Time to talk to the experts
 

Wife has decided we need a new car, is fed up with Freelander 2 cutting out. To be fair has been good car since we got it 7 years ago, she is just now nervous, wife not the car. Once had a V70 plus lots of 940s but am confused as to which model etc. If one reads this forum that forum this review etc one is told Buy do not Buy D3, D4 ,D5. I am at a loss as to V70 or XC70 for starters let alone which engine, and then there are the trim levels. Maybe the Freelander is ok!

First question would be do you really need all wheel drive? If so, then the XC70 is the one to go for.

If you don’t need all wheel drive, then a V70 will do fine.

The SE Lux is the one that will have basically all you need & that’s the one I’d go for personally. The SE is also well equipped, but won’t have xenon headlights.

As for engines, the D5 is the best one to go for in my opinion. Depending on the year of car you’re looking at, some models like “D3” for example are actually five cylinder engines… the name is a bit misleading in that sense & it can be a bit confusing.

What year are you thinking/what’s your budget?

Definitely do not need 4WD, never ever needed it on the Land Rover though again never got the choice was permanent 4WD. Yes the D2,D3 etc is designed to confuse a buyer. As nothing spectacular is needed I read the D3 is actually quite a decent unit with £30 tax and good mileage. Comparing engines on Autotrader there seems no logic with a D5 being lower insurance and £30 tax as opposed to a D4 at £130. Looking around 5years oldish budget can go to £20K

So you’re looking at a very late model then. V70’s/XC70’s were made up until 2016. Then they were replaced with the V90 estate & V90 cross country.

The D3 is a good choice, providing its a 5 cylinder D3. Basically, the 5 cylinder D3 is a detuned D5… still a great engine, but with less power. There’s also a 4 cylinder one available, but that’s a different engine & doesn’t have the same grunt, power etc as the five cylinder. Its not a bad engine, but I think the five cylinders are the most reliable & the ones to go for.

If you’re looking on AutoTrader, click on the advert of the car you want to have a look at & then just underneath you’ll see “Specification”, click that & then click on “Performance”. Then you’ll be able to see the number of cylinders the car has. If its a 4 cylinder, that’s the newer VEA engine (four cylinder). The true 5 cylinder ones will say 5 cylinder under “performance”.

Also, if you do view one in person, open the driver’s door & read the sticker where the tyre pressures are. It’ll tell you the bhp of the engine.

For the five cylinder D3 (2013-2016), the sticker should say “136PS”.

The four cylinder D3 (2015-2016) will say 150PS.

As you can see, you can easily get the wrong engine if you just assume the car you’re looking at has a five cylinder engine because more than one engine option was available in the years you’re looking at.

If you don’t need 4WD, a V70 will be fine for your needs.

One final question manual or auto preference?

That boils down to personal preference, but I prefer auto in a big luxury car. It just makes the driving experience more relaxing.

Each to their own, but I’d suggest having a drive in a manual & auto to see which YOU prefer. I don’t think I’ll have a manual again… I love auto. :regular_smile:

I am okay with either, suppose is time to go out and look at a few. Thanks for the info.

Having had mine for about 4 months, and knowing what I’ve learnt in that time, I would plump for a Euro 6, XC70, D5, with as lower mileage as I could find, seen some around 30k miles. I know you don’t want need AWD, but watching all the videos on YouTube, it is an awesome car, that will get you out of trouble should the weather turn bad. I say XC rather than V as I believe the residual resale value will be more, should you change your mind. You bought the Freelander,but didn’t need awd?. So I’d say an XC 2016 model, the NAV version is cheaper, but has more stuff than I could ever imagine. Should be able to pick one up for 16-20 k. Good luck.

Ps. I’ve just driven from Kent to Cornwall, in one go, took about 8 1/2 hours, traffic was terrible, readout say 46.2 mpg, and more importantly, I’m not broken. I feel great, no aches stiffness,and it was a pleasure, either blasting up inclines over Bodmin moor or stuck in endless queues around Stonehenge. Best car I’ve ever owned.

XC also costs more to buy. Catch 22.

