Every day 4x4

[Redeemer]

As many of you may have seen on the news recently, here in sunny Scotland we have had significant flooding along the east coast. A small town called Stonehaven in paticular was said to be the worst hit place in the UK.

As luck would have it I ended up being caught in Stonehaven during the flooding, and I found myself in a precarious situation involving my wee car (a Ford Ka) attempting to bury itself in mud and rapidly rising, fast flowing flood water.
I ended up having to decant and was thankfully picked up by a kind passer-by in a Land Rover.
I have now decided that I need a better car for everyday use that can cope with flooding, snow and mud. A balance between off road capability and a useful everyday runabout.
Unfortionately I have a very limited budget and the best I can afford is a 2002 Land Rover Freelander.

I have heard mixed reviews though, the online comunity suggets that the Freelander is badly made and a fuel hog, however people I know locally who own them say they are wonderfully capable and fairly economical considering their size.
I figured the best people to ask would be yourselves, the survival community. Is this a car worth buying considering my needs? Have you had any experiences with this paticular car?
Any advice on this matter would be greatly appreciated.



Red.