This weekend we were at the used car lot again and came across this beautiful 4×4 just calling my name.  It was in perfect shape, and had the one feature Megan wanted – an automatic transmission.  Here’s a shot of our new baby, a 1998 Land Rover Discovery.  Should do nicely on safaris!

Land Rover Discovery V8

Land Rover Discovery V8

Yes, the vehicle is a right-hand drive, but we’ll get used to that quick enough.   This 4 liter V8 4×4 will be our ticket to exploring this country!  My main concern when I bought it was the gas use.  The previous owner died, and his wife is selling it because she can’t afford the gasoline.  She says that her husband only drive it on weekends and on vacations, and she knows nothing about it.  Fortunately the vehicle info book was inside, along with a service record which shows someone taking good care of it.  We test drove it and it seemed that it could use a tuneup.  It idled rough, and we quickly saw that it was using a great deal of gasoline – much higher than my research says it should.

So today I took it to a mechanic that everyone at the Embassy uses, and he had it for about 2 hours when he called us to tell us that we just had to come down to the shop and see the “new” vehicle.  When we arrived he showed me the nasty burned up spark plugs and clogged fuel injectors.  He said someone in the previous family (probably not the dad) replaced the proper spark plugs with those designed for a 4 cylinder 2 liter or smaller engine.  The Land rover needed plugs for a much hotter V8 4 liter engine.  The poor ignition also fouled up the injectors – thus the reason for the rough idle and horrible gas milage!

$100 later and the car purrs like a new vehicle!  I almost feel guilty paying so little for it, as the previous owner never knew that this fine 4×4 only needed such simple repairs to make it usable.  I said “almost”.