Anyone got a Freelander? Are they any good?

[Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme]

Please share your experience, good or bad.

I know about getting a 08 plate or later due to the rear diff problem, and preferably a diesel as the petrols apparently have dodgy head gaskets.

Anyone know how many car seats you can comfortably fit in the back?

TIA.

We used to have one and got rid because it was only 3 door (dh bought pre me/kids) rather than because we didn't like it. We only had 2 boosters then one baby seat/one booster & dd1.

Freelander 2 (2006 onwards) petrol engines were from Ford so don't have the head gasket reputation of the earlier Rover engines. It was only the pre-2000 1.8l engine that had those problems, the 2.0l was a different design.

Ooh right, cheers WMittens that opens up the floor a bit.

Would like to know if I can fit three booster seats comfortably across the back seat. That's the only sticking point at the moment and I don't know anyone in rl that has one with small children.

Bump.

Oh blast.

my sis has one and has 3 dc but I think it is a squash to get all 3 across the back. The eldest is a large 9 yr old - she tends to either be squashed in the middle on a small booster with the two smaller dc in big chairs on either side or on a booster in the front if there is only one adult with them.

Their second car they got something bigger (sharan i think) that could do 7 seats easily but it couldn't cope with their drive (they're farmers so farmhouse is 4 fields back from main road, more pot hole than drive - hence the need for the freelander). think they now just use one of those big american style truck things now if they all need to go out that doubles as bil's farm vehicle (and therefore if going anywhere where they need to be presentable at the end of the journey, dsis always ends up having extra job of checking there's no straw/sheep poo/dog pong etc etc in it!)

I have a honda crv which is a very similar size but I prefer out of the two - if you are doing more road miles than rough off road stuff then it is much better on the road than the freelander, it can cope with reasonable off road stuff (although the freelander is better at the extreme off road stuff, but I never need to do that, just negotiate dsis's drive!). It also has a much bigger boot than the freelander, and a shorter engine compartment so they are still approx the same length. I've never had to get 3 car seats into my back other than squeezing a booster in the middle and two bigger seats either side occasionally. I seem to remember that I had to unplug the car seats (usually have just 2 fitted) from their isofix fittings in order to wiggle enough room for the booster seat, and use seatbelts to secure the other chairs. Not ideal but lots of car seats still don't use isofix fittings so not mega bad. Definitely worth a look at if you haven't already... (and if you don't need to do extreme off road stuff)

Thanks zipzap that's really helpful.

We only have two dc's but occasionally we take a friend. It's a squeeze in my current car so would be nice to have a bigger back seat. We don't have isofix, just high back boosters with the seatbelts.

Still looking really but that's our favourite so far.

Thanks zipzap that's really helpful.

We only have two dc's but occasionally we take a friend. It's a squeeze in my current car so would be nice to have a bigger back seat. We don't have isofix, just high back boosters with the seatbelts.

Still looking really but that's our favourite so far.