Frontera reliability

My last vehicle was a 2000 Range Rover P38 diesel, probably the highest maintenance least reliable car ive ever experienced, but one of the nicest to drive and nicest to work on... Well sort of..

So, having got rid of the Rangie, I would like to establish the general reliability of fronteras. Specific models of interest are 2.2 DTI LWB and 2.0 sport shorties. The choice will be made dependant upon whether a seperate family car is bought.

Having browsed the forum and googled away, ive seen the generic issues that people have pointed out.

But from an owners point of view, good reliable car?? Or more of a hobby?

Thanks in advance

ive had my m reg 2.0 shorty for just over 2 years now and apart from changing the plugs oil/filer air filter every year & 2 ball joints and a leaf spring for the last mot ive virtually had to do nothing to it, admittedly ive only covered 8k but theyre all been trouble free ! the 2.2 petrol i owned for 3 years before that was apart from needing a new head gasket trouble free as well ! although my 2 have covered low miles under my ownership sometimes regular use is better for a vehicle than sitting unused , i cant complain so far

I would say the 2.2 petrol is about the least reliable unless you have maintained it from new and been fastidious about it.

The reliability does come down to the mechanics like the engine and gearbox as all the suspension bits are pretty much the same barring a few differences between age models, leaf springs on the rear up to 1995 then they had coil springs and from 97 they had four-link rear suspension and a different steering set up.

The DTI is a good engine if the fuel pump has been changed along with all the vac pipes and the 20l sport is bomb proof and very simple to fix and maintain but does lack power and is a tad thirsty for what you get plus its only a 4 seater, you feel you need six gears in the 20l sport too.

It also depends what you want out of the car.

Probably would be useful if i put uses down, apologies for that.

Both will be used for green laning an light offroad if can.

If LWB, then will be for towing, big family car, plus the above.

If SWB, then its basically a toy and carting my mtbs to different trail centres around the country and the above

The B series can be safely lifted 2" without causing reliability issues with the steering and suspension geometry as generally you can lift the A series higher with less affect to geometry this will enable you to fit 31" tyres easily on the B series.

The A series sport is a tough little motor but you will be stuck for space as the boot is very small and as said its only a four seater, the main thing I didnt like about my old 20l sport is the high revving in first low box as the gearing is too tall and it runs away on steep slopes, that said it has its up sides :wink:

Well the reviews and reports are certainly positive, i doubt there is much on the cars i cant do myself that that should help the costs. Its just a shame there arent more SWB diesels around, strangely i prefer the SWB A series and the LWB B series..

Thanks for the information,

See if you can hunt out a SWB 2.8 or a good looked after 2.5 diesel :wink:

The 2.8 diesel is probably the most reliable engine fitted to the A series .. shortly followed by the 2.0 petrol. Issue is finding a clean 2.8 as they are getting rare these days. Hundreds of 2.0 SWB's though.

B series I would say (as drifty mentioned) the 2.2 DTi if the pump has been looked after/replaced, or the 3.2 V6 Petrol. The 3.2 V6 is a thirsty beast however there are quite a few running on LPG which makes them a very viable option.

However saying that (as mentioned again above) a car .. any car .. is only as good as how well it has been looked after. I had, and now own again a 2.3 TD A series LWB. They are a plodder of an engine, however a good old school solid motor. The 2.4 is the same but petrol so thirstier. Old school technology the both of them with less electrics and parts to go wrong.

The beauty of all Frontera's is their simplicity. Everything is chunky on them and relatively easy to get to. Not much your competant home mechanic cannot do him/herself.

