Category: Small 4x4s 
Price Range: £21,325 to £35,395
Looks good, feels agile, goes well, supremely capable off-road. Roomy, nicely finished and well equipped.
Top models are expensive, ride is firm in the back, fake wood trim option is nasty, no manual option for six-cylinder petrol model.
The Freelander grows up into the best all-rounder in the class, it's a little expensive compared to the competition - but worth it.
Yes, yet another four-star rating. The Freelander is roomier than the old model and a light, airy place to be. Much of the new-found space comes from its extra width (all except the base model have automatically folding door mirrors), but the Freelander 2 is also 50mm longer despite lacking an external spare wheel. The tailgate now opens like a conventional estate car's instead of sideways, but the rear window doesn't open separately. The rear seats' cushions flip forward and the backrests fold down to make a flat load bay, and there's a retractable luggage blind. Cabin storage includes big cupholders and a properly useful glovebox.
The Td4 engine is quiet enough not to intrude, and both wind and road noise are low. On the whole it rides well, too, without the choppiness of a BMW X3, but the pay-off for the taut handling is that the ride can get 'busy' for rear passengers. The entry S model's 16" wheels would probably be best here; as you move up the range via GS, XS and SE to HSE the wheels grow via 17" to the 18" of our test car, and 19" wheels are an option.
All Freelanders have at least a CD player with an MP3-player interface plus height-adjustable front seats, but the S model lacks Terrain Response and automatic control for the air-con. The GS has most of the kit you're likely to need, while the XS adds puddle lamps, three more speakers, front and rear parking sensors and electric front seat adjustment. Buy an SE and you get sat-nav with a colour touchscreen, glass panels in the roof (the front one opens electrically), heated front seats and a six-CD changer in the dashboard. Finally, the HSE adds leather seat facings, a better air-con system, a leather steering wheel and a 14-speaker Dolby ProLogic sound system with a sub-woofer squeezed in by the spare wheel.
All this extra equipment is very pleasant to have, but it seems to us that the Td4 GS at £23,435 is the best value Freelander 2.
Latest Readers' Drives About the Land Rover Freelander 2
wrote on 14 07 2008
wrote on 07 07 2008
wrote on 03 08 2007
wrote on 29 07 2007
wrote on 09 04 2007