Used Land Rover Freelander 2006-2014 reliability

Although few Freelanders will ever see serious off-road use, it’s a good idea to check for any potential underbody damage.

The interior of the Freelander needs to be checked carefully for loose or damaged panels, and it’s not unknown for the optional leather seats to split at the seams.

The Freelander uses a DVD-based sat-nav system, which is slower than the newer hard drive or SD-card-based setups, and the DVD needs replacing at regular intervals to ensure it’s up to date.

A low rumbling sound from under the back of the car could indicate trouble with the rear differential and that can be more than £1000 to replace. Rear wheel bearings can wear out and cost around £350-£400 each to replace. Power steering pumps can fail, and that could lead to a £1000 bill if the rack needs replacing. The Freelander seems especially susceptible to developing suspension and steering tracking alignment issues, leading to excessive and uneven tyre wear. Anti-roll bar drop links can also wear out, so if the car feels less than precise on a test drive, that’s most likely the cause.

There have been reports of occasional issues with the oil breather pipe and the fuel injectors in diesel Freelanders, with smelly fumes inside the car being a sign of injector trouble, but it’s usually a relatively affordable fix to the injector washers.

Electrical systems can develop faults, especially the alarm system and (optional) automatic windscreen wipers.

The optional heated windscreen mechanism can be damaged by stone chips and is often replaced with a cheaper non-heated, non-original product.

Sunroof

The sunroof glass of vehicles produced between 1 November 2006 and 12 January 2008 might become detached from its guide rails and jam the mechanism. Find out from a Land Rover dealer if your Freelander has already had the necessary recall work carried out.

Booster heater fire

There have been two recalls for potential fires on examples built between the period of 1 February 2007 and 2 June 2008, caused by a short circuit in the booster heater. Early signs of this are a battery drain the means you cannot start the vehicle, or a pungent smell of hot or melted plastic. In extreme circumstances, this can lead to a fire. Speak to a Land Rover dealer to ascertain if this recall has already been applied to your Freelander.

Fuel Leak

The fuel rail on diesel models manufactured between 1 January 2012 and 31 October 2013 might leak fuel and this could lead to a potential fire if it hits something hot, such as the exhaust manifold. Check with your local Land Rover dealer to find out if your car has already had this recall carried out.

The Freelander is perhaps a little too old now to be included in the What Car? Reliability Survey, but it never scored particularly highly when it did. However, you can minimise the risk by buying the best example you can with plenty of evidence of it being well looked after. Insist on a full service history from a Land Rover main dealer or a specialist, and if you can find an owner that has kept a file with all the receipts of recent maintenance work, so much the better.

Land Rover finished last out of 31 manufacturers in our latest survey, well behind rival brands such as Audi, BMW and Mercedes.

If you would like to see the full reliability list, head to the What Car? Reliability Survey pages for more information.