There’s no point buying AWD if you don’t need it. There’s extra costs come service time, like Haldex fluid changes etc. Then people moan that it costs more to maintain.

I don’t see the point in having an AWD just for the sake of it, particularly if you live in a city area. If you live out in the sticks or in a place with bad roads/inclines, I can see the need. Lots of people buy the XC for the higher driving position, yet they have no intention of ever going off road with it! 4x4’s are the same.

That’s a ridiculous amount to pay; I’d be waiting for new car supplies to improve and waiting for the prices to go back to where they were. Last November I got close to buying at 18 plate V90 with 40k and a Selekt warranty for £17950. The same spec now is about £24k. The value of late V and XC70’s has followed the price of V90’s as the supply of new cars has tightened.

A very late V70 D4 SE Lux Geartronic from 2016 would be a good option.

It has the later 8-speed automatic gearbox, and is as fast as most people will need.

It can do 137 mph and it is quiet and refined.

The D5 is only marginally faster, but it is a bit noisier and more expensive to tax and insure. For the D4, road tax is only £30.

Also you won't find a 2016 D5.

A 2016 D3 will be slower and possibly slightly less refined because the engine doesn't have balancer shafts to cancel out the opposing forces that a 4-cylinder engine produces.

Right opinions on this one.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-det...nr148jb&page=1

Would agree that second hand prices have have crept up due to lack of new vehicles appearing when that will get resolved who knows?

I only ended up with 4WD with the LR as there is no option. If conditions are that bad to require 4WD I will stay indoors with a bottle of something.

Get used to high prices on late model cars, the main long term reason is the increase in cost of new cars due to needing to fund electric and hybrid versions. Everything we buy is going to cost more in the next 18 months due to the increase in cost in hassle in moving stuff around the globe, add in to that the hopefully short term covid issues.

BTW an XC70 has the same auto gearbox and AWD system as your Freelander. XC70 prices are at a premium currently and are likely to stay there as the V90 CC hasn’t been nearly as popular and there just isn’t the supply of 2-3 year old cars.

You are likely to find the XC70 improvement to the Freelander in nearly all areas except off road which you don’t need. I doubt you will be disappointed. SE LUX spec with D5 engine the way to go - xenon headlights and tft dashboard very desirable.

Actually that looks bloody lovely......

The buyer is confused because D3 4 5 etc is not an engine designation it is a Power range from 2010 and later :-) which is easy to understand
Approx figures from memory .. D= Diesel

D2 up to 120 bhp
D3 120 to 160
D4 160 to 190
D5 200 t0 250

(figures apply to 2010 onwards, Later D4 power range is more powerful than an early D5 engine )

Yes, I did similar last week. Arrived well into the 40s mpg, now after about 60 miles of holiday motoring the same trip is at just over 30. Motto, as always is they love a run, and hate just about everything else, especially Cornish lanes!

OP, the 4WD versions are a nicer drive IMHO, with the transfer of drive to the rear neutralising a slight feeling of torque steer when pulling away, for instance.

That’s a four cylinder.

Looks lovely, but I’d prefer the five cylinder engine.

Your choice though.

Is the 8 speed box the ZF one?

Lots of people slag off LR but I must say in the 6 years I have had the Freelander the Gearbox and the 4WD have been faultless. More maintenance re Haldex etc but that is how it is.
I have been looking at specs as seems SE LUX is the way to go . Am still confused sometimes seeing SE LUX NAV as if the SE LUX does not have satnav.

No its the Asin ... a modified version of the 6 speed. it does a great job at keeping the engine at about 1800 rpm at all times until you get up to 80 mph , much like a cvt which helps with economy greatly .

One thing that has an alarm bell ringing for me is the mileage. Is quoted as 39K but at MOT in Feb recorded as 45889. Plus there is no photo of the speedo/odometer which most folks show. Have messaged the seller.

