In reply to:

I was tempted to buy a Land Rover. Fortunately, one of my friends was a LR enthusiast, and described to me the whole "work on it yourself or don't buy one" thing. So I got a Nissan, instead.


And I think you did the right thing. I don't have any experience with Freelanders, but with the rest, you need to like to tinker around.

I have a friend who is not very mechanically adept, but still very keen on Land Rovers. He keeps a garage or two in business. I kept telling him to get a Volvo, and finally he saw the light