SA Road Tests

Welcome

This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. We drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under South African conditions. It also just happens that most of the vehicles we drive are world cars as well, so what you read here probably applies to the models you can get at home.
*To read one of our road tests, just select from the menu on the left. Hover your cursor over the manufacturer's name, then choose from the drop-down menu.
*Please remember too, that prices quoted were those ruling on the days I wrote the reports.


We find freedom in the 2013 Land Rover Freelander 2, 2.0 Si4 HSE

Smaller engine, more power

Published in Witness Wheels on Thursday August 1, 2013

This was one of those subtler facelifts; only a true fan would notice the outside changes to, primarily, the lights with LED lamps at the back and a new LED graphic in front. It’s the things inside that count. Look for a new centre console with buttons instead of a dial for the terrain response, more storage, and a new instrument cluster with five-inch screen displaying primary information like temperature and fuel levels, gear positions and the terrain mode in use.

Next up is an electric parking brake that adjusts its grip according to the slope you have chosen to park on. It keeps tabs as the brakes cool; applying more force as pads and discs shrink, to keep the car from rolling away. It can even be used as an emergency brake, as it selects the most stable braking method by employing skid prevention electronics. And the only way it can be released is if someone is sitting in the driver’s chair, making it more difficult for bored little darlings to prang mommy or daddy’s pride and joy.

Then they added keyless starting and a reversing camera with Hitch Assist for coupling up your trailer. The camera is standard on HSEs like our test unit but optional on others. Engines came in for a refresh with more torque for the diesels and a new Ford EcoBoost 2,0-litre petrol motor, out of Evoque, replacing the unboosted, 3192cc inline six.

A revised shifting pattern for the automatics, low-drag engine oils, changed bearing designs and reduced noise levels all helped make things more civilised. The literature also speaks of greater comfort, but more on that later.

The engine is a gem. Displacing only 1999cc and weighing a lot less than the old motor, it not only benefits dynamics and balance, but it puts out six more kilowatts and 23 more Newton metres – both at lower revs. What Joe and Joanne Average will appreciate most is that it’s smooth and pulls eagerly. It’s also slightly more economical in everyday use than the old engine.

The Command Shift six-speed automatic is a Japanese torque converter unit that uses a conventional fore-and-aft shift lever, with a manual override section off to one side. There are no paddles, for which your loyal scribe is grateful even if you aren’t. It works well, without any surprises. It cruises at about 2200 rpm at 120 in top, so it’s well within the torque band for easy cruising or quick acceleration should an emergency crop up.

An SUV’s design brief, even if it never goes off road as this one certainly can, is to carry kids and clutter and to be practical. The Freelander is good at this. It carries 755 litres, up to the roof, with rear seatbacks up or 1670 with them folded. The loading deck is perfectly flat, at upper thigh height, and is equipped with four rings, two hooks, a light and a 12-Volt socket. A pair of little wells, off to the sides, provide space for small items. The spare is a fully sized alloy wheel stored in the usual place under the floor board and 60:40 seatbacks fold almost flat.

In the back seat, fully grown passengers will find loads of room in which to get comfortable, fair storage space, grab handles for when things get exciting, and their own inner blind for the rear section of the sunroof. Even though it’s built in a monocoque shell, the Freelander’s floor is flat, so entry and exit is easy.

Up front there is automatic dual zone climate control, rain sensing wipers, the terrain response system, cruise control, a 380-Watt Meridian sound system with Bluetooth, more than enough storage, full leather upholstery with electrically adjustable seats and memory function on the driver’s chair, satnav, and xenon lights. We won’t even go into the safety kit; practically every device ever invented, is built in.

But it’s time to be objective. This car has quirks; never open a door without pushing the unlocking button first. The proximity gadget will allow you to do so, but the alarm will give you what-for. The other is to never give the locking button a reassuring little tweak after opening and closing the back hatch – you will be punished by the alarm for that, too.

This brings us to the “comfort” issue mentioned earlier. Make no mistake, it does ride delightfully over rough surfaces; it’s just that your scribe found it too soft and floaty. Its suspension was a lot softer than on the Freelander 2 he drove in March 2010 and certainly more so than the Vogue reviewed a few weeks ago.


Test unit from Jaguar-Land Rover SA press fleet

The numbers
Price: R546 200
Engine: 1999 cc, all-alloy, 16-valve, inline four, turbopetrol
Power: 177 kW at 5500 rpm
Torque: 340 Nm between 1750 and 4500 rpm
Zero to 100 km/h: 8,8 seconds
Maximum speed: 200 km/h
Real life fuel consumption: About 12,6 l/100 km
Tank: 70 litres
Ground clearance: 210mm (front axle), 265mm (rear axle)
Approach/departure/breakover angles: 31/34/23 degrees
Wading depth: 500mm
Maximum towing capacity: 2000 kg
Warranty and maintenance: 5 years/100 000 km; with roadside assistance

What We Do

This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.

I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material. If I ever place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with that vehicle at least once already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.

My reviews and launch reports appear on Thursdays in the Wheels supplement to The Witness, South Africa's oldest continuously running newspaper, and occasionally on Saturdays in Weekend Witness as well. I drive eight to ten vehicles each month, most months of the year (except over the festive season) so not everything gets published in the paper. Those that are, get a tagline but the rest is virgin, unpublished and unedited by the political-correctness police.

Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. As quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so they can see I do actually exist.


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