Hi,

After a bit of advice. I recently had my brand new Mazda estate nicked and then burnt out (sob), insurance has paid out thankfully but we are having second thoughts now about spending the full sum on another new car. Having one nicked has slightly put us off the whole thing and at the same time an opportunity has presented itself that could make us a few quid but will require some of the capital from the pay out.

So with that in mind we have been looking around at used 4x4's. My local garage is flogging a 2002 Freelander diesel station wagon. Ive only had a brief look round it so far but the car appears very straight and clean and is at an attractive asking price. The thing that concerns me slightly with it is the mileage - its done 105k - i confess to not knowing a great deal about this engine, should it cope with that kind of mileage ok or am i asking for trouble? What kind of questions should i be asking/things to look out for?

Cheers

We have just bought a Freelander and pick it up on Friday so I have done a fair bit of research on the internet. I dont think the engine will cause you too many issues as its the same as the diesel 75 - I ran mine to 225,000 miles with no problems at all!

Here is what I learnt from here:

http://forums.mg-rover.org/showthread.php?t=359025

In summary though these seem to be the common things to look for:
1 - VCU/transmission failure - usually identified by uneven tyre wear and whining and clonking during driving. Some people have said the VCU failing shows by a 'brakes locking on' effect when stearing slowly on full lock. Land Rover issued a bulletin though saying this was normal and as most Freelanders do this then I dont think its a problem.
2 - Window regulators can fail but dont seem expensive to fix - particularly the rear door
3 - Water leaks around seals and also in the locker in the boot
4 - The 'three amigo's' - basically the traction control, hill decsent and ABS lights all on at the same time on the dash. This is normally a fairly easy fix as its the switch on the brake pedal in most cases
5 - On the pre-facelift ones the hill decent button may not work as the wires can come off the back. Again easy fix so if the system/button isnt working dont panic!

They are the main things anyway! We went for a petrol which brought added checks on the engine but dont think the diesel has any particular issues to look out for.

Cheers for your advice, we have ended up buying a 5 door TD4 GS. 1 owner from new, low miles and FSH and we were very happy with the price :D

http://i697.photobucket.com/albums/vv334/robbaker20/3-1.jpg?t=1272968819

Cheers for your advice, we have ended up buying a 5 door TD4 GS. 1 owner from new, low miles and FSH and we were very happy with the price :D



Very nice - one week on and we have a few niggles that need to be sorted by the dealer that I didnt pick up on the test drive but like you happy with what we paid and very happy with the car (so far...http://forums.mg-rover.org/images/icons/icon7.gif)

Very nice - one week on and we have a few niggles that need to be sorted by the dealer that I didnt pick up on the test drive but like you happy with what we paid and very happy with the car (so far...http://forums.mg-rover.org/images/icons/icon7.gif)

What kind of niggles?

What kind of niggles?

So far:
- Engine management is flashing every so often in a morning - It had a new exhust though so think its related to that
- clutch is very heavy to the point where its almost undriveable around town. After some wrangling with the dealer they have agreed to replace it.
- Rattle coming from somewhere when under load below 2K revs (petrol!). Sounds like a head shield but dealer now thinks its clutch related so should be solved with the new clutch

Thats about it. I did a bit of off roading down a farm track on Saturday and the 4wd system is working which is a positive at least http://forums.mg-rover.org/images/icons/icon7.gif

So far:
- Engine management is flashing every so often in a morning - It had a new exhust though so think its related to that
- clutch is very heavy to the point where its almost undriveable around town. After some wrangling with the dealer they have agreed to replace it.
- Rattle coming from somewhere when under load below 2K revs (petrol!). Sounds like a head shield but dealer now thinks its clutch related so should be solved with the new clutch

Thats about it. I did a bit of off roading down a farm track on Saturday and the 4wd system is working which is a positive at least http://forums.mg-rover.org/images/icons/icon7.gif

Ours seems fine, everything working, no rattles or clunks, no warning lights but we have this annoying diesel leak (see other thread). Basically after doing some maths we have worked out that we massively overfilled it with diesel, but for some reaosn the fuel pump didnt click off and it didnt kick back up the filler neck, just peed out all over the floor..... we have been using it to bring the fuel level down and with each drive the problem becomes less and less so i think it must jsut be a slightly perished seal between the filler neck and the tank, allowing the excess fuel to seep out. Dealer has agreed to fix it if it does persist in being a problem but TBH had we not flooded the damn thing it probably wouldnt have been an issue. I blame Tesco's stupid non-clicking off diesel pumps!!!