Free for all

SO GLAD so see that LRM is taking Freelander owners seriously by featuring Andy Milne’s brilliant off-roader (May LRM). Some magazines seem to think that unless you drive either a Defender or something on leaf springs, you can’t be considered a proper Land Rover enthusiast.

Well, I’ve got news for them. We’re seeing more and more Freelander owners coming to club trials and enjoying the social scene of Land Rover ownership – and lots of them are going off-roading and greenlaning, too.

You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand why. Fashion whims have pushed the prices of Defenders (and Series Land Rovers, come to that) out of reach of many ordinary people. Meanwhile, the prices of

Freelanders have fallen to a level where they are truly affordable to all.

Freelanders are relatively cheap to run, very versatile and handle just like a car on the road, yet are very competent off-road, too. Like Andy Milne, I have also pulled stricken Defenders out of trouble with my Freelander on off-road courses. Traction control is a wonderful invention!

As Andy pointed out, British companies like Muddymods are sticking their necks out and manufacturing accessories for Freelanders, which I hope owners will support. Personally, I’m sure they will and I genuinely believe that the Freelander enthusiast scene is going to get very big in the coming years – and why shouldn’t it? After all, Freelanders don’t rust away like Discoverys, and the vehicles themselves are reasonably easy and cheap to fix when they go wrong.

It’s ironic that the model which was dismissed by enthusiasts as “a hairdresser’s car” when it was launched back in 1997 will probably become the most popular enthusiasts’ car of all. You mark my words! Steve Soper, Stoke