You folks in Australia have a lot more choices in Freelander configurations than we here in North America do. If I lived where you do I would seriously look at a new(er) 5 door TD4 with a manual transmission. The TD4 seems to be the best mix of fuel economy and power. The petrol KV6 is a thirsty little devil - not as bad as your Disco but bad enough. Except for my '02 Freelander, I've driven manual transmissions for the last 40+ years. I'm still angry LR won't give us a manual tranny here in the US.
If you are really considering a '98 Freelander rather than a new one, you should know there were several issues with the 1.8 petrol engine of that vintage. I'm sure others can fill you in on that one. Also I believe the older diesel is not as good (powerful) as the newer TD4.
I test drove a couple Disco IIs the other day - '03 and '04 and decided to stick with my Freelander, largely for the fuel economy reason. I think the Freelander is more comfortable to drive on road: good cornering, stable with 4-wheel independent suspension and responsive enough, although not a powerhouse. It is reasonable off road but won't climb as well as your Disco as the Freelander doesn't have a 2-speed transfer case. It does, however, have traction control and HDC as well as a 4-wheel ABS. You can put a 1.5 inch spring lift (from Ironman Suspensions in Australia) and some more agressive tyres on it and go through lots of mud, water, snow and sand. With the lift, it even crawls rocks pretty well. It is smaller so if you want to haul lots of people and/or stuff or pull a large caravan, you'll be wanting your Disco back.
Hope this helps. Good luck!!
Brian