I told you was confusing. Spent yesterday evening watching YouTube videos and trawling the net for reviews. So many conflicting opinions. The D4 is the one to get, There is not much to choose between the D3,D4 and D5 etc etc. Only point most agree on is no to the D2.
Hence picking you guys brains as nothing beats ownership to form an opinion.,

Here is another couple look ok, to me anyway. Mind you details say black so no idea what goes on there?

https://www.theaa.com/used-cars/cardetails/6-1849797

https://www.motors.co.uk/car-59416633/?i=10&m=sr

If you’re looking on AutoTrader, click on the advert of the car you want to have a look at & then just underneath you’ll see “Specification”, click that & then click on “Performance”. Then you’ll be able to see the number of cylinders the car has. If its a 4 cylinder, that’s the newer VEA engine (four cylinder). The true 5 cylinder ones will say 5 cylinder under “performance”.

Another way to tell is the four cylinder cars are 2.0 litre. The five cylinder are 2.4 litre.

My opinion would be get a five cylinder version. They would be more expensive on fuel & dearer to tax than a four cylinder, but the five cylinder is a proven fantastic engine.

I’m not saying the four cylinder ones aren’t good, but there’s plenty of issues with regards to oil consumption on other models with the same four cylinder engines. Volvo done recalls on these.

Is the Volvo Selekt worth it, not that they have many V70s anyway?

Without doubt a 5, I agree

Same make as one I used to have in an S type jag. Was a nice box.

Its worth it, but I wouldn’t be too fussed either.

So long as you buy a car that has been looked after, ideally with full service history, then Volvo Selekt wouldn’t make much of a difference.

Ah... if the MOT History check is done on the reg number in the photo, then something isn't right unless it's been for sale a very long time....

Having owned cars with both engines, if I was buying a 2WD late (2015 MY onwards) V70 I would only look at the 4 cylinder VEA engine with the 8-speed box. The5 cylinder engine is very good but the 4 cylinder VEA with 8-speed box is more refined, and just as reliable in my experience. Just make sure all the recall work has been done.

The 5 cylinder D4's have the 6 speed box I think...

You should also think about any travelling you might do and if a Euro 6 car would be beneficial (i.e. Birmingham, London or Bath).

How have they made the 4 cylinder engine more refined?

They rewrote the laws of thermodynamics specially for the model!

I'm not sure of all the technical reasons but having had two XC60's - one D5 AWD one VEA D4 FWD - the 4 cylinder is noticeably quieter and smoother.

The VEA engine has dual balancer shafts I believe.

The D5 doesn't need a balance shaft, because on an inline 5 the primary and secondary forces cancel one another out...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engine_balance

The 4 pot feels great, is very well mounted, superbly sound insulated, and all this will have an impact on the drivers perception of refinement but the laws of physics simply preclude an inline 4 being smoother than an inline 5.

No reply received. Not overly surprised by that if honest.

I don’t disagree with any of that - but what else matters other than driver perception? Go and drive a 2016 D4 and D5 back to back and then tell me if you think I’m wrong?

yes , also the cylinder block is clad with sound deadening material , not that you can see the block of course !

Still doing my research on the engine options but most of what I read say the engines are noisy and more suited to motorway cruising at a suitable speed, that is not what I will be doing. Now if somebody could just confirm what I have gleaned from the web and here.

D3 2.0L 134BHP 4 cyl

D4 2.0L 161BHP 4 cyl

D5 2.4L 213BHP 5 cyl

Still no wiser as to which would suit my needs which are around town use and occasional 50 mile jaunt on mainly A and B roads

In that case you don't really need a diesel !

Not disagreeing but would like a car no more than say 5 years old so that eliminates petrol.
Now if you want to flog me your 940 !

You’ll need to bring it on a good run every now & again on the motorway for at least half an hour (once a month at least). If you don’t, you’ll end up with DPF issues.

Don’t always believe what you read. A Diesel engine is never going to be as quiet as a Petrol, although Diesel are getting more & more refined. Admittedly, a five cylinder around town is a bit noisy when you take off, but once you’re at say 30/40mph, you can barely hear it.

I’d still go for a five cylinder personally, but that’s my opinion. I believe the four cylinder D4’s are nice too. If I was going down the four cylinder route, I’d go for the D4.

Your best option is to have a drive in a D4 (four cylinder) & then the five cylinder. Its your car, your money & your choice. What I/we (other forum members) suggest may not suit you.