I love my dti, its got 130,000 on the clock and I have owned it for about three years.
The only things I have broken are an intercooler - turbo overboosted. A front drop link while off road and a cv joint.
I'm still on the original fuel pump so they are good for mileage.
I'm just about to put 31" boots on and my mods can be seen in my profile.
They are silky smooth and can tow nicely.
I would recommend one anyday of the week. I will also agree that they like to be serviced with new oil every couple of thousand miles and fuel filters at the same time.

well i am on my second 2.0

and i do agree with everyone a 2.8 is the bollox, but expencive to get and when they go wrong.. even more expence

the 2.0 brillent little car. cheep and cheep to repare.
and i dont car what poeple say if you drive them right and well mantain it you can get 30 out of a moded one.

i only sold my last one because the brakes were playing up and i was doing 1000 miles a week
but i did about 60k in it and it still went on
my new one has 116k on the clock, and it started first time after sitting for 3 years

Thanks for all that information , absolutely brilliant.

Think a 3.2 is a bit too fruity for me, dont think I can handle its drinking habit. Even thiugh I bet they are awesome.

I've had my swb "A" for 6 years now, in that time it has had:

two pieces of exhaust;
set of tyres;
couple of brake pipes;
one brake caliper (I'm not braking enough!);
both sills plated at their trailing edges.
timing belt (next one due soon);

The truck is 14 years old from registration and over 15 years old from manufacture.

I don't think I should grumble.

SLightly off topic, but can anyone advise as too what you would expect to pay for a vehicle,

Have been offered a B series 2.2 DTI LWB auto, with 55k on the clock on a 53 plate.. They want £3500 on the screen.. Is that massively overpriced

I have had 2 shorty's now. The current one i have had for 4 years and it gets hammerd when i go off road and its never let me down with any major things. MOT normaly things like the odd brake pipe but thats about it. As someone said previously they are bomb proof little motors!!! They are fairley cheap to buy and are easy to fix. The 2.8 is the way to go but are more expencive to buy and to repair. To answer your last question Yes it is over priced. £1800 probably more like! Go on Auto Trader and see what there going for on there and do an average.

Regards Bobster.

Coming from an odd family, are these vehicles ok to buy with that sort of mileage on?? im always dubious about purchasing with high mileage...

Due to the age of most Fronteras out there now they will have high milage but if you average out the milage with age it works out the they cover normal milege for their year. If you work on the asumption that aveage milege is 12,000 a year then my 17 year old motor should have coverd 204,000miles. But it only has 129,000 so thats good in my eyes! They are all getting old now!!! Yes Gregster like me!!! :lol:

Thats before you said it!!! :wink:

As with all mechanical things if they have been maintained over their life then high mileage shouldnt really be a problem. One of my 2.8's (Truck) is now at the 220k mark and that is used every day and does anything between 60 to 100 miles a day during the week and is in pretty good nick considering. The other one (O-no) is sat around 89k, and out of the two is actually the worst condition wise. The steering is now too tight (It was too loose and pretty much 'tacked' down the road. Having done it p too much I now need to loosen it off a bit) and I've had to patch it up with the welder too.

As for repair costs and the 2.8.... No more/no less than other vehicles tbh, they are simple beasts and have a minimum of electronics so theres a good saving there. The engine, being ISUZU is pretty much bullet proof, just keep doing oil/filter changes and you will be okay. Oh and a belt change say every 40k.

I have on Truck changed the turbo twice, once at around the 140 to 150k mark and then I used a s/h turbo which then failed about 50k miles later. Add the original mileage from the doner car which was around 95k to give a rough life of 145k I'm not complaining. It's now got a shiny new one (cost in the order of £520+/-) on it, well it was shiny new about 20k miles ago!

I've also put a new alternator on it, the last one passed away but then they don't like being stood under water or smothered in mud for any lengthy period. Summit to do with the electric stuff going through em so I'm led to believe. Leccy stuff confuses the ..... out of me so a new one went on and the old one is sat in the shed until I get round to fixing it.

Timing belt and associated pulley change interval for the 2.8 diesel is 60,000 miles (100,000 Km's). Good quality kits are available for £60. That makes it a running cost of £0.001/mile. How about that for cheap