I was one of the 7 Americans who bought the original Freelander and after that experience I vowed to never own another Rover. It was in the shop 17 times and 24 days with less than 6000 miles on it. It did handle well off road, but I was so sick of trips to the dealer that after picking it up from the shop for the last time I drove straight to the Honda dealer and bought an Element. I rightly assumed the Element would be much more reliable but wrongly assumed it could match the Rover off road.

So I ended up with a nice reliable automobile that was restricted to dirt roads. Dry dirt roads.

I've recently had the itch to start venturing off the pavement again and in spite of my past experience have again thought about a Land Rover. 3 year old LR2s are going for reasonable prices and after a test drive I can see the LR2 is not even close to the same as the old Freelander. The LR2 is better in every possible way. I really liked the interior, the drive was great, and the price is reasonable.

I'm just terrified I'll have a repeat of my poor reliability. It looks like there are good reliability vibes here and the major problems seem to be fairly minor.

Should I give Land Rover another chance? I love the on-road comforts and since this would be my daily driver, the bluetooth and nav system are appealing.

Or should I just get a Nissan xTerra?

It's the million dollar question, but I would never have bought the old one but do not regret for a second on buying the FL2, I have had it for two years now but did have a problem once and it had an extended stay at the dealers earlier in the year which had LR scratching their heads but has been fine since, but two visits for routine sevicing and one with a problem in two years.

I know exactly what you mean about the FL1 and it's legendary reliability - my first one (2000) became a laughing stock at work as I seemed to spend more time in a hire car than my own.
The second FL1 (2006) was a much better car, still with a few niggles but heavily off roaded, and down a quarry every day for over a year.

The FL2 seems as capable off road, but is much better in the reliability stakes - give it a go is my advice. Tangiers Orange - gone, missing her
Replaced by Ewok what a mistake - now a happy Disco Sport owner

I had a new Freelander 1 in March 2001. It had a few trim niggles that didn't really get sorted which simply wasted time though they were never serious. Mechanically I never had an issue at all.

Good thing about that it didn't have the phone system in it that the FL2 has so therefore couldn't go wrong. (Past) Freelander 2 HSE 2010 MY In Rimini Red.
(Past) RR Evoque Dynamic Lux Si4 In Firenze Red.
(Past) RR Evouque Pure Tech in Barollo Black with bespoke Firenze Red colour coding.
(Present) Freelander Metropolis 2015 MY In Santorini Black with Ivory Premium Leather.

G'Day Bryanmisi, Oh dear, I can see your problem. Mine is the first Land Rover I've ever owned and I was very dubious about getting it because of the dire reputation of FL 1. However, I live in rural Australia, lots of unsealed roads, harsh conditions, and you tend to be a long way from anywhere at times. My 2009 i6 at 43000kms - 27000 miles - has never had a single fault that you could put down to the car; puncture and flat battery (my fault) is all that has happened. I find this forum very interesting and helpful, but I think it's in the nature of these things that you'll get more of what goes wrong rather than 'nothing to report'. Anyway, I have no hesitation in recommending the FL2, one of the 2 best cars I've owned in 50 years - but then, I may have been very lucky!
Cheers and good luck.

Just go for it. The i6 engine is extremely reliable as well as the whole car. My 2008 i6 has 90000KM, with not even one single problem. The car ride is superb for an SUV. Of course, like for any used car, you should check it in a dealer. Now compared to xterra, LR2 is way ahead.

My mate had an FL1 and he had major problems with catastrophic results including a new gearbox and a new top end on his engine... all of which genuinely took the car off road and left him stranded on a couple of occasions.

I have reluctantly bought an FL2 and as far as the car goes I love it. It's had some niggly little things (warning lights, rattles etc) which were sorted by the dealer and non of which actually impacted the performance of the car. I can see myself going back before time as well to get a couple of other annoying noises etc sorted but that’s just me, other people who just 'drive' cars probably would not notice them and would not do anything to sort them.

