Freelander Fan

Rather than do a site just for Freelander Fans, I am going to switch and put the next few years of my life at least into working on a site for fans of all Land Rovers. It is called landrovergeeks.com, or rovergeeks.com for short. I personally drive a Range Rover P38, and am pretty much a fan of all Land Rover vehicles, not just Freelanders, so it makes sense to pursue a site with the broader focus.

Check it out here: Land Rover news, reviews, community, and more

I will probably not add a whole lot to this Freelander / LR2 site. Granted, I have not added much to this site in the first place, specifically because I could not make up my mind if I wanted to take on the larger project of doing a Land Rover site or not. But I have made up my mind that I do and I am going to plug away at it until it becomes a major site.

Yes, I know, there are already several great Land Rover sites out there. But I feel that I will in time as I build it up get to contribute some things that are not out there, and make a site that has the potential to be the best out there. And bottom line, who can get enough of Land Rovers? The more, the merrier!

Here is a collection of reviews in video format on Freelanders / LR2's.

This a review from Kelly Blue Book:

From the comments on YouTube: "Standard features include air conditioning w/dual-zone climate controls, interior air filter, tilt/telescopic steering wheel, cruise control, leather upholstery, 6-way power driver seat, 4-way power passenger seat, keyless start, power sunroof, and 6-disc CD changer.

Options include a navigation system, premium sound system, wireless cell phone link, heated front seats, and memory system. All of the options get the car up to about $39,000."

2008 Land Rover LR2 - Drive Line Review - Car and Driver:

Review: 2008 Landrover LR2 from MyRide:

Land Rover LR2 HSE from TopSpeed:

2009 Land Rover LR2 HSE review from CNet:

And as always we are watching out for more Land Rover Freelander and LR2 info to bring you!

Can your friend's Honda or Subaru do this? Freelander in offroad action..

Next, a Freelander tackling a muddy slope:

This one is a compilation of Land Rover Freelander 1 commercials and pictures:

Land Rover Freelander 2 Versus Nissan X-trail - by Fifth Gear:

The Freelander wins the prize! (Of course). The X-Trail was cheaper but less clearance and the bottom line was they felt with the Land Rover Freelander it was just a matter of when they would get there - had a commanding driving position, whereas with the X-trail there was much more question of would it get there? ie. could it even handle the mild country road ruts?

Another Review from Fifth Gear: Landrover Freelander 2 I6 HSE -- Is bigger better?

Their overall conclusion? Great car, love the greater room, love the handling, but think the price is too high, since you can almost get a Discovery for the price -- the reviewer was saying.

Gallery 1

First and Last production Land Rover Freelanders, at the Motor Heritage Museum.

White 2008 Land Rover LR2

Orange 2008 Land Rover LR2

Another 2008 Land Rover LR2

2007 Land Rover Freelander 2, SE, Rear view

2007 Land Rover Freelander 2, Interior view.

 Welcome!

 Hey Land Rover Freelander and LR2 owners, drivers, and fans -- this site is for all Land Rover Freelander and LR2 fans.  If you look on various auto review sites, for the most part the Land Rover Freelander gets a bum rap.  And some of it is deserved, especially on the early models.  But I think there are a lot of solid reasons to be a Freelander fan.  I love Land Rovers, and I love Freelanders, and I think there have got to be a lot of other people out there who agree with me.  The Land Rover Freelander has a place in the company of the Best 4x4's By Far!

2010 Land Rover LR2 (Freelander 2) TD4-e

 Here is one theory I have about why Land Rovers in general and Freelanders more specifically get such a bad rap relative to build quality and what not.  If you look at the ratings, they are generally based on counting and comparing how many reported problems per vehicle.  This is key - the words "reported" and "per vehicle".  Land Rovers are not the only make that consistently get a relative higher number of reported problems per vehicle.  Other luxury brands like Mercedes-Benz and even Lexus also get a bad rap.  The Freelander is a supremely capable off-road vehicle (for its class) but it is also a luxury vehicle and it has a lot more features than your average car.

Why would luxury brand cars in general have more problems reported per vehicle? One reason has to do with the word "reported." Luxury brand buyers, and I would dare say especially Land Rover and Freelander buyers, are more picky. They pay a lot more so well they should be picky. So Land Rover owners are more likely to report problems. Other car models and brands may have the same percentage of problems but their problems are not being reported as often because their buyers are not as picky.

Next luxury models tend to have more features. If the car has twice as many features, then there are twice as many things that can go wrong. And thus twice as many things to potentially report. Really there are more than twice as many things that can potentially go wrong because there are so many interrelated systems, like the computer systems, in todays modern cars.  Since Part A might depend on Part B, adding in more parts geometrically increases the potential for failure rather than additively increasing it.  Land Rover Freelanders add both more features in the luxury area, and more features overall with their off-road capabilities.

So are the ratings services comparing apples to apples, or are they comparing apples and oranges, or rather apples to fruit salad even, when they compare one car with half as many features to another more complicated car with more complicated systems?  They are not comparing like to like, and their ratings are very misinformative because of it. Instead, the rating services should report problems not on a per vehicle basis, but rather find a system that reflects how complicated the cars are and how many features they have. This would give a much more realistic and accurate representation of build quality for SUVs like the Land Rover Freelander.

And if they did switch to such a system that considers the complexity of the car, I think Land Rover would fare much much better in relation to other cars.  They are expensive, they appeal to picky buyers, and they do have their problems.  There are some factory workers in the UK that need to be keeping on their toes.  But, overall, Land Rover Freelanders are excellent vehicles that are much higher in quality than the ratings services would lead you to believe.  You can consistently put 250K miles on plenty a Land Rover engine, and consider that since they are used off-road Land Rovers tend to get beat on a lot more than vehicles that never leave the pavement.

So here's to Land Rover, and their smallest off road vehicle, the Freelander.  And here is to this site which will sing the praises of both Land Rover and Freelanders / LR2s.  Yes, we will still report any negatives we find too.  But the concentration is going to be on what makes the Land Rover Freelander such a wonderful joy to own and drive.

I hope you enjoy this Land Rover Freelander Fan Site, and would love any contributions you want to make. I plan on adding news, pictures, community features, pricing, parts, for sale ads, and more.  I need Land Rover Freelander photos and stories, send any you care to share to dave at freelanderfan dot com.

Thanks!  And Happy Freelanding!