Quality and quantity

THE Land Rover Freelander is a car that has always forged a reputation as a compact 4x4 standing a class apart from its competitors.

For many Freelander buyers, the prospect of opting for a Nissan, a Honda or a Toyota is quite beyond the pale.

This explains why in the past, despite the fact these rivals had in certain respects overtaken the Freelander, the little Land Rover often still got the order. Trading on that sort of goodwill only lasts so long however, and it was time the Freelander shaped up or shipped out. The latest version of Britain's best selling 4x4 has at last matched reputation to reality.

For the 2004 model year, there was a completely revised interior (by far the old car's weakest link) and a major external restyle including a fresh face and tail. The range also benefited from the addition of the Freelander Sport version, a model which the Solihull company claims is their sharpest handling and sportiest offering to date. More recently, further tweaks to the line-up (priced from £15,995) have been deemed to be necessary.

Two new Definitive Edition Land Rover Freelander models, Adventurer and Freestyle, have been added to the line-up and a higher level of specification on both three and five-door models introduced across the range. The Adventurer derivatives (priced from £17,300) boast standard features that include air-conditioning, front sports seats, 16in alloy wheels, alarm and front fog lights.

The Freestyle models have in addition, 17in alloy wheels, park distance control, heated front seats, a six CD auto changer, mud flaps, powerfold mirrors and glass roof panels (3 door only), and are available from £19,300.

Above these variants sit the Sport derivatives (priced from £21,600) which now come with privacy glass, roof rails, 18in alloy wheels, heated front seats and leather/ Alcantara seat facings.

Few Freelander customers have ever had any cause for complaint regarding the car's exterior styling and the most recent makeover has brought it into line with current Land Rover group design thinking. The usual targets for restyling - namely front bumper, headlights and grille - are all replaced with a Range Rover look, the lights in particular claiming to boost intensity by some 70 per cent.

The bumpers are also body coloured front and rear. The tail lamps have been raised to a higher position, thus improving their visibility and reducing the likelihood of being obscured in road grime or off-trail dust.

The engine choices remain exactly as before and there's a choice of three-door or five-door bodystyles. Meanwhile, this car's status as the most capable compact 4x4 you can buy hasn't altered very much: if you plan to go seriously off road, it's simply not worth even bothering with anything else in this sector. At one time, you paid heavily for that privilege but Land Rover has woken up to a changing market and realigned its prices.

In recent times, the Freelander has been guilty of trading more on badge snobbery than product excellence but the latest car rectifies that issue. It was only a matter of time before the build quality of the Range Rover would trickle down to Land Rover's baby. Now that it has, the opposition will have to go back to their drawing boards.