Repeat after me… WE DO NOT NEED ANOTHER LAND ROVER.

See that? I tried to make it my mantra. I repeat it to myself as I browse through adverts of cars for sale that look a bit more interesting or wacky. I tell myself that as I get messages from Spare Dave showing my what is out there for a decent price. The latest he sent was a Freelander 1 Commercial for the princely sum of £350! That one was too good an opportunity to pass up. Messages were sent, however the Freelander had been sold already – unsurprising at that price.

So I returned to the daily life of owning three Land Rovers and work. I passed my exams, and spannered my way through the days, desperately ignoring further calls of cars for sale.

I managed around three weeks when Facebook, showed me a Freelander for sale. Jokingly, I sent the advert to Spare Dave saying the company knew its target audience. It was the exact same Freelander we had seen a few weeks ago. It was up for considerably more than before, but Dave is a skilled bargainer, so we managed to get the price down to something more reasonable. One trip and a short test drive later, and we bought the car.

Dave intended to turn it into an offroad monster truck. He has been on about doing this for a while, however he made the mistake of letting me drive it home. I won’t say it’s flawless, because it’s 25 years old. The clutch peddle squeaks, the battery is weak and there are some interesting rattles from the additional seats put in the back. The Viscous Coupling Unit (VCU) is toast and currently, the prop shaft is in the back of the car rather than attached making it two-wheel drive… but that’s it. Niggles. The car has niggles. It also has a ‘Special Vehicle’ plate on it, which I need to find out more about.

I told him it was too good to ruin. The MPG is also a lot better than Larry… So. I have a new daily driver. I took the Freelander to work for an MOT and an Air Conditioning regas, and to show off the new vehicle. During the regas, we got the car on the ramp and had a good look underneath. We tested the wheel bearings, had a look at the suspension and everything else we could see. The front sub-frame is going to need some attention in the near future, and all four tyres will need replacing as they are starting to crack inside the treads.

The MOT was a complete success, the regas less so. The compressor made a noise like a machine gun then stopped working. I suspect it might be done. Not to worry, not like we’re having hot weather here anyway. I have windows and a sunroof.

We got an amazing car for very little cash, and it won’t take much to get those little niggles sorted out either. For £500, we practically stole it. We’ve called it Jester, because this is getting to be a bit of a joke now, Four Land Rovers is quite enough… for now.