LAND ROVER FREELANDER
1 IT WAS THE FIRST CHASSIS-LESS 4x4
While the 1997 Freelander was the first Land Rover without a separate chassis, it’s also commonly believed that it’s the first monocoque 4x4 compact SUV. Actually, Jeep got there first with the Cherokee (XJ) and Honda also nipped in with its CR-V just a few months earlier than the Freelander. Rover had a partnership with Honda and wanted its Japanese collaborator to help with the development of project CB40. Honda declined, but then the CR-V appeared…
2 IT WAS BASED ON A ROVER 600 FLOORPAN
Without Honda, Rover went it alone and plundered its own parts bin for the Freelander. The Rover 600 has been cited as the basis for its floorpan, but there’s actually a chunk of Austin Maestro lurking down there; prototype powertrain ‘mules’ were basically Maestro vans. The 600 myth may have arisen because the Freelander’s L-Series had previously only seen use in the Rover 620. Freelander 2s used Ford’s EUCD platform – also used for Ford’s S-MAX, Galaxy and Mondeo.
3 IT’S NO GOOD OFF-ROAD
It’s no Defender, but the Freelander is much better in the scenery than most ‘soft-roaders’. There’s no locking differential or low-range gear selection as on its bigger siblings, but it’ll still beat most rivals, thanks to Land Rover expertise dictating 16 extra patented features, such as intermediate reduction drive, viscous-coupling and Hill Descent Control. The result is a small machine that could nevertheless tackle the hugely demanding 1998 Camel Trophy through Argentina and Chile. We’re not sure that an original CR-V would have coped.