Test drive Land Rover Freelander 2000 - 2003 SUV

Mud and asphalt cocktail

Land Rover Freelander and Renault Scenic RX4 as shakes
Everything was mixed in the world of SUVs. And the most striking confirmation of this Land Rover Freelander and Renault Scenic RX4. The first car of the flesh from the flesh of the legendary British machines of uncompromising fighters with dirt, sand and snow, but was created specifically for asphalt. The second typical family microvan, the most utilitarian, but very well adapted for driving in difficult road conditions. In a word, cocktails. Let's taste them.
Freelander The first car in the Land Rover model line, the off -road qualities of which, if not faded into the background, are at least not put at the forefront. It has a supporting body, an independent suspension of the front and rear wheels, and in the transmission there is no differential lock. All these are typical signs of a machine, which is not designed for avid jeepers, but for people who buy a car mainly for trips on asphalt and on a ground country of chosen most often on weekends.
The appearance of Freelander is perhaps knocked out of the Land Rover generic style, where strict, straight lines are dominated by. However, the car’s belonging to the famous British brand can be determined not only by the nameplate on the trunk lid and hood. Its proportions are sustained in a corporate bolt, although the body forms are more streamlined. Powerful bumpers and wheel arches made of deliberately rude, unpainted plastic are striking. With such a kit, you can move off the rut and storm a roadside shrub, not afraid for the safety of the paintwork.
We climb into the salon. The driver and the front passenger will do this easily and naturally, but the rear passengers will have to choose a hem or cloak, otherwise the protruding wheel arches are interfering on the clothes of convenient landing. The interior of Freelander is designed for harsh operating conditions: hard plastic of the instrument panel and numerous pockets and boxes; anti -vandal tissue upholstery of seats and internal door panels; Easily removed rubber rugs with which all niches and stamping for storage are lined with small things. The owner of the car can not be afraid to sit in the salon in dirty clothes, say, after the conquest of the buuse on a mountain bike. Both fabric lining and plastic are easily cleaned of dirt. The overall impression of the cabin is simple, but not boring, and at the same time very practical. And in the number of places for storing gloves, bottles, road atlases and other small and necessary things, Frelander will not yield to another minivan.
There are practically no complaints about the driver’s workplace. True, in order to get as convenient as possible to get driving, there is not enough adjustment of the seat in height. There are side support rollers, but they are clearly not designed to keep the driver in steep turns at high speeds. However, when moving along the slope, they successfully cope with their task, not allowing the driver to fall out of the chair. For off -road trips, a platform for the left leg with a strong swing of the body would serve as an additional emphasis. However, the British for some reason carefully ignore this detail. But you forget the steering wheel with such an assault in your hands about some inconveniences. Including a small -to -one, as it seemed, digitization of the speedometer and tachometer.
At the central tunnel, a machine gun selector with icons + and. This five -speed STEPTRONIC automatic transmission with manual gear shifts went to the Land Rover in the inheritance from BMW (recall that the British brand until recently belonged to the Germans). Such boxes are installed on all Freelander sold in Russia with a 2.5 -liter gasoline engine. Cars with less powerful 1.8 liter engines are equipped exclusively by manual checkpoints.
I conquer the motor. There are no vibrations on the steering wheel and selector. I click on the gas pedal, the car responds with a pleasant low-frequency baritone of the V-shaped six with a capacity of 177 hp.
I transfer the selector lever to position D. Actively start. The car very briskly gains the maximum 180 km/h (acceleration to 100 km/h per 10.1 s). The programs are stuck smoothly and without jerks. Nevertheless, the box is somewhat late when switching down. For example, if you want to quickly rebuild in a dense city stream at a speed of about 90 km/h, you sharply press the gas pedal (Kick-Down mode), and the machine is thoughtfully switching from the fifth gear to the fourth and only then to the third. The time for maneuver is not enough.
In a sports mode (the automatic transmission selector is translated to the right, and the letter S lights up in the window on the instrument panel), the transmission changes more actively, and practically does not use the fifth machine gun. However, the nature of the behavior of the box does not fundamentally change. In manual mode, the same defect. You push the lever forward or back the second pause, and only then switching occurs. But an undoubted plus of this option is the ability to effectively slow down the engine.
On the highway, Freelander is very confidently holding a straight line. An independent suspension does not allow the car to swing on the waves of asphalt, the car very comfortably overcomes large irregularities, but when passing small seams and joints of asphalt, the body throws into a nervous trembling. But in sharp turns, I was not left by the feeling that someone strives to put a bandwagon of a high center of gravity did not contribute to the car stability to the car.
Turned into the laundry. The car seemed to feel his native element. This is what the hereditary features are: how in home spaniel to never kill the hunting spirit, so Land Rover will always feel comfortable on a bad road.
Investigative cross -country ability provides permanent all -wheel drive. The energy -intensive suspension successfully copes with bumps and pits. The automatic box, by the way, looks very harmonious on the off -road. It is she who helps to overcome steep climbs when storming the next slide does not need to burn the clutch. In extreme situations, the driver’s ally is the system of distribution of ETC traction efforts, which slows down the skid wheels, thus throwing the torque to wheels that have the best adhesion to the surface.
