The Land Rover LR2/ Freelander 2

[YSSMAN]

Hey kids, Land Rover is showing off some of the pictures of the new LR2/Freelander 2 online. There arent any offical specs on the new truck, but it looks like a mini-LR3/Disco, so thats a good thing...

I'd say it looks pretty nice, but I'm wondering about the price, and of course the performance. I think I was in the minority with the Freelander here in the US... I liked the looks, and I gave it plenty of credit as a Land Rover. But the magazines didnt care much for it, and neither did the public. A shame really, as it was a great small SUV for those who actually want to take it off-road.

 

[Tornado]

A shame really, as it was a great small SUV for those who actually want to take it off-road.

But then again, so was the Jeep Liberty, which was just as good (and a little better off-road) in every category and cheaper. It was a good vehicle, but it was overpriced and underpowered. That was about the only problem I ever had with it. Anyways:
So Ford is really serious about ruining Land Rover, eh? First they sell a vehicle in America called the LR3, killing off 30 years of name lineage. Next they announce they are killing off the Defender to replace it with a poseur that is basically a Ford Explorer. Then they release the Range Rover Sport, which (regardless of how good it is) is an abomination of a Land Rover. And now they are going to kill off the Freelander name (which is a good-sounding, if not heritage filled, name) and replace it with random assortments of letters.
Otherwise, the nw Freelander is a good looking car. I still dislike the headlight design (and I have on every new Land Rover, from the BMW Range Rover on to this), but otherwise it looks pretty slick. Much more like an off-road vehicle than the Freelander did.

 

[Dave A]

You have to remember though, Land Rovers get imported to the US, they arn't built there, so the import fees and taxes get added onto the price you pay, it's the other way round over here, if you were to import a Jepp Libery, it'd cost more than the relevent Land Rover. The genral trend with car's is that if they're imported, they will cost more.

 

[Raghavan]

This is still probalby going to be FWD.

 

[YSSMAN]

Given the build qality issues that Jeep has had lately, there is no way in hell I would ever consider one before a Land Rover, no matter how vast the price difference. Cheap plastics inside and out combined with transmissions that tend to explode scare me...

 

[Dave A]

This is still probalby going to be FWD.

All Land Rover and Range Rovers are 4wd, I don't see this one being any different. A fwd Land Rover goes against the grain.

 

[Danny]

The freelander was 4WD, but most of the power sent to the fronts.

I think.

 

[Keef]

The old Freelander was based on the same chassis as the Ford Escape, Mazda Tribute, and now the Mecury Mariner, which necessitated a front-wheel-drive based AWD system.
But I don't know is this one is on a new chassis or not. I can see quite the resemblance to an Escape, so maybe it's on the same chassis.

 

[YSSMAN]

...I think it uses a shrunken version of the LR3's platform... But I'm not completely certain...

 

[niky]

It's based on the C-platform, supposedly.

I think it's a step up on the old one... god willing they give it a real engine this time... and some real off-road chops, not like the old one.

 

[YSSMAN]

More LR2 images came over the wire today...

...Quite frankly, I love it. Much, much better than the Jeep Liberty, BMW X3, Acura RDX, whatever. Atleast with this, I would be able to take it off-road, and actually do some things...

 

[ND4SPD]

Looks like an LR3 had sex with a Range Rover sport and 9 months later this popped out.

 

[YSSMAN]

It is a damn-good looking SUV. Too bad there won't be a diesel version comming to the US, as it would be good both on and off-road and offer decent fuel economy. Hopefully however, they still have a cheap "stripper" model at the base of the lineup.

 

[Poverty]

Looks alot tougher than the last model, which looked a bit wimpy.