04 MY Freelander

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Discussion

simon67

Original Poster:

315 posts

265 months

Wednesday 30th July 2003
quotequote all
For those interested I had a look at a pre-production 04MY Freelander last week & was prety happy with the results.

The main improvements are the front bumper, front lights and the interior. The bumper is more agressive and, I think, more modern looking. The lights bring the car into line with the Range Rover / Disco family look. The instrument binacle and centre console are made of better quality materials and are of a far more modern design than the 'Austin Maestro' look of the current car.

The most interesting development is the introduction of Sport models. These are only available in the TD4 and V6 versions but feature 18" wheels, low profile tyres and uprated suspension. The 'Mogul' seat fabric option is certainly 'different' in that it is neither cloth, leather or plastic in feel - more like a nylon, non-slip effect!

Hopefully the improvements will keep Freelander up there with the competition until an all new model is introduced in a couple of years time.

Roll on a V6 Sport demo!

JSG

2,238 posts

290 months

Thursday 31st July 2003
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The Sport models are totally pointless - they are designed not to go off-road (bloody Ford's influence).

If that's what you want you're better off with an estate car or one of the multitude of jap crap soft roaders.

All Landys should be capable of going off-road fer christsake - that's what they're for.

IMHO of course.

Big_Dan

496 posts

259 months

Friday 1st August 2003
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I was a bit disapointed to be honest ...

The front looks OK, the interior isn't much of an improvement. The rear bumper looks really odd - the lights on the offside will all be covered up when the tailgate is open, which is why they were set low in the first place.

What worries me more is that they are keeping the current engines - LR hardly make any money from the TD4 versions as they have to pay so much for 'em from BMW.

The Sport model is just to compete with X3 - big mistake. And what's with both of them being shown in lurid gold - coincidence?

docevi1

10,430 posts

255 months

Tuesday 5th August 2003
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is there any improvements to the safety of them?

I saw the Top Gear report on safety and then heard about an awful lot of FreeLanders going on sale the following two weeks... Is this just a cosmetic makeover or a more structural enhancements?

Stefan