Used 2002 Land Rover Freelander Consumer Reviews
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Nice drive, when not being repaired
supereks, 08/18/2019
2002 Land Rover Freelander S 4dr AWD SUV (2.5L 6cyl 5A)
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Owed it from 2001 to 2011, first 7 years in RI, then NYC. Did not handle the RI snow like the Audi quattro A4 that I had at the same time. But did feel quite solid on the road, almost like a little tank. Handled quite well for a small SUV, was a pleasure to drive. I almost felt that BMW had designed a little race car; that is how it felt driving on dry roads sometimes (BMW owned LR while the Freelander was being designed, I think). But, boy, did it have PROBLEMS. One winter it spent almost the whole winter in the shop getting fixed, while I was driving a rental paid by Land Rover. I think that was for the broken engine ignition, this required all the keys and ignition/fuel cap to be replaced and it took 1-2 months for the replacements to arrive from England. Then the rubber seal of the rear window leaked and had to be replaced when rainwater accumulated in the car. One day the engine lost much of its power and banging was heard, 2/6 cylinders had somehow failed. Drove it slowly and carefully to LR for repairs and it stayed there for a while. I was constantly worried that the rear door window lowering mechanism would fail (it did have hiccups at times), which then basically prevented us from opening the tail door, but it never permanently failed. The fuel gauge seemed to get stuck at half in the beginning, so I would tank up the car every time it approached half, because after that it just stayed at half. This somehow spontaneously fixed itself after about a year. Or maybe LR fixed it w/o telling me in one of my many trips to their shop. I do not think I told them about this relatively tiny problem with all the other more serious ones they were working on. I already felt like a pest. I think the LR service chief was embarrassed every time I came, each time there was some serious issue after another to be addressed. One of there rear brakes was "stuck" after release of the hand brake. They had to replace something. Something was banging in one of the front wheels after about one year and this required some replacement too, but was fine after. Cannot recall all the problems in detail, but I was so many times in that LR dealership in RI, it was ridiculous, I tried out all the loaners, I think, and went through all the Enterprise rental cars they had there, while mine was getting fixed. There was just one problem after another. All repair were under warranty in that period. With that experience I got an extended warranty and put it to good use. The transmission always felt a little "sticky" between 3rd and 4th gear, from the beginning, I mentioned this to LR during one of my frequent visits there, and I think they said something about having it "reprogrammed" (if I recall correctly), but the problem persisted. Some 30-40K miles later it became worse and when they did the transmission fluid change at 60K miles as part of the regular maintenance (the vehicle was at that point out of regular and extended warranty) I picked the vehicle up and drove it home with the transmission basically barely shifting. I called LR at that point to complain to them that they broke something and their response was that I need a new transmission for 7k. I later read that a lot of people had similar problems after such "routine maintenance" with transmission fluid change, and had I known this I would never have taken the Freelander to LR for maintenance out of warrantly. Got the transmission changed when it completely failed 100 miles later for another used transmission at an outside shop and if was fine, until I rear-ended another vehicle and decided not to spend 5-7K to repair a vehicle that was worth only 3K before the accident. Donated it and got 500 dollars for tax deduction. All in all, it was fun when it drove. It never left me stranded, probably because I would notice something different about the sound of the engine and had it checked and repaired before anything worse happened. Oh, almost forgot: it did not have an electronic stabilization program and this cost us almost dearly one day in snowy Vermont. I was driving with about an inch of snow on the road, got over a small hill after which there was a bend in the road, and suddenly the rear end was going sideways, but fortunately there was no one else on the road, the rear end hit the pile of snow at the side of the road and the vehicle soon came to a stop. I learned to appreciate the ESP in the Audi A4 quattro when it kicked in a few times in similar situations, you barely felt anything going on, the vehicle just indicated that ESP came on and continued straight as an arrow. I learned to be very careful when on slippery roads in the Freelande!
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A Terrible Car
Jake, 06/04/2010
2002 Land Rover Freelander SE 4dr AWD SUV (2.5L 6cyl 5A)
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
This is a terrible car! One month after I bought it the timing belt breaks and I spend $ 500 getting a new one put in. The next month, the motor needs to be checked again, another $600 bucks spent on it! I was driving it in manual one day and the transmission loses all gears except for park and neutral. And I was on the interstate at rush hour, the car gets towed overnight because the tow truck won't bring it to my house, Land Rover wants me to spend $1000 bucks getting the tranny rebuilt, the Hyundai dealer where I bought it said to just sell it which I did to my brother for $200 because he would fix it someday. Bad SUV for anybody.
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Kate, 10/15/2009
2002 Land Rover Freelander SE 4dr AWD SUV (2.5L 6cyl 5A)
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
It's sad to say I must agree with all the negative reviews written. This by no means was the worst vehicle I had ever owned. Within the first few months the sunroof went 3 times, after the 3rd time landrover replaced it, but the new one had issues too. I stopped using the sunroof. The driver side rear window broke 3 times. After the 4th year of owning this vehicle hugh mechanical disasters, and finally the engine went, transmission started slipping and the diffrentials went. I would never reccommend landrover products to anyone, waste of money and time. Landrover should pay the customers to driver the vehicle.
Great Choice!!!
firstimebuyer, 08/13/2002
2002 Land Rover Freelander S 4dr AWD SUV (2.5L 6cyl 5A)
1 of 2 people found this review helpful
This is the first car that I have bought myself, and I am very impressed. I was looking at a lot of other SUV's and almost bought a Pathfinder, until I saw the Freelander. The difference in the handeling and smoothness of the ride separates this vehicle from all the others in it's class. And of course, you can't go wrong with a Land Rover, even one that's affordable!! I reccommend that anyone who is interested in buying or leasing an SUV take the Freelander for a ride, you will be very glad you did.
the best
robert johnson, 06/22/2002
2002 Land Rover Freelander S 4dr AWD SUV (2.5L 6cyl 5A)
1 of 2 people found this review helpful
the best suv on the market so far, considering value, performance and prestige