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Freelander 2 Digital Radio

M

millsd61

In Second Gear
I have just bought a Freelander 2 HSE. It has the advanced audio system with digital radio.... but I cannot get the digital radio to work.

I have followed the instructions in the manual i.e. pressing the Auto button to build a list of stations. But when I press the mode button I only get FM1 & FM2, I do not get DAB1 & DAB2. And I cannot find BBC 5 Live station... what am I doing wrong?

Does anyone have any advice about this. Having followed the manual myself and got nowhere, I asked my son in law to have a go and he got nowhere either. Is the manual wrong or am I missing something?

Please someone help.
 
Daft question, but since you haven't said where you are based when you registered on here, do you have digital radio in your area?
 
My location is Grimsby Lincolnshire.... and yes I checked on the BBC web site and we do have coverage here. When I picked the car up from the dealer they had pre programed the rodio, they are in Hull. Only had the car 7 days so still playing with all its toys. But having digital radio would be useful. Over the weekend we traveled to Rockingham Motor speedway in Northhamptonshire and on the way my son in law tried seveal times to use the auto button to build a list of stations but it didn't seem to pick up any digital ones.
 
Hi, I too couldnt get Digital in my HSE. I've heard that although the set has the correct buttons on the fascia, its not actually functional until models produced from Nov 07.
 
I got my new Freelander XS in Oct 07 expecting it to have DAB radio due to all the marketing material (web sites, glossy brochures at the dealer, video clips) and the radio button that says Digital. Since discovering that Digital radion was not available on F2's from Nov 07 I complained to the dealer who never actually told me it didn't have this fitted and then to Land Rover UK. At the moment I am 1 step away from taking Land Rover to court under the Trade Descriptiions Act unless they agree to retro fit DAB for free (actually I think I have already paid for it). I suggest anyone with the same experience should do the same. If court doesn't budge them then I'm sure Jeremy Clarkson & the Top Gear Team will be more than happy to raise the profile of this piece of mis-selling.
 
Hiya...

Its amazing what alittle bit of bullying can do....Neil I reckon your right....threathen them with court or Top gear/watch dog...It works...

Only last year the X n I had a problem with the dash pod in the TT, he tried phoning Audi and they didnt want to know.... I went away and did some homework on it and was shown a video clip from watch dog about the same problem we were having... I wrote all the details down and re called Audi, having quoted everything in my posh telephone voice they were more than happy for me to bring the car in and have it fixed free of charge ;) ( they didnt want me to re call watch dog) :D

Good luck with it n hope you manage to sort it out soon :)

Mj
 
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Update and facts as follows: I had a call with Land Rover Customer Services on Thursday 6th March 08. The told me Freelander 2's without DAB radio cannot be retrofitted. This makes no sense and I was palmed off with "it's an engineering problem. I was then told that if I could get someone to fit DAB then LR would compensate me! I then phoned two dealers and both confirmed DAB is still not available on any Freelander 2's and they didn't know when it would be. I then called LR customer services back and demanded they compensdate me and advised them that they are continuing to break the trade descriptions act because the LR web site and all marketing literature tells us that from Now 07 DAB is available, on topof that dealers are not advising customers about this. I have also informed the Top Gear team about this issue and await their response. For the record I am proud to have bought a British car and disgusted with the poor service from LR, it's dealers, engineering and now customer care. My advise would be to write to customer care demanding compensation.. and watch out for the new Top Gear series which may just get us the action from LR required to sort out this mess and compendsate it's customers.
 
Hi all - Newbie here - just picked up a Freelander2 XS on Tuesday (ex Demo on a 57 plate) and have been poking around and saw the "Dab" on the FM button.
I mentioned this just when driving off to the dealer who did confirm to me "Yes - Digital Radio, great eh ?"

Whilst the missus was driving later, I too tried the pressing FM button to find my DAB - cross checked the Owners manual etc etc.

Although I don't think I have as much of a stake or claim as yourselves who bought the Freelander under the illusion of DAB existing, I am more than happy to join you in solidarity ! :) and try and jump on any retrofitting band wagon.

Keep us posted !

Andy
 
Hello ! Newbie ere, and glad I stumbled upon this subject - obviously not just me being daft not being able to get the Radio to be DAB.
Picked up a 57 demo Freelander XS on Tuesday and happy with it.
On collecting the car from the dealership I spotted the DAB marking on the radio and asked the sales guy - he confirmed "Yes, DAB for clearer sound"
Whilst the missus was driving later on, I had a poke around and pressed the FM button repeatedly as the manual suggested hoping for the DAB - obviously NOPE.
Not sure if I have as much of a leg to stand on regarding a claim of compensation as someone who specifically bought the car new under the pretence of it having DAB, but I would like to jump on the band wagon of representation and try and get any 'upgrade', 'software update' or 'recall' done to the unit so it can be DAB'able. After all the owners manuals do say that it is a DAB Radio.