Electronics also helps to descend from the hill the system control system HDC (Hill Descent Control). It selectively slows down the wheels of the car, automatically maintaining speed at a level of not more than 9 km/h. At the same time, touching the brake pedal is not recommended. The system works when moving and forward and backward. In a word, on a bad road, I liked the car more than on the asphalt. And the point here is by no means in the magic of Brand.
Freelander V6 with an automaton of official dealers offer at least $ 35 900. A car with a 1.8 liter engine and a manual gearbox costs $ 26,442. The difference is significant. Thus, the car acts in two price categories at once: the cheap version competes with Nyundai Santa Fe, Honda CR-V, Suzuki Grand Vitara. A more powerful version of Freelander will have to fight for a place under the sun with the Nissan X-Trail and Ford Maverick.
Minivan for off -road
I admit honestly: I looked at Renault Scenic RX4 for a long time. This car was very pretty to me in absentia. I liked the idea of \u200b\u200bcrossing the minivan (albeit small) with a jeep. In my opinion, for Russian conditions this is an apotheosis of practicality. The Frenchman Jan Dorizon, the head of the press service of OJSC Autoframs and my peer, only approved me in sympathy for this car, saying: in France there are not many places where this car would look harmonious. Well, perhaps in the ski chamoni for Paris, this car is too brutal. Yes, and overpaying for RX4 in my homeland is not always advisable. But for Russia, Scenic RX4, in my opinion, is a dream car. In her appearance, there is enough aggressiveness. Full -wheel drive is ideal for your roads. The salon is multifunctional.
Moreover, curious, SCENIC RX4 has no classmates in the Russian (and world) market: none of the automakers have yet decided on such a symbiosis. However, such cars are very popular in Japan, and as a result in the secondary market of the Far East. However, the Japanese do not produce all -wheel drive minivans with the European wheel.
It is amazing how much the seemingly small details can change, like plastic overlays made of discreet black plastic, raised by a dozen centimeters of the body (the clearance of the RX4 is impressive 21 cm almost like the Niva) and the spare wheel in the rear trunk lid in spectacular plastic casing. It is unlikely that the usual Scenic will force him to turn after him, but his all -wheel drive fellow attracts attention at first glance.
Of course, the plastic, which is used in the interior decoration, can cause easy bewilderment among a picky user, which is familiar, for example, with the German quality of materials. But an hour passes, and you forget about nondescript plastic, and the interior begins to cause mainly positive emotions. A light salon, huge windows and a high ceiling create a feeling of space. High bus landing allows you to easily find the optimal pose and confidently maneuver in urban traffic arising congestion are clearly visible on top of stunted machines. The arrows and scales illuminated by the scarlet color on white dials look very impressive in the dark and easily read.
At the first acquaintance, the almost horizontal bus steering wheel does not seem very convenient. But in the movement the location of the steering wheel is not at all annoyed. The only, perhaps, a noticeable minus of such a steering wheel is not very convenient to rotate with one hand when moving in reverse, especially when you try to get out of snow captivity.
The two -liter engine is reliable in overtaking, and its capabilities are enough for an active ride and a sharp start (here is all -wheel drive an ally). Brakes (disk front and behind) do their own duties perfectly. RX4 is controlled very simple and understandable. Of course, it is slightly rolled in corners, the car is noticeably swaying on the waves of asphalt, but these shortcomings are not so obvious to cause irritation.
The car does not have constant overtaking and sharp restructuring. RX4 has a pronounced nature of the family machine. On it I would like to get out of a cheerful company for a picnic or with the whole family to go on a trip to the Golden Ring. Or on a ski resort, say, in Finland. The car is very comfortable on long trips: this is facilitated by a convenient landing (both a driver and passengers), and a soft suspension, and, of course, household items are countless gloves, boxes, tables on the back of the rear seat, a cigarette lighter nest for the rear passengers (children You can connect a video recorder), rear seats, each of which can be moved back and forth (in this way, an additional place in the trunk is ensured).
The aggressive appearance of the RX4 and its high landing provoke the driver to conquer the virgin lands. However, a sense of proportion must be observed here. The car calmly jumps onto the curb, is not afraid to the best of high tubercles and stones, but it is desirable that in this case it has a hard surface under the wheels. It is better not to meddle in deep wet snow (more than 20 cm), clay slide or loose sand on RX4. The rear bridge is connected only when the front wheels are slipped, and sometimes these moments are not enough to get out of the trap. The two -liter motor is not bad at speed, but to conquer the off -road, it lacks thrust at the very bottom. My attempts to storm to overcome the unrequited road to the summer cottage in the end were in success, but at the same time smelled fried. Clutch. To get out of snow captivity, I had to spin the engine to 3000 4000 revolutions and quite abruptly throw the clutch pedal. However, the car has never been stuck, sitting on the belly, and this is perhaps the most difficult situation when off-robes.
Renault Scenic RX4 has appeared on the Russian market last summer, but since then about 200 such cars have already been sold, and by the end of 2001 even a shortage of cars arose. Thanks to a quite reasonable price of $ 24 900 RX4, they diverge like hot pies. With similar consumer qualities, its relative classmates (we repeat that this car is very distinctive) Subaru Forester or Toyota Rav4 is much more expensive.
A rich selection of complete sets could contribute to greater success, but the French supply only one version of the car to Russia a two-liter 140-horsepower gasoline engine, a mechanical five-speed gearbox, an electric package (windows plus a mirror), climate control, on-board computer, ABS and two airbags. SCENIC RX4 is also sold in Europe with a 102-horsepower turbodiesel, but such machines do not enter the Russian market.
Igor Komarov
 

A source: Wheel (company)