Land Rover Freelander 2 2.2d HSE - Design Review
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Design Review of Land Rover Freelander 2 2.2d HSE
Last Updated at 11:28 am, May 20, 2013
Rating :Does the baby Landie manage to echo its bigger brethren?
Introduction
Say ‘five seat premium SUV’ to a person and to a man they’ll think about an Audi Q5 or BMW X3 – and with good reason. They look the part, are more practical than the three-row behemoths that are their elder siblings and are relatively less expensive to purchase and run. Not too many will consider a Land Rover Freelander because it hasn’t entered the consciousness of the general public as well as the German brands. However, to the off-road enthusiast, there can be no better. Does the Freelander live up to this cult reputation?
Design
The Freelander is large, but not unwieldy. The boxy design looks slightly dated in today's stylish SUV world, but is very good looking in a rough, masculine way. Viewed head-on, it has a squat, powerful stance thanks to the wide shoulders. The headlamps echo the design of the Range Rover, a very nice touch. The look certainly gets smaller vehicles scurrying out of the way. The fog lamp cutouts look a little out of place, and the bumper looks a little fussy with many different design elements like the skid plate, lower opening for air, another horizontal line above the number plate and the vertical slats of the grille that are overlaid by the fetching horizontal elements.
From the front three-quarters, the unexciting rear starts to make its presence felt. The mirror-mounted indicators that are de rigeur for this class of vehicle are absent on the Freelander. Instead, they are mounted on neat vents on the fenders. Side-on, it looks strangely like a station wagon, but in the flesh it certainly looks much better. The HSE variant we have on test here has the optional 17-inch split-spoke alloys. The rear three-quarters is a surprisingly good angle to view the car from, with the horizontal chrome strip on the tailgate showing itself off but for some reason the Range Rover-inspired tail lamps look a little too confused to me. From the rear, the Freelander’s roof looks like a ‘floating roof’ and the squat, powerful stance seen from the front is echoed here.
The front is the best angle to view the Freelander from, and the rounded off corners and details like the lamps and grille lend it a touch of modernity without losing out on brute, old-school muscle.
First Published on 11:24 am, December 06, 2011
