Test drive Land Rover Freelander 2003 - 2007 SUV

All -Iszonniki

Many do not like the term PARTICES, although there is a proportion of common sense in it. Indeed, in comparison with full -fledged SUV, the SUVs are resting. Is it more fair to start with such assessments from the possibilities of a car? Here the advantages of compact universals Off-Road are obvious. Indeed, in 90% of cases for the congress from asphalt it is enough to have an increased clearance and all -wheel drive transmission. In addition, no new management skills will have to be mastered, and at the same time it will be possible to significantly save money both when buying and in operation.

Land Rover Freelander I Toyota Rav4i Suzuki Grand Vitara
   
At the front of compact SUVs, the choice has recently expanded to almost a complete list of all the main world brands. Prices, and the dimensions, too, are not too different. What to push away from to decide on a particular company? Correct from the machine, because most SUV buyers in Russia prefer automatic transmission. Either they are lazy to pull the handle, or, like the Yankees, do not know how to switch manually, but the fact remains. But, I think, the main reason for such a unequivocal choice lies in the fact that the share of newcomers and women in this class in this class is much higher than the average.
So, we announce the whole list. The unconditional leader, according to which one could call the whole subset (like a golf class, named after a niche of the mass VW), is the Toyota RAV4 of the second generation. Rafik has a head start in time on the market, and a high image of the brand, and in record high sales of the model, recorded last season. Although there is another popular jeep that set in 2003 a record for the number of Suzuki Grand Vitara products sold in Russia. And this is despite the venerable seven years of age! Both cars are two -liter, but the third, Suzukin’s peer, it was decided to take 2.5 liters with a motor. This is a well -known and very popular Land Rover Freelander. It is somewhat heavier and a little jumps up, by a third or even half a class. But, taking into account unnecessary power, the entire trinity is real competition in the consumer market. We preferred to take cars in a more popular long -drawn version in our country. Although each of them is proposed in a short, three -door option. And Grand Vitara is even stretched, the seven -seater XL7 is meant.
The dynamics of the acceleration of Toyota does not stagnate, but does not upset, quite good for two liters. But the automatic transmission algorithm is simply impressive. RAV4 programs switch with a record in small delays, and the car is confidently rushing forward, easily competing with much more impressive jeeps. On the desire to stick the lower gear, sharply pressing the gas, the box responds with no less responsiveness, and the machine instantly makes a tangible jerk forward. It is a pity, the engine at high speeds is so painfully wounding, although there are no complaints about its volume to its volume. Interestingly, contrary to fashion in recent years, there is no manual control of the automatic. Listen: maybe it does not need it to those who ride on the Rafik?
Fast riding (about 150 km/h) on the smallest of the Toyota SUVs does not force the driver to strain the behavior of the car completely passenger. Toyota brakes also deserve no less praise. The pedal is light, but not empty, and slowing down adequately pressing. There is even a feeling that it is not one and a half tons to stop, but half as much!
Against this background, the two -liter Grand Vitara looks much more modest. But, despite the difference in powerful and dynamic characteristics, the car does not upset the acceleration. First of all, due to uniform traction on the bottom. Suzuki cheerfully starts and throws the transmission up before you expect it. As a result, acceleration is smooth, but uniform and without delay, as if you are going with a variator. Also, the machine is inhibited smoothly and softly, even too soft. At high speed, Grand Vitara is no longer so confidently scouring it slightly, and it has to be caught by the steering wheel. And there is almost no power reserve, and suddenly accelerate when overtaking, say, from 120 km/h, is poorly. You don’t fly along the highway and there is no need for the chosen Suzuki. Without a doubt, this machine shows stable urban qualities, allowing it to recommend it to calm and novice drivers.
Land Rover starts even earlier than the driver planned. One has only to release the brake pedal when the transmission is turned on, as Freelander begins to crawl forward much faster than you expect. And the automatic transmission selector, as it turns out, froze not in D, but on the 3rd or 4th fixed gears! The handle does not have a tightly moving in the slot in the Drive position, and it is necessary to judge its location by small dials near the tunnel or by inconspicuous symbols on the instrument panel. The next surprise of the gas pedal. I am ready to recognize the need for regular muscle pumping (I go to the gym myself), especially since Frryender, unlike feminized competitors, is the transport of a definitely little boy. But I can’t understand why even the right pedal here acts as a simulator? If, having overcome the effort, the Landrover loudly growls and accelerates as if with a noticeable reluctance. For comparison, we started in parallel on Toyota and Landrover. The insignificance of the passport advantage of the Japanese machine, expressed in three tenths of a second of acceleration to a hundred, was confirmed by them almost a nostril in the nostril. And it seems like Rav4 is noticeably more cheerful! So, the point is only in subjective perception. If nevertheless it is the same as it should, he holds the pace well and even ready to accelerate again. It is a pity that the automatic transmission sometimes objects to painfully thoughtfully. And Landy slows down normally. But, perhaps, the impression is spoiled by tangible slander nose and a heavy brake pedal.
