The Freelander remains steadfast as the baby Land Rover, ideally suited to urban or country, week or weekend.

With all the attention the Range Rover Evoque has been receiving, let’s have another look at the other baby Land Rover – the one without the styling or social drama, or Range Rover badges to rub off on.

The backdrop, first.  At the end of 2012 the Freelander 2 was issued its 2nd facelift since launch in late 2006 and 1st facelift in 2010.  It had big pioneer’s tracks to fill after Freelander – the original baby Landy, which became the youngest in the folder of older bigger Land Rovers, which back then consisted of rugged Defender, family off-roader Discovery, and luxurious SUV of stature, King Range Rover.  The idea of a smaller Land Rover was very appealing, dating back to 1998, and became the first 4x4-only manufacturer to build a compact SUV.  It was followed by Jeep’s Cherokee and then BMW X3… and then the list just opened up to almost every maker.

So back to today.  The Freelander should be one of the best vehicles in the world if one looks at the package:  the Land Rover name (and the meaning behind it) attractive looks in a compact size (which is the most popular SUV size these days) and a good turbodiesel engine, with good on-road manners and capable off-road adventurousness.

Where the Evoque evokes with squinty eyes and tail lenses in a super-bold shell, the Freelander 2 relies more on its upright solid stance, as lowest-priced in the green oval family.  The TD4 S starts off the Freelander 2 at R487k, using 110kW and 6-speed manual.  SD4 badging means the same 2.2 TD is uprated to 140kW (both engines rated 420Nm) and 6-speed automatic, priced at R520k, followed by SE spec at R574k, and top HSE spec for R629k.  The previous 3.2 litre inline 6 has retired, bringing on board brother Evoque’s Si4 177kW/340Nm petrol turbo.  Coupled to this engine is only the 6-speed automatic, and only from sporty-ish Dynamic trim, costing R578k, or R629k inclusive for Si4 HSE.

The Freelander 2 interior is a pleasant environment – in here things are also as neat and chunky as on its exterior – chunky switchgear and steering wheel (with chunky rectangular controls) and vertical metal bars for the hooter (placed in the steering wheel just like on Range Rover) and square seats.  Really premium stuff includes electric front seat adjustment on SE and Dynamic, plus memory function on HSE.  A panoramic roof, leather upholstery, front individual armrests, touch-screen interface, aux and USB are selected items included in SE, Dynamic and HSE.  But HSE also gains xenon headlamps, built-in navigation (a R22k option on SE and Dynamic) and rear camera for parking, plus rear privacy glass.  Alloy wheels are 17-inch on S, 18 on SE, and 19 swirl-style rims on Dynamic and HSE.  All Freelander 2 leave the factory with 7 airbags, a 5-star Euro NCAp safety test pass mark (pre-2009 test).

Where the 4x4 Land Rover genes comes through is its off-road capability – no front-wheel drive urban run-around softness here.  Freelander is a full Land Rover in a smaller scale, and can handle off-road stuff well – it even has the advanced Terrain Response which adjusts engine and drive to suit the current off-road surface (clever stuff to help you through the rough stuff) and still has Hill Descent Control (which was unheard of when original Freelander first burst onto the market).

On-road the Freelander 2 has a compliant ride and a good seat height position for all-round visibility.  The SD4 engine has a muted yet (wanted) audible characteristic diesel sound not out of place in the Freelander, while the automatic shifts gears what feels like a slower gear shift than newer gearboxes, yet is still smooth, and the best partner for SD4’s torque and miserly fuel saving.

Freelander’s premium 4-wheel-driven competitors, be it either more road or off-road biased, are Audi Q5 quattro (ranging from R530 500 2.0T S quattro to R823 000 for SQ5 TDI sports diesel), just-facelifted BMW X3 xDrive (R540k for 20i to high-power 35i 6-cyl turbo at R780k), Infiniti Q50 (a 3.0d base costs R596k, up to R679k for the GT Premium), Volvo XC90 (from R582k for the D5 AWD to R660k for the T6 AWD R-Design straight-6 3.0T) while Jeep (the other 4x4 specialist company) represents with serious intent its all-new Cherokee – the only one here with low range transfer, a 9-speed auto (Evoque also has 9-speed) and in 4x4 only coupled to 3.2 V6 in Limited priced R 563 990, or R 607 990 for the-name-says-it-all Trailhawk.

Land Rover has shown us the Discovery Sport, having just landed in UK and the Paris motor show – a new smaller but still 7-seat version of Discovery, slotting in (or possibly replacing?) Freelander. 

Despite Freelander’s age, the new in-house Discovery Sport, Evoque stealing its thunder, and rivals’ newer products, the Freelander remains steadfast as the baby Land Rover, ideally suited to urban or country, week or weekend… so feel free to explore land.