Obviously going though Top Gear may get you noticed, what about the Honest John guy (from the Telegraph) he tends to get the industry to listen to him.

I will watch on with interest !

Cheers all, and back to the actual search I came here to find !
(can you alarm the car without the internal sensors on - i.e. dog left in car)

Andy
 
Yes - thanks. Discovered the One Button Alarm setting (on a different thread)

Cheers tho'


Ooops and I see that I bungled my earlier post - I thought it didn't get posted, hence wrote out again. - plonker !

Andy
 
FYI,

having dropped an email on the subject of the DAB to the dealer sales guy we bought the FR2 from the reply I received was :
"
I have looked into this and it seems that all the cars have the button saying it but the digital radio is not actually on the XS model and is not something that was opted for on the car."
I don't know if that helps the cause or not ?

andy
 
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Hi all,

I have a Freelander 2 HSE registred Jan 2008. The car is perfect in every way with no mechanical issues.

It has the premium audio system and I was expecting it to have DAB radio. According to the manual, when pressing the FM button repeatedly, it should switch between FM/DAB. It doesn't. I talked with my dealer, Guy Salmon in Knutsford Cheshire, and they said that although it does have DAB capability it is currently disabled because they are still working on the software. I have been told that it is nearly ready and will be installed when ready.

Is this true? Has anyone else been told the same?

Graham
 
All,

I think I originally started this thread and can hopefully end it by confirming that Land Rover have no idea when digital (dab) functionality will be available. The word "digital" on the radio just means digital tuning not DAB. In my view this is poor marketing and misleading by LR hence the number of confused Freelander 2 owners. Since raising this with LR customer care and threathening court action I have been offered £500 worth of accessories and 2 free services. This was after many email exchanges with a junior customer care person who started by offering me 1 free service before I then escalated to his boss. In summary we have all been mis-sold the digital radio capability and I am annoyed with LR for having misleading marketing literature and LR dealers for not being honest with their customers as they take £20k plus per car. I would advise making written contact with customer care and taking a firm line until they offer compensation that you are happy with. Good Luck.
 
Additional update... I was told by LR customer care and the dealer that they cannot retro fit the DAB. This means it will only be available (if ever) on vehicles that are factory fitted with DAB or retrofitted to vehicles built at the same time as DAB enable vehicles (i.e. they will both have the same software). If this is true (please check with your dealers technical dept to validate this) then don't be fooled by thinking LR will come running to give you thr DAB functionality you paid for initially. Very frustrating however, for £69 I heard today that there is a DAB radio interface on the market that fits to any car stereo (bit like the DAb tuner for an ipod).
 
It was only Friday I returned to this forum to wonder if anything had moved forward on the subject.

NeilH - you were talking of dragging LR through some bad publicity etc, has anything come of this ? Does anyone know anything new about this ?

Here's hoping !

Andy
 
I would agree with Neil, Landrover seem to have made a speciality of mixing up Digital with DAB. The sales team at my Dealer were just the same. They had no idea what DAB was. However, I have just driven a Freelander HSE with DAB fitted. I talked with Landrover today and they confirmed that the hardware is in my radio and I simply need a software upgrade. This is the same story the dealer came out with. I'm pretty certain that this is only for the Premium audio unit fitted to the HSE.

Will let you know if this is for real when/if it's done.
 
NeillH said:
Additional update... I was told by LR customer care and the dealer that they cannot retro fit the DAB. This means it will only be available (if ever) on vehicles that are factory fitted with DAB or retrofitted to vehicles built at the same time as DAB enable vehicles (i.e. they will both have the same software). If this is true (please check with your dealers technical dept to validate this) then don't be fooled by thinking LR will come running to give you thr DAB functionality you paid for initially. Very frustrating however, for £69 I heard today that there is a DAB radio interface on the market that fits to any car stereo (bit like the DAb tuner for an ipod).
Click to expand...

Well, well well! You guys in UK have the same problem as we have over here in Switzerland!
I bouth a 3.2i HSE last October with the premium(best available) Audio system. However similarly to you, here in Switzerland the Importer is not fully aware of the DAB situation. From all the responses I got, it appears that the Feb '09 production of the Freelander 2 is the first month on which the DAB can be ordered with. No one is however certain about what will be the situation about retrofitting, i.e. hardware or software possible updates. Hence we need to wait to March to really see what happens.
The main importer /dealer however is the opinion that a retrofitting may not possible :(
Will decide what to do after things are clear.
We may have to buy a new car to get a DAB!
What a pitty for LR, getting so many customers back with frustrations.
 
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