Management in this nomination confidently leads RAV4. The car goes exactly to where the driver directs it. Quite predicted behavior is explained by a constant all -wheel drive with a handout of 50:50 and approximately the same weighting along the axes. Rava reactions cannot be called too sharp, but for sure.
In urban conditions, an extremely small radius of the turn will be important for the SUV. Parking actions due to the large glazing area and large external mirrors will not cause any difficulties. Toyota easily swallows small and medium pits, demonstrating almost passenger comfort. But at the same time, it is not inclined to the rolls in the bend is a very successful combination of long -flowing suspension and moderate stiffness. The designers managed to catch the compromise that combines advantages, and does not summarize the disadvantages.
Suzukovo handling is completely different. After all, you can choose which car to move on: rear or all-wheel drive. Grand Vitara is the only one of the entire trinity is equipped with switching in a handout using an additional 2N-4N-4L lever. And if you move along the road with a high clutch coefficient, then it is quite logical to use the drive for only one axis. Then the machine will behave like a typical classic: with a weak tendency to excess rotation, but light and accurate in steering. The only remark is great in the turns, although the tendencies for overturning I did not notice the widely placed wheels and a small total height. But on the snake, after the second or third opposite pitching, it is easy to lick a swivel car and fly away from the trajectory. If you connect the front axle, the steering wheel will pour lead and lose its former high sensitivity. It is completely uninteresting to travel without extreme road necessity (and is quickly prohibited by instructions). But the most tangible difficulty with a full -wheel drive connected, brightly expressed care for a larger radius in a bend, especially when typing. Each maneuver in 4n mode, which is reasonable to use on a snowy road, has to be performed with a adjustment for demolition.
Freelander has a different layout of an automatically connected four -wheel drive. The Englishman rowing with the front axle until it stains, but on the rear wheels the moment is transferred by means of viscousyft. Moreover, as in other cars with a similar type of transmission, this does not happen in the most predictable way. For example, for some time we are excessively entered into a turn, the rover seeks to go to the external radius with the demolition of the front axle characteristic of the front-wheel drive. But after a couple of seconds, suddenly a dashingly slides, which had fallen into a difficultly controlled skid. Oh yes, we became 4 to 4! The sudden multiplication of the number of drive wheels passes unnoticed by calm driving in paved or weak directions, but on wet asphalt in the maximum turn it becomes clear for which such a scheme is called random-complete drive.
The second feature that repels the Racing Street, can be considered an algorithm for the operating steering wheel. On a straight line, you have to catch zero, and in corners it is chosen by touch, a non -childish force on the steering wheel is weakly related to sensitivity. A heavy but almost no feedback steering wheel plus a small angle of rotation of the front wheels, it seems that the family qualities of a patented high rides, but on Defender such things are perceived somehow more organic.
However, how this car is transformed on the road! Its minimum clearance is small only 19 cm, but thresholds are one and a half times more than competitors. And, given the minimum angles of the entrance-site and the largest suspension moves, you can easily, almost without hesitation, turn into a snowy field. A light jeep immediately begins to rotate with four wheels, cheerfully digging a path in the virgin lands. Of course, there are not enough locks and lowering transmission here, but electronics in the form of a system of distribution of brake efforts quite effectively brakes the skid wheels. And the proprietary system Hill Descent Control will lower an inexperienced driver from a steep hill without a single touch of pedals, but at a constant speed of 8 km/h.
On the Grand Vitara, with a lower geometric patency, it is possible to use the lower row of transmission. And then the car, without a strain, almost in a way, crawls out of snow captivity, where it was stuck in a seemingly hopeless situation. But on the RAV4, not enriched by the Crime Arsenal, we were simply awakened to go to the fields. Our copy was in a decorative kit, the main element of which is thick chrome pipes hanging directly under the rapids. Proz from them only one protection of thin -walled steel thresholds. But the angle of the ramp, this jewelry halves by half, even to the average in height of the borders reacting with an iron rattle.

