|
| Landrover Freelander 2 |
| Car: | Toyota Land Cruiser 90 3.0 D4-D Automatic 2001 |
| Description: | Early in 2010, just after I'd got a new Canon 550D camera, I was offerered a free offroading day at the Landrover Experience place in the Chilterns just outside Milton Keynes. I'd actually been there 3 years before at the beginning of 2007, as I was then just about to embark on my 18 month halfway around the world and back trip (www.overlandcruiser.net) and had wanted to learn some offroad driving techniques.
For head rather than heart reasons, I chose a Toyota Landcruiser for the actual trip, preferring the assurance that something would happen every time I pushed a button or pulled a lever in foreign parts over the greater character. But I have always had a soft spot for Landrovers.
The Freelander 2 I did the circuit in was quite a nice piece of kit. There was one part of the offroad circuit it couldn't do because of ground clearance, but all the rest the track could throw at it was handled with aplomb. It also had Hill Descent Control, which took away 90% of the of the skill needed for going downhill albeit accompanied by a symphony of frighteningly expensive-sounding grinding noises.
On tarmaced roads, it had a pleasant, pliant ride, coupled with strong performance from the 2.2 diesel engine. It felt like a chunky saloon car, rather than the sanitised offroad vehicle feel of the Freelander 1. I don't normally do automatics, but this one had a lovely smooth action, with imperceptible changes and none of the clunks you normally get when going from N into R or R in slushboxes.
Overall - am not in the market for a new anything let alone a 4x4, and if I were it would be a Defender because that's the sort of person I am - but the Freelander 2 has a lot going for it.
Many thanks to all at Landrover Experience for such a pleasant afternoon.
Some asshole hacked my main ilesmark youtube account recently and deleted 100 of my videos. This isn't the first time this has happened to me and youtube appears powerless to stop it from happening to increasing numbers of people. Thus, rather than have all my vids in 1 acccount, I am going to have them in lots of small separate accounts, all beginning with the name ilesmark. That way, if the hacking occurs again the loss will be capped. Shame to have to do this, isn't it? | | Keywords: | Landrover, Freelander, experience, Chilterns | | Duration: | 00:02:34 |
| View video... |
|
|
|
