Faults:

IRD unit failure.

General Comments:

The Freelander repair bill is unbelievably expensive, even for a very old model.

The IRD unit cost is almost or even more than a quarter of the price of the whole car bought second hand.

I am unable to sell this car without the IRD unit being replaced.

It is now the year 2010, and obviously IRD unit problems of Freelander are still here to stay.

If you add up your repair bills, you would have an amount that is enough to buy another Freelander.

I am definitely in for another repair, and the question is not what, but when.

Faults:

Electrics system needed tune-up, radio broke so installed a CD player.

Coolant leak, fixed in no time.

General Comments:

Great car to drive, very stylish as far as 4x4's go. My car is a burnt red colour. It's a real eye-catcher and I get lots of comments from strangers and friends regarding the look of the car.

Handles great, smashes the Subaru Forester in every facet.

Good acceleration, Very comfortable.

Just a beautiful car. I would recommend one to everybody.

My Freelander is the diesel one. It is much more reliable than the petrol version. Diesel over Petrol any day.

Faults:

A loud rattle from the gearbox that only disappears when the clutch is depressed (? idler gears).

Various parts of the interior plastic come off in your hands.

The left hand side door mirror cover fell off (luckily in a friend's driveway and not out on the road somewhere).

The display for the radio/clock faded from about 70% effectiveness to 5% effectiveness, at random.

The new remote supplied by the dealer was 5 years old and came complete with flat battery.

The interior was full of rattles from doors (loose on their hinges), speakers, dashboard, front seats, seat belt mountings, etc.

Engine noise was excessive, with vibrations when stationery at traffic lights being able to be felt (and seen, via a wobbling bonnet).

General Comments:

As I suspect many others have, I bought this car based on looks and on legendary off-road performance.

To be fair, the vehicle was excellent off road and handled an upriver wade of 20cm and shingle admirably. Part of this success was probably due to the annoyingly low gearing, which whilst good off-road, contributed to poor acceleration and noise levels on road.

Faults:

We have only had this car for 10000km, and we have had four things go wrong.

With in two weeks of owning the car the hill decent light on the dash came on. I found the problem to be the first gear selector switch on the gear box had come out. I could not turn the light of so I had to take it back to the dealer to get fixed. When they plugged the car into the computer it showed 12 faults in the system. I counted a maximum of eight sensors that control the hill decent, so I can't quit figure how they got 12 faults.

The heater has a leak and we are using coolant.

Next the oil seals on the rear diff started to leak. Both of them. The dealer was asking A$110 a seal. I got a replacement seal from a bearing company for A$5 and did the job myself.

The last fault and the final straw is the transfer case. One bearing failed and in turn stuffed every bearing in the box and one of the internal shafts. The only downside is that Land Rover does not sell any of the internal parts and so say that a replacement box is required. At A$7,360 it is not cheap, and that does not include any labor to do the job.

General Comments:

The car feels quite good to drive on sealed and unsealed roads.

Not a very confident off-road as it lacks a duel range gearbox. It just does not feel at home of the beaten track.

Once bogged even the torque of the diesel cannot pull it out.

Turbo lag is noticeable when the car is under heavy load.

Faults:

First Speed on Fan stopped.

Some internal trimming is poorly fitted and comes loose.

Some oil leaks.

Hill hold stopped working due to a broken wire by gear leaver.

General Comments:

I like it, though it is a bit small in the boot.

Very economical.

Faults:

Excessive rear tyre wear.

Clutch squeak on days over 30 degrees C.

Two brake light bulbs.

Minor oil leak from the gearbox.

General Comments:

I purchased this vehicle over a Subaru Forrester mainly because of the slightly larger size and diesel motor. During the time I owned it (for 90,000 km) it was absolutely reliable and a joy to drive on and off road. Obviously off road was not Defender territory. I consistently got 700 km from 50 litres of diesel.

Aftersales service in Australia was very good and many of the issues mentioned in other reviews were handled under warranty as a result of service bulletin notification to owners.

Would I buy another one?

I'm picking up a 2002 Diesel Auto tomorrow.