They say the best part of Gauteng is the N1 highway heading south.
Uh-huh.
Yet, due to good friends and beloved family, JP and I did not get onto it until midday on a sunny Saturday in early December.
We were both a bit tired and stretched, having arrived in Pretoria late the previous night, after driving a good friend’s Ferrari 308 GTS from Cape Town to deliver it to him in one piece and none the worse for wear.
But our limited time meant we had only one night in the capital before heading home and, due to the nature of the friendship, the Friday night continued into the early hours with good conversation, that was picked up at breakfast after only a few hours’ sleep.
Then there was a compulsory visit to much loved-family in Johannesburg, before the open road to Cape Town beckoned.
The N1. The road home. Familiar on the one hand and somewhat intimidating on the other. The latter not only for its length, but also for its long, boring stretches of nothingness and the multitude of opportunities for deadly automotive mishaps.
We wanted to get to Cape Town. Land Rover South Africa had a new, revised Freelander 2, the automatic SD4, they wanted to get to Cape Town. It was very convenient for both parties.
And it was a brilliant opportunity to sample the updated car in the way most owners would probably use them on holiday - long distance, good-road driving.
The Freelander 2 is a remarkably good replacement for the Freelander 1, a vehicle that had proven itself to be less than dependable in many cases.
As with its other models, however, Land Rover has made great improvements to the car, improvements begun when the company was under Ford ownership and continued under current parent company Tata.
So, the dependability part was of no concern when we set off after a lunch at the Grasmere Toll Plaza’s Wimpy. By that time, we had already set the target of reaching Colesberg to overnight. Driving all the way in one go was never an option.
Engine technology has advanced in leaps and bounds over the years and the latest Land Rovers benefit from it. So when the Land Rover spin doctors tell you the new model has a better engine, you might as well believe it. Obviously, it’s no rocket, but it is no slouch either.
Fuel consumption worked out at about 9.5 litres/100km on the open road, which is not bad for a vehicle that still is very much a high-rise block shape, despite the attractive trim.
We were uber careful of speed traps, so we stuck obsessively to the limits as set along the way. To do this, we made extensive use of the Land Rover’s handy cruise control.
But life on the road has this funny way of messing with the best-laid plans and then there are the members of our heavy-duty trucking community (I have heard one call himself a commercial goods displacement engineer).
The big trucks we came across seemed intent on travelling in convoy, often with the gaps between them too small for a passenger vehicle to fit into. The result is you have to wait for the right opportunity and overtake two or three at the same time. For this, the Freelander had sufficient power.
But it played havoc with the fuel consumption and the cruise control, as you’d have to floor it in many instances to prevent yourself from being caught on the wrong side.
The Freelander was quite roomy. What I also liked about it was the uncluttered view from the front seats. The first model’s A-pillar felt intrusive, being positioned in such a way that it seemed to block out some important angles. Not so the new car. Vast expanses of glass all around make visibility a non-issue.
But it also allows the sun to intrude and, when we approached the Orange River in the late afternoon, with the sun positioned at one o’clock, we had our hands full trying not to be blinded by it. I wish there was some way Land Rover could enlarge the sun visors, but I don’t have any suggestions on how to do it.
The new car’s seats were fine over the long distance. Any long trip in any car is tiring but it helps a lot when you can alight from the cabin at the end not feeling stiff and sore. For an SUV such as the Freelander, this is essential, because one can bet that owners will take it on the long road.
It is hard to imagine this vehicle being a sibling of the old-school Land Rover Defender, because it has ample room for the elbow at the door and ample foot room next to the centre console/bellhousing.
As a result, I came to the conclusion that the Freelander would be a good vehicle to consider as a longer distance holiday cruiser.
The purpose of this review was obviously not to test the vehicle’s off-road capability. The only “off-road” excursions to be found on the N1 were the stop-and-go detours required by roadworks along the way - hardly the stuff of adventure. But one can say that the Freelander’s suspension works with the seats and comfy interior to make the ride pleasant.
The Freelander competes in a tough market, with many so-called “soft-roaders”, or all-wheel drives without low-range capability, clamouring for car buyers’ attention. The Koreans have become especially adept at producing value for money in this market, with the latest Kias and Hyundais, as well as the Korean Chevrolets, offering a lot.
Hence, Freelander has had to move upmarket, by assimilating Range Rover qualities such as quality finishes and more up-market design features. It will be a tough choice but once this car has proved it has moved away from the old version’s reliability issues, it could come out tops.
At R489 995, it is, however, no cheap shot, being about R30 000 more than the Honda CR-V and about R100 000 more than any of the Koreans. - Argus Motoring.