Land Rover Freelander 2 Facelift (2011) Revealed

The tweaked - and more powerful - Land Rover Freelander 2 2011

Back in May we reported that there would be a facelift for the Freelander 2 for 2011, with the required cosmetic tweaks to keep it fresh for another year or two, and to bring the Freelander 2 in to line with the rest of Land Rover’s models. Here we are three months later and Land Rover have revealed the 2011 Freelander 2 – and a surprise.

The surprise is that Land Rover aren’t waiting for the Range Rover Evoque to hit the roads to piss off the Land Rover aficionados by launching a 2WD model, they’ve decided to get it out of the way early and are going to launch a 2WD Freelander 2 in January 2011.

The 2WD Freelander 2 will be badged the Freelander 2 eD4 and come complete with manual ‘box and Stop/Start which – together with the weight loss from dropping 4WD – will give the eD4 combined economy of 47.2mpg and CO2 figures of 158g/km. A good entry in to the soft-roader market which should give cars like the Kuga and Tiguan something to think about.

Although we missed the 2WD option in our report in May, we did get it right with a Freelander 2 S. Ever since Land Rover quietly dropped the petrol engine option from the Freelander 2 there’s been a gap for a more powerful version. We opined that a Freelander 2 S with 195bhp shouldn’t be too much of a stretch, and we were right – almost.

Land Rover has revealed the Freelander 2 SD4 for 2011 which features a more powerful version of the Ford sourced 2.2 litre diesel with 187bhp. We can live without the extra 8bhp from our wish list. The SD4 will come with an auto ‘box as standard and cut the 0-60mph down to 8.7 seconds (same as the Range Rover Sport 3.0 TDV6 performance). Very sensible addition to the range.

In effect, the SD4 models are an addition to the range, with the existing Freelander 2 carrying on with a slightly de-tuned version of the 2.2 diesel offering 148bhp – down 10bhp from the old model. Land Rover say that performance is unaffected by this change – required to meet Euro 5 standards – as the extra 15lb/ft of torque in the new version makes up for the slight drop in horses. Fair enough. The changes also improve CO2 with a drop of 14g/km over the old model.

Cosmetic changes aren’t huge and amount to pretty much what we expected. The front bumper gets a tweak and new fogs, grill and headlights. The tailgate gets titivated and there’s new tail lights and some new 18″ and 19″ alloys.

Inside there are revised instruments, some new upholstery styles and a ‘Premium Pack’ option which offers Windsor leather, more adjustable seats and some covered centre stowage. We’re a bit disappointed that Land Rover hasn’t got rid of some of the button-fest by fitting the Jaguar touchscreen in the Freelander 2. But maybe that’s a step too far down the luxury road for what is supposed to be Land Rover’s more utilitarian option.

Good updates and nice additions at the top and bottom of the range. The 2011 Freelander 2 goes on sale in September and the Freelander 2 eD4 in January 2011.

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By Cars UK