The Land Rover Freelander

Many Land Rover enthusiasts claimed the Freelander would not be a “genuine” Land Rover due its monocoque chassis/body and independent strut suspension. These two changes were a major design re-direction from anything else Land Rover had ever built being the first vehicle not to be built on the now famous steel ladder chassis. Whilst the Freelander cannot compete against the Defender for off-road prowess, it is astonishingly capable on all but the roughest of terrains and comprehensively outperforms the similar class vehicles from Honda, Toyota and the like.

The Freelanders design is similar to standard cars. The one contrast between the monocoque design of the Freelander and regular cars is the addition of substantial sub-frame including welded box-section rails giving a structural integrity not seen in regular cars or SUV’s of the same class.

The Freelander doesn’t sport the low range gearbox or differential lock featured on everything else on the Land Rover arsenal although an innovative Hill Descent Control (HDC) has been added. The HDC function works by gently pulsing the brakes to sustain a speed of about 5mph. This greatly improves the Freelander's off-road capabilities, and negates the need for low range gears to tackle declines. The HDC design has been hailed a resounding success and has since been introduced on other models in the Land Rover range and copied by competing manufacturers for inclusion on their SUV’s.

Replacing the traditional diff-lock is the new Viscous Coupling Unit (VCU). This unit works progressively instead of a simple on/off method. If a front wheel begins to lose traction, the surplus torque is redirected to the rear wheels or vice-versa.

Independent suspension all round replaces the beam set-up that reduces ground clearance in off-road situation, but it compensates by giving a much smoother ride. As with all of the Land Rover range, protection plates guard the fuel tank, engine, and transmission systems and vulnerable or easily damaged components are lifted high within the chassis out of harm's way.

The Land Rover Freelander became available in 1998 and is available in a 3-door 'Sport' with soft-back or hard-back rear roofs and a 5-door Station Wagon. Diesel and petrol engines are both available in the range.

The European market received the new Freelander exceptionally well with sales of 47,000 in it’s first full production year. This figure grew to over 70,000 in 1999 and sales have been steadily expanding ever since. Today, the Freelander is the biggest selling 4x4 in Europe. Many UK Land Rover dealers have reported a two-fold increase in sales through their showrooms since the launch of the Freelander.