FREELANDER
The Car Bore a Striking Resemblance
The Land Rover Freelander is a compact SUV made by Land Rover The current generation is sold as the LR2 in North America and as the Freelander 2 in Europe. As per the Discovery 3 / LR3 they thought numbers were easier for Americans, although in 2001 they elected a chimpanzee to the post of President so perhaps not.
The Freelander was launched in late 1997. It became Europe's best-selling four wheel drive model until 2002 when people realised the cylinder head gaskets on the petrol versions were made of toilet paper and the TD4 engine in the diesel which was originally produced by BMW was remapped by Land Rover to add some serious turbo lag as their customers were used to travelling slowly, followed by a period of coasting and then the comfort of the cab of the recovery truck.
The Freelander was often reffered to as the Hippo due to it's uncanny resemblance to it's namesake the Hippopotamus. Resemblances included a stupid looking front end, the ability to wallow gently and be extremely temperamental.
The Freelander was launched in late 1997. It became Europe's best-selling four wheel drive model until 2002 when people realised the cylinder head gaskets on the petrol versions were made of toilet paper and the TD4 engine in the diesel which was originally produced by BMW was remapped by Land Rover to add some serious turbo lag as their customers were used to travelling slowly, followed by a period of coasting and then the comfort of the cab of the recovery truck.
The Freelander was often reffered to as the Hippo due to it's uncanny resemblance to it's namesake the Hippopotamus. Resemblances included a stupid looking front end, the ability to wallow gently and be extremely temperamental.
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The new Freelander features higher ground clearance and off-road capabilities that are closer to other Land Rover models, when we say closer we mean closer like George W Bush is to Einstein. The Freelander 2 features a modified version of the Terrain Response off-road driving system as fitted to the Discovery 3 and the Range Rover, proving that if you can't innovate - copy. An optional cold climate package includes heated front windscreen, heated front seats with two heating levels and heated windscreen washers. This initially proved very popular with the Scottish until they found out how much it cost and were too tight so stuck to woollen jumpers.
The Freelander TD4_e is the first SUV in Britain with stop-start technology
although Land Rover initially misunderstood the terminology and thought this
referred to breakdown and recovery. The system cuts out the engine, much as a minor system fault does, when the vehicle
is stationary, neutral is selected and the clutch engaged, the engine hopefully restarts when the clutch
pedal is depressed.
Freelander 2 eD4 For the 2011 model year, the Freelander is available with the option of 2 wheel drive (badged as eD4). This version also loses Terrain Response and Hill Descent Control. This is primarily for the school run brigade. By this point North Americans were lost as there were too many similar sounding names which confused them, much like it did their president who accidentally mistook Saddam Hussein for Osama Bin Laden and invaded Iraq (which of course with a lack of global geography knowledge was easily mistaken for a province of Afghanistan). |