Land Rover Freelander: Are the changes enough?
One of the areas in which automobiles have made the most progress in recent years has been with the advancement of diesel motors. And it's all to do with force-feeding - the use of turbocharging.
In fact the flexibility of these diesel engines at present is better than that of petrol engines of equal size - and we're talking 2-litres here. But this change has not much filtered through to the 2-litre SUVs yet. It seems that only Land Rover's Freelander has taken the plunge here.
Perhaps it's to do with the fact that most compact SUVs never see a sand road, let alone a track. And it's over such slow and rough tracks that a 2-litre diesel performs so well.
The TD4 lets you dawdle around in the rough at inching speeds without much use of the clutch - something you need do with gusto with a 2-litre petrol SUV. And when you add the TD4's intermediate reduction drive, Electronic Traction Control and Hill Descent Control it allows great flexibility and an indication that the TD4 2-litre is not just a powder-puff boulevard crawler.
However being the only 2-litre SUV diesel on the market you have little to compare it with but the Nissan X-Trail 2.2 D, which in power and torque to weight ratios and price is similar. However, the MPV and car segments have a number of 2-litre diesel engined vehicles that are miles ahead in output terms. And in this area the Renault 1.9dCi and BMW 320d engines (essentially a development of the unit used in the Landy) are kings with their 300 and 330Nm respectively, which when compared with the 260 of our TD4 test vehicle does indicate it is lagging by some margin.
On the road the TD4 was a pleasure to drive with reasonable road holding, although its odd, high seating position can be difficult for taller drivers - it limits visibility. The sprint to 100km/h was achieved in
13.4 seconds, which is at the slower end of the compact SUV market segment, but its standing quarter mile was achieved in the slowest time yet in our test results...
And yes, Land Rover states categorically that for 2004 over 700 changes were made to the Freelander across all its derivatives, which can be seen in the TD4 with its good looking new face and many other new design features.
But hopefully Land Rover does not hold on to a basically good concept for too long as it's done with the Discovery with that archaic OHV mill. The Discovery is also way off in other comparative terms and lagging in most respects when compared with some top-line rivals. Thankfully the long awaited all-new Disco will soon be available.
At R303 500 the Freelander 2.0 TD4 HDS 5-door is also the most expensive manual compact SUV on the South African market. In today's world - and for that sort of money - you would expect engine performance to be part of the package, something Land Rover seems not to care too much about with its longstanding, ensconced and fine reputation.
| Fast Impressions | Make | Land Rover Freelander 2.0 TD4 HSE 5-door |
| Engine | 4-cyl DOHC 8V twin intake ports |
| Transmission | 5-speed |
| Capacity | 1951cc |
| Power | 82kW @ 4 000rpm |
| Torque | 260Nm @ 1 750rpm |
| Specific Power | 42kW per litre |
| Power to weight | 51kW per tonne |
| Torque to weight | 162Nm per tonne |
| Specific torque | 133Nm per litre |
| Fuel capacity | 59 litres |
| Acceleration 0-100km/h(c) | 13.4 sec |
| 0-100km/h(g) | 14.3 sec |
| Standing quarter mile (g) | 20.2 sec @ 115km/h |
| Overtaking 4th gear 80 -120kmh (g) | 11.9 sec |
| Overtaking 4th gear 120 -160kmh (g) | n/a |
| Maximum speed | 170km/h |
| Fuel use overall | 8.9 litres per 100km |
| Price | R303 500 |
| c= | Claimed |
| g= | Gauteng |
