I'm considering buying a FL2 and I have a test drive arranged for Monday, at a LR dealership in Sussex.

Aside from reading through loads of threads and other websites, I have not found a Freelander 2 independent guide to help potential buyers.

As all the cars on a forecourt are cleaned and touched up before being displayed, the uninitiated have no way of knowing how the previous owner(s) treated the car before trading it in at a dealership.

1. What are the things to look for?

2. Are there any commonly known issues to ask about and to look for?

3. What would you say to a LR dealer to ensure a good purchase and price and how would you say it? For example, the way I see it is if a car is advertised at £20,000, the dealer probably paid around £2,500-3,000 less for it (£17,000), after hopefully ensuring it wasn't a complete pig in the first place. Then they checked it out in a workshop and valeted it. So what profit margins are they working to and what's a reasonable haggle? What would you expect a dealer to drop the price to?

4. Is there anything you would advise me to say or anything I should insist upon before sealing a deal? Any extra guarantees I need to get? For example, the car I will be test driving is of ex-LR management stock and does not have a spare wheel but instead has a tiny pump thing, in a massive spare wheel well. Is it acceptable to ask for a spare wheel in this case or would you go for something else, like 12 mths road tax and a full tank?

I'd like to see a really well written guide specific to the Freelander 2.

Thanks for reading this and for sharing. Whereabouts unknown stop going to follow stream until reach civilisation stop message ends

Not sure what age of FL2 you are looking for but if it is from a LR dealer it will either come with the remainder of the 3 yr warranty or an additional 12 months which should cover any odd occurences

The FL2 is a good reliable car with few 'things to watch'. If you want an independent review there is always the question of who is independent...you can bet many motoring journalists/websites have personal preferences/allegiences

Look for LR service history. You should have more concern about buying a ringer which is the same for any make/model..than anything specifically wrong with the FL2

Buying in the summer will get you a better deal than buying when there is snow on the ground...unless of course you are trading in???

Dealers need to make a profit...if you have reasonable attitude and are prepared to put you money on the table you will get some discount or freebies..if you're a pain in the arse customer they will wait for a nicer customer.

It is a purely personal choice of what is of value to you as to what you'd like to be bundled in? a free service...a full tank...a spare wheel...an off road experience...what would you prefer????? It's your car after all

Have a look through the forum you'll find plenty of useful tips..and don't forget the search function.

Many thanks for replying Richard. Whereabouts unknown stop going to follow stream until reach civilisation stop message ends