Ergonomics on RAV4, you get the first interior sensations not through vision or touch, but by ear. Firstly, at idle, noise insulation is very quiet, you can’t even hear the engine. Then you pay attention to the sound of a standard radio volumetric and juicy, just like on Lexus. And already in motion there is another sound reminder of the need to fasten. I am with both hands for: for fastening and for reminder, but it begins annoyingly here, and after 30 seconds are intensified and perceived only more than a signal of air anxiety. I don’t know who, but I have several super -short movements during the day, for example, a fingering from home to the garage, and I would have endured a more quiet piking without fastening. As a result, this OR leads to the fact that many Toyota drivers are missed behind the seats and snapped forever. Here they are, good intentions.
About the Suzuki salon, you can’t say anything superpowered in a good sense. And the free -growing filling made me think in places. After restyling, the car became richer and harmonious, but the plastmass varied and original combinations of surfaces are still an amateur. The height of the unregulated pillow of the driver's seat was embarrassed. With my 186th centimeters, I immediately propped the ceiling, and the two-meter photographer Nozdrin only remains to reject the back of the chair and stretch to the steering wheel, since the column is regulated only along the angle of inclination. Even if you raise it as much as possible, the steering wheel overlaps the upper part of the shield. And in order to penetrate with levers and buttons, you need to ride in the English left lane since childhood. The steering wheel switch responsible for the wipers, for three days, has not become familiar to me, it turns on by the rotation of the cap on the lever, and when you are suddenly poured out of the puddle, you frantically grab a pinch by the tip-regulator, continuing to move blindly. The rear janitor is controlled by two keys located in the center of the torpedo, again, by touch, stretch. The small sector of cleaning the glass of the trunk does not leave hopes for the use of the central mirror for its intended purpose. There are no such pleasant and already familiar accessories as a trip-computer or a duster thermometer in the car. And exactly as many times as I had to transfer my right leg to the brake pedal, I clung to my toe by an overhanging sharp plastic edge ... But, by the way, what am I all about tar: convenient bucket chairs and pleasant to the touch of the steering wheel pure English honey In this barrel, compensating for minor unusuals and insufficiency.

The resume this time the conclusions are somewhat more clear than usual. For the RAV4 all-porridge-parquet purposes, an almost reference option. But provided that you are a hopeless citizen, and even better a city dweller. And even the approaches to a serious SUV is not included in your plans are not included. Grand Vitara is inferior to Toyota in quality, but the most inexpensive among competitors and has a serious off -road equipment. However, Suzuki is structurally not young and, with an eye on the frame and the hard rear bridge, it seems more like a city farmer than a rural citizen. The eccentric freelander in this trinity is perhaps the most compromise option. Of course, like any compromise child, he cannot overcome the asphalt specialist RAV4 or Grand Vitara crook in their crown disciplines. However, if you do a bow between the city and the village several times a day, you like Tolkien and even drink tea in English, WILE WILL NOT?

HOW DO THEY LOOK
Nikita Rozanov
Outside: to say why they are called SUVs is difficult (especially without checking on other coatings), but for what is no, no, and the female term adheres to these SUVs after a cursory gaze. They are not warriors. There are no formidable features in their appearance, affirming strength and aggression, without which the fluent ford cannot be overcome. The new RAV radiates peacefulness and friendly mood, and in this Vitara is not much behind him. The exception, perhaps, is Freelander, which, due to the more chopped shape and brutality of details, has a different, more courageous, type. It is easier to learn from this and harder to confuse with the infantile Japanese. Rover and Toyota are recognized from the face without problems, which have both familiarity and a bright personality. Silhouettes represent the entire possible gamut from the indefatigable dynamics of the Toyota drawing to the seemingly static rover, which is also more functional in detail: black protective pads and headlights, as if specially made for filming the matrix. Behind the compositional techniques of the whole Trinity are surprisingly close. However, the hunchbacked roof, the unconventional location of the license plate in the English car and the RAV4 sparelight integrated on the door of the ravine case will still diversify the picture. Not much.
Inside: As usual, when it is inside, to evaluate the age of the cars easier. It is impossible not to note the more advanced ideas in the design of the recently modernized Rover, the style of which also demonstrates a greater connection with the functional purpose of the SUV. On the contrary, the panels of the Japanese devices without much damage could supplement the interior of any budget hatchback. In an English car, an off -road topic also manifests itself brightly in finishing materials. Silver metal is present weighty, rudely, visibly and where really fragile plastic needs protection or cannot play a constructive role. For example, in the doorways. With the exception of Vitara, the rudders are good and respond to the image. In Rover, this is achieved by the amount of four knitting needles, and Toyota with the quality and impressive section of the same knitting needles. The upholstery of the doors is a whole composition with the rest of the interior equally in the entire three. However, Vitara’s design would have suited a pretty urban compact.
Summary: if you live outside the city, travel all year round and on different roads, and business does not give the right to show others your weakness for Frelander. If you live in the city, travel all year round and on different roads, but when you see the snow outside the window, call your girlfriend and say: I changed my mind, come, it’s better to choose from me for any of these two Japanese. But most of all, RAV4 seems to be suitable for you.
 
Text Vladimir Smirnov photo Alexander Nozdrin
 

Source: Cars