We did 4000 miles between mot tests, and only needed new wiper blades this year. Had the breakdown when all the gearbox oil ended up on the floor, apart from that just fuel,insurance and tax. As long as it’s working I can not see us changing as what else would we buy for the money.

jules wrote:

Nodge68 wrote:

For me fuel cost was way more than maintenance and repairs, and depreciation.
I was shocked at how much I paid for fuel over 4 years and 30k miles.

27 Pence per mile on fuel, works out to serious amounts of cash gone up in smoke. It's one of the reasons we replaced the Freelander with an EV.

Yes - its not to be ignored but then you have to factor the purchase cost and depreciation of a new car compared to only the depreciation of an existing old car.

Our SD4 has cost us approx £10600 in fuel over 10 year. For me the numbers dont add up in favour of a new EV - yet.

Annual Costs of current FL2...
Fuel - say £1200
VED - say £350
Insurance say - £350
Depreciation - £1000
MOT - £45
Service DIY £80

Total say £3200
I dont know of any EVs that can match that

But obviously there is more to driving than than simply the running cost eg convenience, reliability, versatility, repairability etc

jules wrote:

Ive just had Solar panels and battery installed - I expect an EV to be heading our way at some time.

15 panels (440w), 6kW invertor and 9.5 kWh battery and 7kW charger

Will probably replace the 5yr old Fiesta ST first as that gets used most days and mainly for short journeys.
As it happens the Fiesta has an annoying click when turning the steering at parking speeds - unfortunately the part is not repairable and the replacement steering column is over £1000 + labour

I've had mine 7 years in December. 2014 Sd4 GS.
Bought at 3 years old with 17000 miles. It cost me £19k.
I've done 108000 miles since then so it's now on 125000.
It's had 2 sets of tyres.
Timing belt and waterpump.
Several intercooler hoses.
3 boot release switches!
Replacement stereo head unit.
Brake discs all round. Several sets of pads.
Serviced every 10k.
Gearbox oil change, fully once, partially twice.
Haldex service twice.
Diff and PTU oil changed once.
And I think that's it.
Do all the work and services myself.
No idea what it's cost to run or fuel.
Don't keep count but waaay cheaper than if it went to a dealer.
Realistically I thought it was worth about £6K now, but just this morning did the WBAC check and they are telling me £3500, Motorway say £3989 😲
It's not worth my while changing it at that value, wonder what I could buy for that sort of money 🤔
I'm quite happy driving it still, although they are looking a little dated now it's still immaculate and could pass for many years younger. It's a practical size, fulfills my needs as a tow car and has the 4x4 ability to cope with the worst of winters and is reasonably economical on fuel, could be better, could be worse.
All being well I'm planning to continue driving it for another 5 years.
Did a lot of miles in previous years running my sons about to their various activities but they are both up and driving their own cars now so my mileage has dramatically reduced, 18 miles a day commute just so the miles will not rack up as quickly.
It's probably the best car I have owned. It's a pity I can't buy a newer one than I've already got, could still buy one the same age with half the miles but dealers are still asking mid teens £ for cars with 70k miles and I don't see the value in changing.
Before I bought my Discovery 2, previous car to the Freelander 2 I had always changed my cars at 3-4 year intervals, sometimes shorter
but since buying these I'm more than happy to drive them for years and not always planning my next purchase. 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)

I'm in much the same position. Bought my 63 plate XS SD4 in 2019 with 48000 for £13500. Now has 94000. Apart from annual service and wear and tear items only faults have been 2 front wheel bearings, a sticking rear caliper which just needed a slider kit, a tailgate switch and a tailgate latch.
I'm not capable of much DIY so I use a local Land Rover specialist.
Upgrades have been a pair of HID headlights , gloss black grill , body colour side vents with smoked lens and led bulbs everywhere except indicators.
Planning to run it for at least a couple more years and then review. Don't need the space for just two of use on daily basis but it is perfect for when grandsons visit etc. and ideal for touring holidays in Scotland . Local environment is rural and very wet with poorly lit narrow lanes so again it is well suited.
Researched the market and there is nothing which offers the driving position, capability , comfort and equipment with such compact dimensions. My wife doesn't want anything any bigger. Best fit so far is XC40.

Only concern I have is what do to about autobox. It behaves well although long steep downhill can confuse it, but it has never been serviced and my garage can only do a drain and refill which I understand needs doing several times to change all the fluid. With the price of the fluid that is expensive. So I'm still dithering until I detect any signs of performance deterioration. FL2 SD4 XS 2013 Orkney Grey

I don't regret owning a Freelander 2, it's a brilliant car. It just doesn't work for us at the moment, more so now we seem to be visiting various places with ULEZ restrictions.

One thing I'd like to do would be converting one to electric. There's an enormous amount of space for batteries, so it would be ideal. The electronics would take some working out, but it's probably possible to fix that.
Unfortunately the DVLA or whatever they call themselves these days don't allow changes to taxation class, so I'd still be charged full price VED, and have to pay to drive into those ULEZ zones.
It's a shame because the Freelander 2 is good to drive, has brilliant visibility, and is quite spacious on the inside. Hyundai Ioniq 5 Ultimate. The family car.
2009 Rimini Red SE TD4. Gone.
2006 Tonga Green i6 HSE. Gone.
Audi A5 convertible, my daily driver.
1972 Hillman Avenger GT, the project.

