2002 Land Rover Freelander

Pint-sized SUVs have been the province of the Suzuki Grand Vitara, KIA Sportage, and more recently Honda's updated CR-V and Toyota's RAV4. But don't bet on any of those trucklets in a serious off-road situation. For 2002, the new Jeep Liberty has had a short reign as the sole serious small off-roader. Real competition—albeit at a slightly higher price—is here.

Lower-slung than its other family members, the Freelander's wheel arches and body cladding nonetheless give it a multi-terrain personality.

Britain's Land Rover has been selling this Jeep-sized muckraker overseas since 1997, but the original Freelander, powered by either an under-powered (by our standards) four-cylinder gas or diesel engine was never designed for U.S. consumption. All that's changed with the second-edition Freelander, a face-lifted, V-6-powered, multi-terrain, do-anything machine that's expected to sell 20,000 units annually (handily doubling the company's Stateside trade).


Land Rover's stock in trade has long been the ability of its vehicles to traverse any terra firma from Belize to Borneo. The company further cements this image in its Land Rover Centres, dealerships decked out in enough khaki hiking gear and camo to clothe the Afrika Korps. But its vehicles deliver on their promise and for many customers, whose most intense trial is finding a parking place at the mall, Land Rover SUVs help fulfill a far-flung travel fantasy. Paul Ferraiolo, Land Rover North America's product planner, was quick to admit that his company couldn't "stretch" the Land Rover brand downmarket unless they truly delivered on the basic "unstoppable" tenet that's guided Land Rover since its inception.


To underscore the Freelander's tractability, the preview was held in Iceland. Upholding Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth" tradition, we drove stock Freelanders up the icy, snowcapped Langjokill Glacier—on street tires, yet! We also rocked and rolled across jagged volcanic hills. Steam poured from fissures, waterfalls dazzled us and the piece de resistance was driving to the very spot where the vast North American and European tectonic plates meet and divide.


The Freelander wasn't phased a bit by the challenging geography. Spunky, and far nicer on-road than the longer-suspension-travel (and thus dipsy) Discovery, more maneuverable than the luxurious Range Rover, the five-seater Freelander gave a good account of itself on roads and paths that would have daunted a lesser vehicle and clawed over moguls that would thrill a skier.