Concentrate on lifting the vehicle behind the Freeloader! hahaha!
My Freelander is the one that would have been the first Freelander at the National Rally had I not broken my leg. It also would have had my other mods on there too.
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1994 Ford Mustang GT Convertible 5.0L V8 5M
2005 Land Rover Freelander SE 2.5L V6 5A
I actually decided that since Land Rover Fort Worth decided to not void the warranty I would have it professionally installed that way if something happened I could pin the blame on them. Not only that, it needed a alignment afterward anyway.
They said it wasn't too bad.
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1994 Ford Mustang GT Convertible 5.0L V8 5M
2005 Land Rover Freelander SE 2.5L V6 5A
Chrisvonc... How's that little Hippo do climbing hills? The last time I went on a dealer-sponsored off road trip we went up a steep, muddy and rocky logging trail here in West Virginia. Discos and Range Rovers had no problems, but a couple of the Freelanders had a tough time with the slope. Were they just pussing out or did the lack of low range get them?
Aside from the hill they all went through mud and gunk pretty well.
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1990 Range Rover County
2002 Jaguar X-Type
Absolutely terrible. No joke, unless you have room to mash the life out of the gas and try to blast up with some speed, a steep slow climb is painful. The truck simply is not designed for the wheeling the larger trucks have a history of doing when it comes to slow wheeling and hill climbing. The same goes for rock. Its not possible to approach rock the same way you would with one of the legacy trucks. Freelanders without the low range, need gas gas and an occasional goose of the brake to try and trick etc to come on. Even then you still need to maintain the gas and wheel spin to get up and over. As I found out its a completely different mind set wheeling one on trails you are used to running in the larger trucks not only with driving style, but rethinking lines.
However as you noted, they handle snow, mud and gunk extremely well. Before I owned mine, I was trail scouting with a Freelander along and it really shocked me how well it plowed itself through deep crap.
If someone could get a low range box in a Freelander, it would solve most of the issues I have with them, given what they are and what they were designed for. They are not climbers, they are not rock crawlers. They are good little easy trail trucks that can handle some excitement more than what most people who have no experience with them, give them credit for.
This was the 'little brother' to CVC's Project Freelander. It had the Ironman springs 1.5" lift, homemade sliders, sill guards, front and rear skidplates and one-off A-bar. The tires were Firestone's Destination MTs. They were loud, but grabbed on pretty well.
Chris is right about the Freelander's climbing abilities. If you can't get a bit of a run at it, you're in for a painful climb. However, it did quite well in other types of terrain. It was a lot of fun to drive it all over the place. It will go many places the other small SUVs won't go, and can put some of the big ones to shame, too.
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Current: 2004 G4 Discovery
Gone: Silver '02 Freelander SE
Well, it was not really meant to be a this vs that. My comparisons to the other Rovers was simply for a base that most here can relate to. If you want to wheel the hard stuff, plain and simple, a Freelander is not the truck. Its just not what it was designed and built for.
Can it wheel and can it wheel plenty of fun stuff? Yes, and very well. I have a lot of fun wheeling mine when I wheel it.
Yeah, I'm not bad mouthing Freelanders... I used to have a nice little Rutland Red '02 SE that I loved. I never had the chance to take it off road, and have only been out with a few others on the dealer event I was talking about. Given that one was piloted by two senior citizens and their poodle and the other was owned by the dealership and was being driven by a marketing chick from the dealership (she broke the rear bumper assembly off in a big hole) I just wondered if they had the ass to climb. Aside from that hill (and the big hole) I was suprised at how well two stock Hippos did.
One of them made it through a big mud hole that stuck up a new Range Rover.
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1990 Range Rover County
2002 Jaguar X-Type
A benefit to a Freelander is that they are lightweight
I've been told a Freelander has the same amount of horsepower as a Disco I and something like 1500lbs less.
Take one that's been lifted like mine, well, it's got a shorter wheelbase so if you don't count low range, a Freelander does as good if not better than a Disco I.
Now I'm sure someone will contest that so go ahead.
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1994 Ford Mustang GT Convertible 5.0L V8 5M
2005 Land Rover Freelander SE 2.5L V6 5A
Finally got a lift!
What are your other mods?
Linear Mode
