Geordie lass in France

Hello all !

I'm Sophie, Brit now living in the south of France, just north of Toulouse. I'm a sales agent down here, and I specialize in competition oil and tire pressure management.

As my O/H has just bought a Freelander, and that I've totally fallen in love with it, I'm tempted to buy one for myself for going to see my customers, and trail my other car to trackdays.

So I'm here to have a look around, and ask a few questions, and look for answers if/when we have problems with the 1st one
I'm going to have to go for a diesel I'm afraid, we've already got a 1.8K engine in the Lotus Elise S1, however I doubt we'll get the same mpg with a Freelander. Plus, I need the extra torque to pull my MX5.

Soph

Nothing wrong with a diesel gaylander.

Get yourself an L series and not one of those newfangled td4's.

Yourll probably get more helpful comments on here than most gaylander owners being a lady and all that.

Why aye hinny!

(Thought I'd make you feel at home!)

wattfield said:

Why aye hinny!

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vilguy said:

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Whatever you do, don't mention the Germans ...

Okay...now what's an L series ? Other thing I want to look into is going 2WD

Here is number one, we haven't found a name for him yet, no doubt we'll work out what to call him when he starts playing up.

Here he is hiding behind my MX5 :



Checking out the landscape :

The L series is the earlier XEDI diesel.

Some people (myself included) think its much more reliable, its simpler than the later td4 and much cheaper to buy as well as being slightly better on diesel too. In addition I believe the L series is more tolerant to running veg oil. (my opinion only of course) I run mine on it and its fine. There may be others running td4's on it.
The veg oil saves alot of money.

2wd conversions are generally only because some lazy (or tight) sod didnt replace the viscous coupling unit and so removed it along with the prop.

To be fair mines 2wd at the minute and useless on anything muddy. Fine on the tarmac and gravel though. I have a spare prop and vcu to go on when its not raining.

Hmmm, ok. What is it like getting parts for the Rover engine ?
What I'm afraid of is that anything Rover will most probably been meddled with. The French are usually scared about fixing English cars, so take it down to the local garage, where the mechanic is usually drunk by 9am, and hope for the best.

Its an extremely common engine and spares and pence. For instance, I got a set of glowplugs last week for £10 delivered.

They are very simple to work on, hardly any electrics at all.

Typical yellow cheese eaters being scared of the british (to be politically correct and all that)

oh im being all nice to noobs today. Must be because your a lady

Hello! I used to have a gaylander, and an S1 and i live in Newcastle! Hope you find what you're looking for

vilguy said:

Its an extremely common engine and spares and pence. For instance, I got a set of glowplugs last week for £10 delivered.

They are very simple to work on, hardly any electrics at all.

Typical yellow cheese eaters being scared of the british (to be politically correct and all that)

oh im being all nice to noobs today. Must be because your a lady

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They are scared of the British, I get this feeling that I've got 2 heads sometimes. Driving around in a very loud RHD MX5 doesn't help, but I do get strange looks in the shops when I speak english to my boyfriend, who usually replies in French.

Rosie2014 said:

Hello! I used to have a gaylander, and an S1 and i live in Newcastle! Hope you find what you're looking for

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Oh ! Why used to have an S1 ? We're quite attached to her, can't imagine letting her go to any other home :love:

InfanoTerura said:

Hello all !

I'm Sophie, Brit now living in the south of France, just north of Toulouse. I'm a sales agent down here, and I specialize in competition oil and tire pressure management.

As my O/H has just bought a Freelander, and that I've totally fallen in love with it, I'm tempted to buy one for myself for going to see my customers, and trail my other car to trackdays.

So I'm here to have a look around, and ask a few questions, and look for answers if/when we have problems with the 1st one
I'm going to have to go for a diesel I'm afraid, we've already got a 1.8K engine in the Lotus Elise S1, however I doubt we'll get the same mpg with a Freelander. Plus, I need the extra torque to pull my MX5.

Soph

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:welcome2: A nice P38 would be better as a tow car

Welcome Soph.

Get yourself a proper towing vehicle

:bolt:

Datatek said:

:welcome2: A nice P38 would be better as a tow car

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I'd love to, but as I've been self employed for less than 6 months now, I need something that's going to be able to take me around France and tow the MX5 or the Elise. A P38 is totally over my budget right now unfortunately, but that will most definitely be one of the next cars.

InfanoTerura said:

Hello all !

I'm Sophie, Brit now living in the south of France, just north of Toulouse. I'm a sales agent down here, and I specialize in competition oil and tire pressure management.

As my O/H has just bought a Freelander, and that I've totally fallen in love with it, I'm tempted to buy one for myself for going to see my customers, and trail my other car to trackdays.

So I'm here to have a look around, and ask a few questions, and look for answers if/when we have problems with the 1st one
I'm going to have to go for a diesel I'm afraid, we've already got a 1.8K engine in the Lotus Elise S1, however I doubt we'll get the same mpg with a Freelander. Plus, I need the extra torque to pull my MX5.

Soph

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Hi Sophie also living north of Toulouse...If you see me in a Red Defender 90 (british 03 reg) be sure to wave, flash, honk....or a Silver CLK also on bristish reg....or a silver RHD Mondeo (French Reg...)...

Cheers

Phil

InfanoTerura said:

I'd love to, but as I've been self employed for less than 6 months now, I need something that's going to be able to take me around France and tow the MX5 or the Elise. A P38 is totally over my budget right now unfortunately, but that will most definitely be one of the next cars.

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Expensive in France, but cheap enough in the UK and post MY 2000 easy enough to import and register in France. My French wife loves the P38 even though the steering wheel is on the wrong side as she puts it.

Vagrant said:

Hi Sophie also living north of Toulouse...If you see me in a Red Defender 90 (british 03 reg) be sure to wave, flash, honk....or a Silver CLK also on bristish reg....or a silver RHD Mondeo (French Reg...)...

Cheers

Phil

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Hi Phil !
Sorry, I didn't see your post Where are you ? We're just next to Albi, for the moment... I'll wave if I see any of those when we're wandering around !

@ Datatek, yeah, I've been looking in the UK too, but 5000€ was our max for a cheap runabout for the moment, a P38 will be the next upgrade !