All vehicles have design shortcomings (sometimes deliberately) and are evolved by OEM's over their design life. The Freelander 2 from my perspective has more than its fair share, given its new purchase price. I own a '07 XS.

The instrument panel cannot be read without the engine on
Light bulb failure and location is not displayed
The seat belt chimes cannot be turned off when operating offroad. A pain when shutting farm gates.
The forward and reverse parking sensors audio warning cannot be permanently switched off
There is no protective anti-impact strip along the centre line of the doors
The mirrors and bottom of door mud deflector strip, unpainted, will go white in the presence of ultra violet light.
Brake wear sensors are not fitted to enable a warning display in the cabin.
The digital display script within the instrument panel is too small. The focal length of reading glasses destroys long vision.
Service interval in miles is not available.
The mud flap pack is a mediocre design, poor fitting and with a lousy retaining system.

Worst, the LR/Ford oil specification defines a low mineral/semi synthetic quality oil under LR/Ford internal code
M2C913 B. Oil technology has evolved hugely over the last 15 years and PAO and ester synthetic base oils have reduced wear and friction by a quantum leap whilst at the the same time maintaining the oils original specification for 10K miles or more - something the M2C913 B product cannot cope with. Ford now recommends a 913 C specification, using group 111 baseoils. Group 1V baseoils known as PAO's, are true synthetic baseoils and are used by Mobil 1 and other top quality products. LR continue to specify 913 B

Engine oil is the life blood of an engine and modern engines with their high specific outputs demand huge amounts from their lubricants. Think of the ultra low tolerances and extreme temperatures that turbocharger bearings operate at, together with the problem of oil carbon content in a diesel. Turbochargers can fry oil which contains high quantities of carbon solids though lack of frequent replacement. A PAO based oil resists this by a colossal margin.

And then there is the question of recommended viscosity. Ford/LR recommend a 5W 30 product. Why?
By requiring a lower viscosity than usual, typically 0W 40 viscosity, Ford /LR are in a single stroke able to reduce winter exhaust emissions on start up and also reduce fuel consumption. This moves their vehicles into the best category for VED/emissions tax. In the summer with elevated temperatures, oil film thickness at main and big-end bearings is demanding a great deal from a low specification oil combined with a low viscosity rating.

Best,

Toadshall Toadshall

You obviously like it then  Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Hard hitting first post!

I'm sure that the forum will offer solutions to at least 50% of your non-oil related criticisms.

James

Er welcome to Freel2.com

Hi,

The seatbelt chime can be be turned disabled by doing dome thing like putting it in and out 8 times in a minute- search the forum it is here somewhere.

My car has a rubber strip halfway down the doors- it is LR accessory. Fitted at new. I think they did not put it as standard as the big slab sided look is liked by some.

mirrors and plastic are standard automotive plastic. use something like armourall when you wash it.

My dealer places a sticker on my windscreen with the miles at next service on it. you can read this with the engine off.

I am under 40 so can see the panel fine. Don't drive with reading glasses- you will crash. Try bifocals or varifocals.

The parking sensors can probably be disabled by pulling a fuse I suppose.

No clue about the oil but it seems a traditional think to get ones knickers in a twist about here. I agree The mud flaps fit poorly but I suppose you want them to deform and pull off cleanly without bending metal if you catch them on something.

When the current Focus was launched back in 2004 I worked in a Ford dealership, I said straight away that it was launched in sub-standard form to allow for mid-life updates.

Sure enough, mid-life facelift came and the horrible unpainted plastics were painted, the boring dashboard was improved, even the panels were improved (much to my surprise, I didn't think they'd go that far!)

I think that LR have been pretty restrained when facelifting the Freelander in comparison to some manufacturers, but then they didn't have such a dud to start with! Blue

On the plastic whitening due to UV

Common cause of this is down wash and wax products over time the layers if 'wax' whiten on the black plastic Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

The FL2s diesel engine is used by several other manufacturers - what oil do they specify?

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The instrument panel cannot be read without the engine on

Quote:

The seat belt chimes cannot be turned off when operating offroad. A pain when shutting farm gates.

Quote:

The forward and reverse parking sensors audio warning cannot be permanently switched off

Quote:

There is no protective anti-impact strip along the centre line of the doors

Quote:

The mirrors and bottom of door mud deflector strip, unpainted, will go white in the presence of ultra violet light.

Quote:

Brake wear sensors are not fitted to enable a warning display in the cabin.

In my experience these are just a pain in the anyway.

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The digital display script within the instrument panel is too small. The focal length of reading glasses destroys long vision.

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Service interval in miles is not available.

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The mud flap pack is a mediocre design, poor fitting and with a lousy retaining system.

Hi,

Thank you to all who replied or contributed to my post, which I appreciated - particularly the considered suggestions to resolve my criticisms raised.

I wrote a more substantial reply earliar, but I was called to help in the kitchen by Mrs Toadshall and in the meantime the site had logged me off so my post disapeared in the ether!

Enjoy your Sundays the whether is glorious here in West Sussex with the sun beating down on fields and woodland. Time to split some timber for the wood burner!

