2008Freelander
New Member
- Posts
- 3
Last week, I listed my 2004 Jag XJ6 on our NZ auction site and someone made an offer which I accepted. It's amazing how people buy cars without looking at them. I never met the guy - all done on the phone and electronic banking. And now, he is thrilled as he got a really good car for a very fair price.
While on the auction site, I thought to check if any new listings for a Freelander 2 preferably in green, and up popped this one. 2008, 156,000km, JDM. No dents, no rust, no tow bar (I'll be adding that), almost new tyres, looks like it was used as a babymobile. I was the first caller.
Amazing price - it had failed its WOF (like MOT) on stiff steering so the young mum bought a Honda CRV and priced it to sell. Even better, it was 30 minutes away from the Jag buyer, so I drove the 90 minutes down, looked at the FL2, bought it, and left the Jag to be collected from the farmer I just met. Lovely how trusting rural folk are down under. We have a bumper sticker on the island... "far enough behind to be ahead".
First is to replace the steering filter, and focus on the steering rack and pump which may need to be replaced to fix the hard turning when not moving or moving slow so I can pass WOF. Then design a full length (1.2 x 2.4 m) flat aluminium luggage rack for the building supply run (see the one on the G-Wagon). Repair or replace the cracked dash, buy leather seats from a wrecked LR2 and swap the upholstery if the donor is power seats (mine are not). The radio is Alpine, but the GPS is Pioneer JDM, so I'll be posting questions if anyone has done a GPS replacement. In the three years the prior owner owned it she never changed fluids, so I'll learn how to drain the transmission, the rear end and whatever else needs attention. It gave P0171 error code, so I will have a look at the MAF and the O2 sensors. I cleared it, but it returned so something is not happy. Then work out the secret handshake to disable the seat belt ding and the auto locking - both when driving off and when I leave the car in the shed. We live on a small island where the only way off is a ferry, so there's not much worry about theft. Expect lot's of questions as I begin this journey.
This is my first Land Rover, although in the 1970's I once drove a real Land Rover (5 door Defender) from the Rogue River in Oregon back to the Canadian border... took two days, astonishingly loud, and rough as guts. My daughter in Auckland has Disco 4, horse paddock style, so I have some familiarity. And of course, just as the Jag was of the Ford era, (which means it actually worked). I'm hopeful when it comes to reliability, the FL2 is more Ford than LR of yore. I was sorry to have to sell the Jag, but we lost our heated parking garage when the building was sold, and as a long-distance cruiser our 12 km road length and 50 km/h speed limit was not a good fit.
We run a market garden farm where we have owned a 1982 G-Wagon since we bought the farm in 1997, but when I go to fill it up, it works out to about $1.30 a mile meaning it drives about 600 miles a year - mostly hauling rock (see the stone wall in the distance... it carried 2.7 tonnes each trip), pulling stumps or rescuing stuck machinery.
My other cars are a 2012 SLK to ensure domestic bliss, a 2017 Nissan Leaf as a shopping cart (we have a 54-panel solar system on the farm), a 2005 Honda CRV, which will get sold as soon as I fix what's needed on the Freelander, and a 69 Alfa Spider which I have not had on the road since 1997 (problems with NZ import regulations, which we are battling). And a couple of ebikes (Bella Ciao frames) that are free to take on the ferry to town, and the fastest way to get around the city.
I look forward to learning more about my new acquisition, and I will make a practice of documenting my work, so while at first I will be asking, later I will be paying forward.
While on the auction site, I thought to check if any new listings for a Freelander 2 preferably in green, and up popped this one. 2008, 156,000km, JDM. No dents, no rust, no tow bar (I'll be adding that), almost new tyres, looks like it was used as a babymobile. I was the first caller.
Amazing price - it had failed its WOF (like MOT) on stiff steering so the young mum bought a Honda CRV and priced it to sell. Even better, it was 30 minutes away from the Jag buyer, so I drove the 90 minutes down, looked at the FL2, bought it, and left the Jag to be collected from the farmer I just met. Lovely how trusting rural folk are down under. We have a bumper sticker on the island... "far enough behind to be ahead".
First is to replace the steering filter, and focus on the steering rack and pump which may need to be replaced to fix the hard turning when not moving or moving slow so I can pass WOF. Then design a full length (1.2 x 2.4 m) flat aluminium luggage rack for the building supply run (see the one on the G-Wagon). Repair or replace the cracked dash, buy leather seats from a wrecked LR2 and swap the upholstery if the donor is power seats (mine are not). The radio is Alpine, but the GPS is Pioneer JDM, so I'll be posting questions if anyone has done a GPS replacement. In the three years the prior owner owned it she never changed fluids, so I'll learn how to drain the transmission, the rear end and whatever else needs attention. It gave P0171 error code, so I will have a look at the MAF and the O2 sensors. I cleared it, but it returned so something is not happy. Then work out the secret handshake to disable the seat belt ding and the auto locking - both when driving off and when I leave the car in the shed. We live on a small island where the only way off is a ferry, so there's not much worry about theft. Expect lot's of questions as I begin this journey.
This is my first Land Rover, although in the 1970's I once drove a real Land Rover (5 door Defender) from the Rogue River in Oregon back to the Canadian border... took two days, astonishingly loud, and rough as guts. My daughter in Auckland has Disco 4, horse paddock style, so I have some familiarity. And of course, just as the Jag was of the Ford era, (which means it actually worked). I'm hopeful when it comes to reliability, the FL2 is more Ford than LR of yore. I was sorry to have to sell the Jag, but we lost our heated parking garage when the building was sold, and as a long-distance cruiser our 12 km road length and 50 km/h speed limit was not a good fit.
We run a market garden farm where we have owned a 1982 G-Wagon since we bought the farm in 1997, but when I go to fill it up, it works out to about $1.30 a mile meaning it drives about 600 miles a year - mostly hauling rock (see the stone wall in the distance... it carried 2.7 tonnes each trip), pulling stumps or rescuing stuck machinery.
My other cars are a 2012 SLK to ensure domestic bliss, a 2017 Nissan Leaf as a shopping cart (we have a 54-panel solar system on the farm), a 2005 Honda CRV, which will get sold as soon as I fix what's needed on the Freelander, and a 69 Alfa Spider which I have not had on the road since 1997 (problems with NZ import regulations, which we are battling). And a couple of ebikes (Bella Ciao frames) that are free to take on the ferry to town, and the fastest way to get around the city.
I look forward to learning more about my new acquisition, and I will make a practice of documenting my work, so while at first I will be asking, later I will be paying forward.
.
