Vehicle Tests > Land Rover Freelander 2

The Freelander's unique-in-class Terrain Response system means owners can adjust the set-up to cope with different surfaces simply by twisting a dashboard knob. The car was equally at home on the beaches below Snæfellsjökull, Iceland's famous dormant volcano. It easily forded the countless streams that emerge from higher ground and showed off its wellengineered suspension damping over the ridges in the shoreline.

My one minor criticism is that with Sand mode selected the auto transmission held fi rst gear far too long, to the point where the higher revs became irritating. It was easily corrected by switching to 'manual' and selecting second gear, though amusingly, when auto was reselected, it stayed in second as though sulkily admitting that actually the driver knew best.

There are a couple of downsides to the diesel auto. The fuel economy is 8.5 litres/100km; you get 7.5 litres/100km from the manual equivalent. And then there's the price. In the UK the auto box is the equivalent of $3,200 more expensive than the manual. But the thing for Australian buyers is that the Freelander will be auto only with prices starting from $49,990 for the i6 petrol all the way up to the fl agship HSE model we drove on this test at an eye watering $57,990. That's a lot for a Freelander, and $8,000 more than the price of the MkI rangetopper,

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but then it's a lot more car. This is a premium product, and Land Rover has got it right from an engineering perspective. Coupled with the status and brand image of the famous green and gold badge, the Freelander 2 diesel auto should fl y out of the showrooms. It was launched in Australia late in June and we'll have our
first local drive next month in Overlander 4WD.

 

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