Land Rover Freelander 2 Stop Start
I hate it when they ruin a good punch-line. I used to know a barrage of really corny Land Rover jokes.
Why are the rear windscreens of the Defender heated? So your hands stay warm when you push. How do you double the value of a V8 Discovery? Fill it with petrol. For poor Freelander 1 it was, what do you buy your wife if you REALLY don't like her? See? They ruined the damned punch-line. New Freelander 2 is good. Good enough in fact, to warrant buying. Really, I have stopped kidding.
For the record, I am a fan of 4x4's. For going off road. I have never seen the point of buying a vehicle with long travel suspension and all the bad road manners that entails, to use in a situation where a hot hatch or station wagon would be more suitable. Fair enough for the farmer who can only afford one car. Even understandable for the politician who needs a serious piece of big machinery so he can display how big a bribe he will need.
I just don't see the point in Mrs Jones needing low range so that little Freddy can firmly establish his seniority once-and-for-all in the tuck-shop queue. I see the need for big family vehicles. I also understand the obvious ignominy of being seen in a station wagon or bus. I predict we will soon see many more “off roaders” built for the road. There is a long list of vehicles capable of bashing some serious bundu that never will.
Manufacturers acknowledge this by shipping them with rubber bands for tyres. Pukka off-roading requires high profile. If you want to get back, that is. For reference see the ML, Q5 & 7, X5 & 3, XC60, 70 & 90 or anything with a Porsche label.
I am not suggesting they can't, but judging by the specs they ship with, they sure as hell won't! Thus, I appreciate Land Rover's approach to Freelander. High clearance, some good electrickery to keep you on the gravel to the holiday cottage and even safely down the grassy hill when wet. Tall enough for almost any middleman- netjie. Serious off roader? Doesn't even pretend.
No silly low range to uselessly confuse anybody. Firm suspension, firm enough to have more polite roadholding than many sedans. Pothole absorbing too. The 2.2 Diesel engine tuned for useful on-road torqueiness, 400NM of it in fact! A character making it feel much quicker than its 11.7 seconds to 100. It simply feels well built.
In standard trim, it is fairly free of silly gimmicks, careful with the check-boxes though. Remarkable fuel economy for what might be considered a baby Landy but is in fact a sizeable, well packaged car. 12% fuel savings they say over the previous diesel, which wasn't too bad anyhow. The claimed 6.7l/100km is realistic. A long drive had me eeking out nearly 800kms on a tankful, and I wasn't being thrifty!
Around town wasn't quite so momentous, and here is the crux. The major feature on all of Freelander's Diesels is the “stop start” system. On the manual models, as was my test unit, this involved putting the clutch in, shifting to neutral, letting the clutch out and the engine cuts out automatically. A good habit to follow in any car, (not the switching off, the shifting to neutral dummy!) That is if the climate control and electrical loads permit.
In practical terms, in a week long test, this happened about a half dozen times. On two of them, switching back on long before the bottleneck fixed itself. Whoohoo! They claim instantaneous restarting. Quick yes, but slow enough, that one needs to be cogniscent not to beat it and stall on pull-off.
Rand Lover? Not at the fuel pumps, and not while under the now lengthy maintenance plan.
