition with price in mind. Bear in mind as the spec goes up so does the insurance premium if you are cost cutting.

Worth having a look online to get a feel for the actual spec / price point to use in negotiating your price you are willing to pay (there are a lot for sale out there and a relatively small buying sector). Cargurus seems to be only giving adverts from traders, so buying private (Find on Autotrader) I guess you could do better for that price but you may be receiving other benefits such as a short guarantee or similar SoG protection from a stealer. Based on all of that, I reckon you are doing ok for a car on your doorstep and Scotland’s winter looming.

More experienced owners on here can probably help more, but my advice for a manual was to look for clutch and flywheel issues to add to the transmission advice above, and the usual does it all work inside aircon and electrics. might be worth getting under it just to make sure there is no rot/damage and the rear prop is in place (it happens) as you probably won’t get to test 4WD on a test drive.

Can’t advise on the downsize, never had a Discovery but happy with my Freelander so far.

Good luck with your purchase.

Thanks see five. The more help the better. If interested the car can be seen on Thornbrae Car Sales website entry on autotrader. Have arranged test drive tomorrow.

Jim A

Just had a look. Nice colour. Difficult to tell in photos (as I found viewing a number of cars which looked good in photos last month), but looks very clean - and to be fair it has been bulled to within an inch of its life under the bonnet which would actually put me off a bit (I like a bit of honest dust and the ability to see faults/leaks). I checked the MOT history for you and it is faultless in advisories throughout.

One thing on spec. I can’t see a terrain response knob in the interior shot, which is a lauded feature in Freelander 2s. Should be at the front of the centre console on cars where the spec permits. This means that you will not be able to set things you may need yourself if you go off road or encounter poor conditions and will rely on the car 100% to sort it out for you. Not sure if that means hill descent is also missing on an S and you may want to consider the spec level again coming from a Discovery. I am not very inexperienced with the Freelander but others may be able to add their experience to this. I can only assume that this impacts price and potentially usage/resale negatively compared to GS/XS spec, so keep that in mind given your previous use of the Disco capabilities and that you do get white stuff falling from the sky up there...

Yeah, as noted above S spec is base spec and so although equipped with 4WD, doesn't have terrain response.

I would have a look around as although that looks to be a nice example, I suspect you could get a GS spec with similar age, mileage and service history for around the same price. For me it would be worth the upgrade.

Thanks again for all the help. I have been looking at Freelanders for a while.
Have to work within budget. My mileage nowadays is only about 5k annually.
Snow doesn,t bother me, being nearly 78 I think I can drive in all conditions.
Have driven in 2-3 feet of snow with Front wheel drive before.
The answer , obviously, is the DRIVER.
Love the disco, had this one for 6 years and have spent thousands keeping it working, including a new Ashcroft autobox 4 years ago. Reluctant to part but just have this bad feeling all the time that something expensive is going to happen.
Have to put all work nowadays into a garage. getting too old.
But thanks for all the help and keep coming with the suggestions

Jim A
2002 Disco 2 Td5 auto

With your mileage, you could put winter tyres on and leave them on all year with little penalty. Then it will probably go anywhere your Disco went such is the benefit of those tyres (and your snow driving skills sir).

My only question would remain resale. I personally wouldn’t consider buying a model with the lack of terrain response as like many potential buyers, I am not as experienced in the snow as you being so far south I am almost in France!

Also, Freelanders do have their major issues just like Discos and pretty much any other car. Given you have done so much on your Disco, could you be moving to something newer but which at 95k well maintained miles could ask you to do similar things quite soon? Difficult to answer, but smacks of losing “the devil you know” and all that...

Difficult decision IMHO, but I hope it goes well for you sir.

Just edited to add, I think Parker’s valuations have very limited accuracy, but I stuck the registration number in for you. Hopefully this link below will take you to their valuation. Bear in mind that your suspect is much lower than their suggested average mileage (you have to pay Them to make such adjustments And is of questionable value) but when I bought mine, it was Negotiated to below their private sale figure, so maybe not such a pinch of salt if you want to negotiate hard.

https://www.parkers.co.uk/land-rover/freel...ed-prices/

Im afraid youve got to expect things to wear out on older cars. But my 2000 TD5 Disco was most the versatile car Ive ever had - would have it back tomorrow as I dont do the miles like I used to since retiring.

You must check underneath as its got a tow bar - if its been launching boats in the sea then the shell could be very rusty underneath.
As mentioned check its got a prop shaft and /or floor it from standing star - there should be no front wheel spin. Jules

Jules, I agree it is worth the personal check but I noticed that the MOT history (including the last one) hasn’t identified any rust issues as advisories (or anything else except a nail in a tyre ages ago) so probably OK as they seem to note anything above slight surface rust underneath these days.

It looks like it has led a charmed life if the pictures are an accurate representation of close up condition. But blimey! I had never noticed before but those callipers are really close to the wheel rim on 16inch wheels. Have a look at the pic of the wheel in the advert. Is that normal?

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/ad...dal=photos

I feel that the SD4 engine/autobox is the best combination for the FL2.

The torque converter gearbox makes up for any lack of low range gearing, and overall provides a pleasant driving experience with plenty of power from the 190hp engine.

You need to study the adverts, as FL2s had a long list of extras, and many owners upgraded to certain factory options. All at (now) similar prices.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-search?so...ywords=sd4 FL2 XS SD4 Auto 2010 2012-2017 (21k - 91k miles) (MY2011)
FL2 Metropolis SD4 Auto 2014 2017- (16k - 77k+ miles) (MY2015)
Metro in its 11th Year of (Extended) LR Warranty / Full LR Service History
(Expensive, but Trouble/Worry free - hopefully?)

Nice looking Freelander.

Iain

looks like a nice car on the website, nice colour, with roof rails and cross bars, full LR mats, tow bar.... so will be as versatile as your D2 for your needs. (ive had a D2 auto in the past)

have a good check of the clutch as its had towbar, many on here (including myself twice) have had clutch's go which means you may as well change the flywheel too.... c.£800 !!

on the flip side quite a few have had clutches go on to well over 100k with no issues.... but in a lot of owners opinions the clutch is a weak point so well worth checking thoroughly or budgeting to replace.

if you budget £1k for a possible clutch, definitely a haldex service and maybe diff oils then even at screen price + budget you should have a good car for under £6k

if its truly a 1 owner, good history car including belts, with all those genuine bits added on, then its most likely been owned by someone who cares for their cars.

definitely worth an offer going to the dealer... i would be cheeky and go for £4300 to allow for clutch replacement and try and settle somewhere between that price and screen price.

good luck

I also came to a Fl2 from a Disco 2 that I had absolutely loved for 11 years however at 14 years old and 165k miles it was starting to give me expensive troubles and the need for a reliable car forced my hand. FL2 is a smoother more comfortable driving experience but seems to lack the character of the Disco. Coming from a manual Td5 to an auto SD4 I don't notice a massive fuel saving. Boot space is adequate most of the time but miss the discos huge boot occasionally. I find the Fl2 suits our needs well and is also a superb towbar. Good luck with your search! Landrover - turning owners into mechanics since 1948

2014 Orkney grey Freelander SD4 GS.
2004 Zambezi silver Discovery 2 Td5 (Gone)
1963 Surf blue Morris Mini Minor Super de Luxe (my little toy)