They published the annual Australia's best cars awards (run by the national motoring bodies) last week and I had a look to see how the FL2 fared.

I was a bit disappointed to see it sitting somewhere in the middle of the pack under the Recreational 4WD category. When I looked under the same category for the BMW X3 for a comparison I couldn't find it. To my surprise I found the X3 as a top five finisher in the Luxury 4WD category.

I know the Beemer is a well put together machine, and considerably more expensive. It also handles better on road (and worse off it). But having seen, and been in, both cars I don't rate them in completely separate categories.

I actually dropped an e-mail to the organisers of the awards looking for an explanation. Their response "industry sources say they belong in separate categories". I sent a question back asking who these "industry sources" are but haven't heard back yet.

I guess I'm a bit disappointed as I love my FL2 machine and I thought it deserved a better score from the judges. It lost a lot of points because it cost more than most of the vehicles in its category (X-TRail, RAV4, Forrester etc). I certainly think it would have fared better if it had have been rated as a Luxury 4WD - after all most people comment on it looking like a mini-Range Rover!

Cheers,

Darren Reflect on the past and plan for the future. But, above all - LIVE FOR THE MOMENT!!!

OSHANDA wrote:

Their response "industry sources say they belong in separate categories". I sent a question back asking who these "industry sources" are but haven't heard back yet.

Best Aussie car I ever had was a 1978 Ford Fairmont station wagon. 5.0L V8........  ______________________
2011 Full Fat RR 4.4 TDV8
2012 FL2 SD4 Auto HSE
2013 Kawasaki Versys 650

Probably no comfort to you, but at least in Norway FL2 and X3 are rated under the same category.

And in that category they are so far alone. But soon Q5 and GLK will enter the same category. (at least that is what expectations are before anyone has seen the Q5 and GLK)

And I tried both before deciding, and FL2 smashed X3. Simple as that. 2008 Freelander 2 HSE TD4 Automatic, Caspian Blue, Alpaca, Moon roof, Exclusive pack.

I suppose they have put the LR2 in the same category as RAV4, Forester and X-Trail, because they only considered driving on road. And indeed, what you receive for the extra price of the LR2 is not enough... for driving on road.
It is the off road capabilities that make the difference. Perhaps the new X-Trail has bridged a small part of the off road gap with LR2, but the two others are far away (I have a Forester for many years). You could perhaps compare them with LR1.
In my opinion LR2 is in its own category.

Land Rover set the price of Freelander 2 in between these 2 categories so depending on how you perceive this car. It could be a very expensive recreational suv or it can be a very good value luxury suv. I tried putting it in the X3's category and it would fare better score than X3 using their rating system.

gren wrote:

Land Rover set the price of Freelander 2 in between these 2 categories so depending on how you perceive this car. It could be a very expensive recreational suv or it can be a very good value luxury suv. I tried putting it in the X3's category and it would fare better score than X3 using their rating system.

OSHANDA wrote:

I know the Beemer is a well put together machine, and considerably more expensive. It also handles better on road (and worse off it). But having seen, and been in, both cars I don't rate them in completely separate categories.

Cheers,

Darren

attox wrote:

OSHANDA wrote:

I know the Beemer is a well put together machine, and considerably more expensive. It also handles better on road (and worse off it). But having seen, and been in, both cars I don't rate them in completely separate categories.

Cheers,

Darren

In others reviews and comparisons worldwide LR2 comes first as offroad and second after X3, which performs last over 13 contenders, on tarmac.

So, as others said before it depends on the "marketing" strategies of each company.