considering freelander as second car

You could do a lot worse than a diesel Freelander and it is more than up to tackling any sort of off road work you are likely to ask of it. I've take them round parts of Eastnor that most owners would never try and apart from unhooking the rear silencer they manage just fine.

If you are not too concerned about fuel, the V6 performs well too, but I would steer clear of the 1.8 four cylinder - not enough power, too many head gaskets.

No one in their right mind would run a Defender as a daily drive.

I was going to say that he probably saw it on Top Gear, but I think that even they rated its off road capability quite high. As for diesel v. petrol and manual v. automatic, they just require slightly different techniques rather than one being much better than the other. They will all tackle worse conditions than I would put my own car through (but great fun when you work for Land Rover! ).

The MLS gasket was never fitted to the production Freelander. I think the PRT came earlier, but did not have much impact on gasket failures.

According to one of the insurance web sites, the insurance group for Freelander is in the same range as the Rover 45.