£30k for my MY13 (Nov 13) HSE Lux

No idea of expenditure but it includes,

1 x EGR Valve,
1 x throttle body,
1 x wheel bearing,
1 x door lock
1 x battery
1 x cam belt & water pump
1 x Haldex service (Bells)
1 x set of body rubbing strips (never actually gotround to fitting them)

Add to that all the consumables - set of discs, couple of sets of pads, couple of sets of wiper blades and a rear brake light seal, wheel centres plus tyres and servicing...

... then the optionals
1 x matching wheel (to replace gunk kit)
4 x HSE wheels and winter tyres

Certainly not unhappy with that and the car - still in excellent cosmetic condition inside and out - owes me nothing at all.

Hi Reggie,

Just saw your post……I remember you had the T/c hose split as well …..!
IanMetro sent me a link a few weeks ago when I had trouble with my FL2…….I had same problem….
Now solved thanks………will do update shortly….
I read a long time ago that the FL2 was LR’s most reliable car…….I think our experience bears this out.

Will keep mine as long as it keeps running so well……..!

When I took mine to Cyprus I started getting the wear on the extremities of the front tyres, I had a four wheel alignment done and had to increase the tyre pressures by 2psi, whether the cause was to do with the tarmac, the heat or we were turning more right angle turns than in Scotland, who knows but it stopped happening, it wasn't an alignment problem on the front but the rears were slightly out. my PC is slightly to the right of Genghis
2012 HSE SD4 In Orkney Grey now gone, best car ever.

Nodge68 wrote:

jules wrote:

Ive just had Solar panels and battery installed - I expect an EV to be heading our way at some time.

15 panels (440w), 6kW invertor and 9.5 kWh battery and 7kW charger

Will probably replace the 5yr old Fiesta ST first as that gets used most days and mainly for short journeys.
As it happens the Fiesta has an annoying click when turning the steering at parking speeds - unfortunately the part is not repairable and the replacement steering column is over £1000 + labour

Wow, that sounds like an excellent system.
We've got 9 X 415 W panels, as our DNO wouldn't allow any more tha 3.8 kW of export, without a transformer and line upgrade.
Oddly they were quite happy to allow us to install a 7.4kW car charger, with a future allowance for a heat pump.

You're going to see a huge drop in energy costs, and if you use the right provider, you'll get a decent annual payment from SEG.
I'd use Eon Next, as you'll be able to get 16.5P per kWhr on SEG, then charge the battery on 6.7P cheap rate electricity. This way you'll be supplying most of your peak demand either with the solar, or from the battery.

Lakelander wrote:

Only concern I have is what do to about autobox. It behaves well although long steep downhill can confuse it, but it has never been serviced and my garage can only do a drain and refill which I understand needs doing several times to change all the fluid. With the price of the fluid that is expensive. So I'm still dithering until I detect any signs of performance deterioration.

OxonPete wrote:

Hi Reggie,

Just saw your post……I remember you had the T/c hose split as well …..!
IanMetro sent me a link a few weeks ago when I had trouble with my FL2…….I had same problem….
Now solved thanks………will do update shortly….
I read a long time ago that the FL2 was LR’s most reliable car…….I think our experience bears this out.

Will keep mine as long as it keeps running so well……..!

Damn... It was the upper intercooler hose and I'd totally forgotten that bit (ebay - £15 or some such) and I also forgot the 'optional' radiator grille overlay from PowerfulUK.

I still enjoy driving mine albeit for only 3 to 4k miles per year, mostly with a caravan on the back.

I guess its the labout cost that is the issue. 10L of ATF from Smith & Allan is around £70
https://www.smithandallan.com/product/smit...fluid-4030

Its sold on Ebay too and oddly can be slightly cheaper there.[/quote]


That sounds way cheaper than the Land Rover version. You know your stuff so I'll ask my garage if they will use it. How many drain and refill cycles would it take to do a full oil change.? FL2 SD4 XS 2013 Orkney Grey

The autobox holds 7L of ATF.
You can drain out about 3L only at a time - a lot is left inside the gearbox and torque convertor.
So 57% always remains inside at each draining.

Assuming you mix the refill well before draining any more ATF it takes 4 refills to get to 89.3% replacement with new ATF, which requires 12L of new ATF.

At 30K miles I bought 10L of ATF, did 3 refills and then topped up with the remaining 1L, mixed it up and then drained down to the level plug whilst around 60C.

It made a significant difference to the behaviour of the autobox - no jerks and much smoother gear changes.

I have re-flushed the autobox after another 30K miles but this time using the Gibbons method (intermittent draining ATF from the ATF cooler return pipe) but it requires 2 people and a new O ring for the pipe connection to the gearbox. Jules

ReggiePerrin wrote:

OxonPete wrote:

Hi Reggie,

Just saw your post……I remember you had the T/c hose split as well …..!
IanMetro sent me a link a few weeks ago when I had trouble with my FL2…….I had same problem….
Now solved thanks………will do update shortly….
I read a long time ago that the FL2 was LR’s most reliable car…….I think our experience bears this out.

Will keep mine as long as it keeps running so well……..!

Damn... It was the upper intercooler hose and I'd totally forgotten that bit (ebay - £15 or some such) and I also forgot the 'optional' radiator grille overlay from PowerfulUK.

I still enjoy driving mine albeit for only 3 to 4k miles per year, mostly with a caravan on the back.