Because of my mates FL1 problems I did a fair amount of research before buying my FL2 and I think the general consensus is that the FL2 is far better but still has problems, as many other manufacturers do, that said they are mostly all fixable and generally wont cause you to be stranded or take your car off the road for long... On this basis I would recommend you give them another chance... Just make sure you dont by a Friday Afternoon car  Freelander 2 TD4 Auto, SE, Narvik Black, Alpaca full leather, Rear Headrest Entertainment System, 6 CD, 18 HSE Wheels, Privicy tints

Very difficult.
I never considered FL1; you'd be more than lucky to escape with a series of problems. The BMW clutch is a dreadful thing if the slave cylinder leaks.

The problem you may have with FL2 is that it quite a new vehicle; we just don't know what problems the car will throw up due to age yet. None we hope!
Mine has only done 20k and i'm delighted with it.

Having said that it's still under warrentee.
What do i do when it nears the end of it?

Thanks everyone - the FL1 was a nightmare in terms of reliability. Its a 90 minute roundtrip drive to the dealer for me, and 17 rountrips was just brutal. Given each dealer trip is 4 legs (me to dealer to drop off, drive back home, drive to dealer to pick up, drive home), it amounted to 52 8 hour days spent just driving back and forth to the dealership.

Some of the FL1 faults were just annoying (like the sunroof breaking 3 times or the rear brakes dragging and squealing constantly), security risk (like the window regulators failing on all 4 windows at various times leaving the windows half open, or silly (mirrors peeling and burning coolant smell). Others were more serious like the vehicle overheating and blowing steam all over leaving me stranded. Twice. WIth the temperature gauge never moving from the middle of the range. Being told the front brakes were 2/3 worn at 6500 miles was the last straw. I have had 3 Porsches that I drive way harder than I drove the LR and their brakes lasted 30k miles or more.

I actually wouldn't mind a little bit of problem, but with the dealer so far away its a real inconvenience.

I went and drove the LR2, though, and I have to say I really really liked it! I'm soooo tempted to pick up one of the nicely priced 2008 certified models...

dont think, just fakin get it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I had a Mk 1 Freelander with very few problems other than getting it serviced.

I'm now on my second Mk 2 Freelander and would thoroughly recomend them.

I collect my 3rd FL2 tomorrow an SD4 GS 190. See my gallery for off road/snow photos. All FL2's (3) Gone
2011 Mercedes C180 CGI Gone
FL2 GS Auto SD with heated leather, factory tints, alloy spare and a few other bits.

OK - I'm just about ready to pull the trigger. Down to the LR2 and the new Mercedes GLK.

The GLK is supposedly able to come close to the LR2 in light off roading, but can't match it in the serious stuff.

I was disappointed in the LR2 on the Land Rover dealer test off-road track. It struggled to get up the first obstacle and dragged pretty hard on the second obstacle. It didn't make me more confident when the sales man kept blaming himself saying he didn't have the suspension height adjusted right (knowing full well the LR2 doesn't have air suspension). It really made me wonder just what the LR2 can do if it barely made it over Land Rover's own test track.

The other scary thing is that I've been to the LR dealer 3 times in the past 2 weeks and I have never seen another customer there. It left me wondering if the dealer is going to be in business in a year. Or a month.

The Mercedes is cheaper, its considerably more powerful, and it drives much better on the road. The MB dealer is also 3 miles from my house (vs. 30 minutes for the LR dealer), and probably the reliability would be much better.

The Rover was always scoring points for off-roading, but that test track experience made me wonder just how much better the LR2 really is compared to Mercedes 4Matic system.

Choices, choices, choices....

Doesn't the Merc need the 'Off Road Technical Pack' to be any use off the tarmac? The dragging on the course was probably the extra underbody protection as the FL2 doesn't have the ground clearance of the Disco 4 / RR / RRS. When I took an FL2 round the LR off road course I was amazed at what it could do and the instructor said that it would do 99% of what the other LR vehicles were capable of. The FL1 was good enough for the Camel Trophy afterall!
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http...CBoQ9QEwAA