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Years ago I bought a 1984 Range Rover for my wife, figuring it was safer for her and the kids to drive around in than the Commodore she had at the time. Having previously owned a Rover SD1, I liked the Rover V8 motor and that Rangie had a nice presence about it, despite being a 2 tone colour. I had a company car back then so only got to play with the Rangie on weekends.

Little did I know that this was the beginning of a slippery slope in to Land Rover obsession. My wife wasn’t too keen on the Rangie – it was big, heavy to steer, and a pig on petrol. I, on the other hand, loved it. We lived near some bush tracks in the Blue Mountains (west of Sydney, Australia) and it was fun to take the Rangie for a run and try to figure out what this low range thing was about.

Eventually we traded the Rangie in on a new car for my wife but I had already been bitten by the 4WD bug.

Some time later I handed back my company car and went searching. I wasn’t necessarily looking for another Range Rover but ended up buying this one:

What a great car, despite the semi-regular visits to the local Land Rover specialist. It had a great ride, was well appointed inside and never let me down on the mild off-road tracks I took it on. Eventually the daily commute from the Blue Mountains to Sydney was getting to be a problem in terms of fuel bills, so I looked for alternatives. In hindsight I should have kept the Rangie as a weekend toy and occasional commuter, and bought a small car as a daily driver… but instead I traded it in on this 2000 model Freelander convertible:

Having the 1.8L motor shared with the MG-F, it was not bad for a 1.5T car but not as capable as the Rangie off-road or even from a set of traffic lights. The convertible was alot of fun in Summer and it had a nice look about it. Mechanically it was a bit more reliable than the Rangie, but even after several visits back to the Land Rover dealer the CD stacker would never work properly.

We moved to Canberra and I wasn’t commuting as far for work any more. In the back of my mind there was a nagging sense that I wanted to get back in to a more capable 4WD. Then my son spotted a black Range Rover in a car yard one day. After much negotiations I eventually ended up trading in the Freelander on this 1995 Range Rover 4.6L HSE:

Despite the high maintenance bills on this car (engine rebuild was the biggest), I couldn’t see myself driving anything else. Amazing vehicle, great driving position, smooth ride, and goes almost anywhere in style and comfort… I’ll cover the “almost” in another post, along with a few upgrades I had to improve the off-road capabilities of the vehicle.

After encountering the “almost” situation, the Black Rangie was lost in late 2008. For a short time I considered buying a more common 4WD, but my better half pointed out that I would not be happy unless I had another Rangie… of course she was correct. After a brief play with a Suzuki Sierra, I bought a 1999 Range Rover 4.0L V8 from a guy in Queensland who specialised in upgrades for the P38A Rangie:

Not quite a standard P38A Range Rover. It is set up more for off-road use than as a daily driver, but in true Range Rover style it more than holds its own on the tarmac. I’ll talk about this one more in another post.

Enough for now. That’s where I’m up to in my Land Rover addiction to date.

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