Land Rover Freelander TD4 2007 review

Don't laugh... plenty of people accidentally put petrol in their diesel at the servo and it creates an absolute calamity.

This can't happen in the Land Rover Freelander because there's a diesel only nozzle hole on the fuel inlet. It's a simple fix and underlines just how much thought has gone into this impressive compact SUV from Britain.

Technology

Well, the Britain bit is not totally correct because new Freelander II TD4's engine is from PSA — Peugeot in France and is a 2.2-litre turbodiesel with 110kW/420Nm output. A similar engine is used in the new Peugeot 508 and other vehicles.

A water-cooled variable geometry turbo (VGT) is used to optimise efficiency and contributes to the Freelander's impressive 6.6-litres/100km fuel economy.

Of course, being a Land Rover means the Freelander will go almost anywhere — and get back and to this end, is fitted with L-R-s clever Terrain Response system. This offers a range of modes to suit various driving environments. It's selected simply by turning a dial on the centre console.

It's a full time four wheel drive and is equipped with decent dual purpose tyres that neither hum too loudly on sealed roads nor lose grip too easily on slippery surfaces.

Design

As version two of the current shape the new model benefits from evolutionary changes and upgrades not the least to its appearance and standard equipment.

The outside has been tweaked to give a family Land Rover look to the front with grille and headlight changes, revised body hardware and similar minor changes to the rear end. It is a positive step because this new Freelander is the best looker so far.

They have grown a green conscience at the factory and equip Freelander with an array of technology to cut emissions and reduce fuel consumption such as the smart charging battery that only draws power when the engine is decelerating. It will happily ingest biodiesel and the manual TD4 has engine stop/start.

Driving

Freelander is impressively quiet inside and the engine has plenty of pull across a wide engine speed range.

The test vehicle was a mid-range XS priced at $52,790 but features plenty of luxury kit including leather and a decent locally fitted Garmin satnav system. It has a six-speed auto transmission with adaptive shift and sequential change mode which seem superfluous because it's best left in D.

Ride quality is excellent offering a high level of comfort and a degree of sportiness. We took the TD4 off road and it simply toyed with what we threw at it in terms of sand and beach driving, slippery, muddy dirt roads, water crossings and rough rock hopping.

On the highway and around town is a similar story — no complaints at all really. It's comfortable, goes extremely well, has all manner of luxuries and looks great.

It even got the big thumbs up from "The Boss," who was reluctant to hand over the keys. And you can't get a better recommendation than that....