I've had a TD4 Freelander for 2 years/22K miles, and it's not as big a
disappointment as I expected.  More than adequate performance on road,
and quite good off depending on the tyres -- the ones it had on it
when I get it weren't the factory originals, and the previous owner
had squeezed wrong width tyres onto the rims.  It handled like a bowl
of Brown Windsor until I replaced the rubber.  Not easy to get a
decent M+S tyre for the standard-fitment rims, but Yokohama do one
called 'Geolander' which I've been happy with, although I suspect that
they MAY increase the fuel consumption -- I've averaged 31.43 over the
22K miles, and most people seem to get around 35.

Beware of the lack of Low Range and permanent 4wd -- although there
are no controls to engage 4wd, the transmission basically works
primarily as front-wheel-drive, with the rear taking up the drive if
the sensors detect an imbalance between front and rear.  This means
that sliding our henhouse on its runners (simply done with my old
Lightweight) nearly burnt the Freelander clutch out, and put (front)
wheelspin marks on our nice new concrete yard.  This is a passenger-
car-with-4-wheel-drive rather than a traditional working LR.

Weak points seem to be the door window winders, which are a triumph of
ingenuity over durability.  I've had to replace 2 of them, and they're
only available as LR parts at £70+ each.  I've also had the terminal
tabs break off the heater rear window as the cable trunking gets stiff
over time and puts strain on them as the window goes up and down.
(See a future issue of LRe magazine for a DIY repair -- that's if the
editor prints the feature.)

That lowering rear window does have one very good plus point -- in
really hot weather it's possible to drop ALL the windows and so get a
convertible-with-a-roof.  None of that throbbing pressure noise you
get when you travel at speed with only the door windows open.

And a final thing -- no-one waves at you!  After years with a Series
1, Lightweight and Classic RR, I definitely missed being greeted on
the road as a fellow Solihull fan.  In a Freelander you're just one of
the crowd (albeit a crowd that helped to restore the company's
finances).  For a while I seriously thought about fitting a snorkel
and a big cardboard-replica winch so that people would take me
seriously!

GRAEME ALDOUS
Yorkshire