The 2003 landrover freelander stalled on 2 seperate ocassions,once in an active intersection with barely missing being struck by another vehicle. the 2nd time ocurred about 4 minutes before the previous instance. additionally,the vehicle as a whole shouldn't be on the highway. to my knowledge this vehicle has never been in an accident and it's uncertain if it may be refurbished from a area where damage was such that some work and relocation presented it for sale elsewhere. the vehicle purchased at a little over 73,000 miles has been in the shop 14 times in 27 months totalling well over $10,000 in repairs. i paid $12,288 for the vehicle. intake maniifold gaskets,cylinder head gaskets, head bolts,cam bolts, the famed "coolant leak" that has coolant leaking into the engine causing it to cease up. that's the only thing that hasn't happened mechanically with this vehicle. i ride around, when it's not in the shop,with coolant in the back in case its starts to steam again. lock assemblys (2x), torque converter motor,themostat and several other issues that make it non-highway worthy. this is just mine, at the emunds.com automotive forum among the many others i visited there are hundreds of others with the same problems and are left with either, broken down sitting in the driveway, in the driveway after its last repair so miles are kept low for resale or forced to procure another vehicle or mode of transportation, or forced to continue driving it as its their only source of transportation and low resources while still paying a loan on it and an extended warranty company that you hope doesn't dance around the responsibility of paying for repairs that are obvious covered items in the warranty. finally, if it weren't bad enough to be stuck with this vehicle and not know if it will remain operable for the length of the loan,currently 48 months, i can't even rely on the vehicle to safely transport my wife and daugther. landrover mechanics can't keep these vehicles on the road. *tr
My 2004 hse freelander with only 35,000 miles on it, this vehicle has been nothing but problems and it has been in the shop since june. '07 until jan. '08 for a coolant leak that lead to entire engine change. the keyless entry stopped unlocking the doors behind the passanger seat. my back window regulators are broken and i cannot close this window. land rover needs to focus more on quality.
The engine/head gasket issue is the repair that is the most critical and terminal condition for the vehicle. the dealers mechanics will never fix the gasket, so they will only offer the engine replacement, but either repair will cost you more than the suv is worth. and yes, the brake pads and then rotors wear out very quickly, because of the weight of the vehicle (the dealer says). i personally think it has more to do with the fact that there are 2 disc front brakes and 2 drum rear brakes on the vehicle, hence the wear and weight all goes to the front of the vehicle. another poor design flaw issue, and i was told the drum brakes were there to better allow the off-roading. yeah, who ever could off road these things, they fall apart on the driveway! *tr