Thank you again Toadshall

First and foremost welcome

As a first post one definitely designed to promote some “discussion”
Charrodine has beat me to the punch, but I will add my views any way.
If you want to read the instruments, put the fob in, press the start button without pressing the brake/clutch instruments will light up – just like it says in the manual.
Ok no light bulb failure – you have a good point there.
Seat belt chime has been done to death on this site, there was a long and sometimes none too friendly discussion about the merits of turning the chime off, it can be done, just search in tips and tricks.
Parking sensors, my 2008 version has a button on the dash that turns them off, if yours doesn’t, you should have bought a HSE .
Carpark door protector strip – is an approved accessory, last three cars have had them, all replaced under warranty, personally glad it’s an option not to fit.
There are those of us who bought the FL2 as a very capable off-roader, which also eats motorway miles, if you off-road as often as some of us the unpainted plastic lower sections and mirrors are a necessity. I will admit that some treat it as a blinged up drug dealers toy but that’s their choice. – that’ll get some comments.
Brake sensors mmmmm as I had to remove the disk shields to stop debris from being trapped, I suspect more wires down there would just invite more problems.
The instrument font size is a problem to those of us who are visually challenged, but then again, the reverse font on the radio is a bigger annoyance, can’t really blame the manufacturer if I need glasses.
Service interval? I don’t understand the issue, look in the service book, it should be stamped up at say 30,000 I have done 40,000 so 5,000 to go I know some are not brilliant at maths but surely that’s not difficult?
By all accounts you’re right the mudflap design is poor – there is enough discussion on here to confirm it, but as I ripped the mudflaps off my first two Freelanders off-road I haven’t bothered to fit them to the FL2, again it depends on your idea of the FL2, some have VERY polished ones (hi Pinky) and some have never polished theirs – and never will, I let the local kids at the hand-wash clean it, seems fine without glasses.

And then oil – that’s the stuff the garage put in on the service.
Occasionally so do I but then it’s fully synthetic 0-40 because I have 25litres in the garage.
I’m sure that the recommended oil is the minimum specification that LR thinks will be available in a range of countries, and that if you fill up with a superior grade (ie fully synthetic) there will be no warranty issues. I for one don’t give a monkeys, it’s oil, gets changed by the dealer as it’s under warranty, when it’s out of warranty it’ll get filled with whatever is at hand.

Can I make a suggestion, some if not all the topics have been covered previously, do a search, it makes you look less of a

As I said at the beginning welcome. Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

Andy131,

Thanks for the feedback.

I've owned my 07' FL2 XS for two months, a main dealer purchase at 15.5 K miles. I keep vehicles a long time for economy, put in leg work maintenance wise, by observation, and a general understanding of things mechanical – plus, of course, picking up data in this useful forum.

General maintenance
Dealer maintenance for me is selective. Engine oil, Brakes/discs, coolant and brake fluid - or specific rectification of a problem. I ask for a check for potential problems that might need their attention when they do work for me. Checking the fluid levels, locks and hinges is a simple task.

Engine oil
Engine oil change Intervals recommended by LR for the Freelander are extreme given the technical quality of the oil they recommend. Ford recently moved to a C variant of M2C913. an improvement, but a distance from the better PAO oils. Manufacturers deliberately extend their service intervals to appeal to the fleet buyer market.

Brake sensors
Brake sensors give peace of mind and avoid me removing heavy wheels to do interim checks. When the sensor activates – into the dealer. Dealers respond promptly because they are expensive to use. With a bit of quality design the wiring could be integrated within the Macpherson strut to avoid offroad prob's.

Off Road
I haul about 6 tons of fuel timber each year 6 – 8 miles after chaining horizontal timber up to stove size off road. The tracks are usually dry. Last night an oak tree fell across the road to the village and I had to drive off road in rain and muddy conditions to get home. The F2 wiggled a bit but otherwise trip uneventful!

Font
Why for goodness sake can't the radio, warning display, mileometer and tripometer be integrated into a single display with a larger font size depending on importance in the same way as the Mercedes C class? I do not use the radio very much at all apart from bluetooth.

Toadshall Toadshall

Brake sensors... Whenever I clean mine I glance through the spokes and see...

You'd complain if a sensor failed and you crashed because one day the brakes didn't work and you'd placed a reliance on them...for this reason alone they're a bad idea. Mine: 2012 Golf GTI Edition 35
Family's: 2009 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Auto, Stornoway

Yorkshire - God's County

I think Toad has made some valid points in this post but needs to keep things in perspective and there have been some very valid responses as well.

He's essentially right in that most of the time it is cost engineering and this applies to virtually every point he has made. However, cost engineering as he implies is not about the items being available as they are. The issues he complains about is that they are not on his vehicle. They could be but this drives up the retail cost which is marketing driven, certainly not engineering. So it's marketing engineering.

You can have what you want with a Land Rover, so I understand if you want to pay for it and there is no difference with this compared to our European "compatriots" vehicles. The problem is would Joe punter pay for all of this in the finished article in the target market?

The oil question though is easily answered in that whilst it may be believed the engines used are direct Ford engines, the truth is they are not, it's just the base engine the same and even then there are subtle differences. So whilst Ford might change a spec it does not necessarilly carry over to JLR products, the same way that VW changes do not carry over to Bentley even though it's the same base engine.

Further manufactuers do not deliberatly extend service intervals to suit Lease fleets, that's just commercial suicide. It's based on customer feedback and whilst lease co's do feature they are certaqinley not the main driver. It's the customer like you who dictates this.