Land Rover does not build many cars like the Land Rover Freelander: a 5-door SUV / 3-door convertible SUV with 1.8 , built from 1997 to 2014 when airbags, anti-lock brakes and Japanese build quality became the world standard. Its designer of record is Gerry McGovern (1992).
Where it came from
The Land Rover Freelander is a series of four-wheel-drive vehicles (some models being front-wheel-drive) that was manufactured and marketed by Land Rover from 1997 to 2015. The second generation was sold from 2007 to 2015 in North America and the Middle East as the LR2 and in Europe as the Freelander 2. The Freelander was sold in both two-wheel and four-wheel drive versions.
The name 'Freelander' is derived from the combination of 'Freedom' and 'Lander'. After having built exclusively body-on-frame 4WD vehicles for half a century, the first generation Freelander was the brand's first model to use monocoque (unibody) structures, and was offered in three- and five-door body options, including a semi soft-top. The second generation (2007–2015) dropped all two-door options, leaving only a five-door estate car-like body, and – after 62 years – became the brand's first ever to offer a two-wheel drive option (as of 2010). After a five-year hiatus, the two-door Freelanders were succeeded by the three-door versions of the Range Rover Evoque in 2011, and the five-door generation 2 was replaced by the Discovery Sport in 2015, the nameplate spanning two generations and less than eighteen years.
Under the skin
Under the skin sits 1.8 other versions carried different engines, listed in the specification table below. The gearbox is a manual / 5-speed GETRAG 283 / automatic / 5-speed JATCO JF506E. The wheelbase is 101.0 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
In context
Where it sits in Land Rover's history is not in doubt: the Land Rover Discovery Sport followed it; it was built at Solihull. On a showroom list of its day it stood against the Subaru Forester, the Toyota Prius, the Audi TT. Nearby in the Land Rover catalogue sit the Land Rover Defender L663 and the Land Rover Discovery Sport.
Land Rover Freelander 2