I breathed a deep sigh of contentment and opened my eyes to the sun. Toes curling in the dune, I gazed out across the bay to the blue-misted peaks of Slievetooey and Crockuna. It was the perfect afternoon - still, warm and silent. Okay, so that achingly beautiful girl walking alone, sandals in her hand, wasn't paying the blindest bit of attention to me, and I had just spent all morning driving to get out here to the far west of Donegal, but the world was perfect. Indeed, the driving had been part of the fun.Another bite at my apple, and I looked back to the beach access track where I'd parked the Freelander Sport, and smiled. Despite my initial reservations about whether or not it would comfortably cope with the epic journey I'd planned, after 1500 miles I'd become impressed and even attached to the little thing.Land Rover purists may balk at the concept of this model. It's basically a three-door that's been given more of an on-road bias with bigger than normal 18" alloy wheels and slightly lowered and stiffened suspension. The company says it's the "sharpest handling and sportiest Land Rover production model ever," and even if that's not really saying much, it could upset the dyed-in-the-wool mud-plugger.Munching on the Braeburn at the beach, I thought back to the last week which had taken me from high-speed drones along Scottish motorways, sweeps through lochside dashes and mountain passes, and on to sun-dappled meanderings along unclassified lanes and a couple of firm dirt tracks. I'd driven it onto the ferry for Belfast, pushed on down to go hiking in the Mourne Mountains, taken my cousin, his wife and two kids out for the day, and spent a lot of time alone with it, glancing down at the map on the passenger seat and navigating across the most interesting parts of northern Irish countryside I could find.It had done everything I asked of it, despite being short on doors and limited on cargo space. There was quite a bit of me in it by now too.The loam in the floor carpets was made up of leaf mould from the banks of Loch Ness, river grit from near Loch Awe, and beach sand from the coast of Caithness. There was a pebble from the scree of the Devil's Coachroad in the Mournes, and it was delicately scented with a rich mixture of woodsmoke off my camping clothes and the fragrant scent of Loch Lomondside bog myrtle from the sprig stuffed into the dash-top cupholder. Basically it would need a damned good clean before I put it back to Land Rover, but this for me was the essence of the name Freelander. The car had opened up the country for me.While the Td4 version didn't set me alight at first (it'll only get to 60mph in 14.3 seconds with the automatic gearbox) I found it certainly had enough performance to let me overtake when I needed to press on. The 191lb/ft of torque also meant that none but the steepest hills made any significant difference to my progress. Feeding through the automatic five-speed box it also gave me some good getaway times at traffic lights.Thinking back to a late-evening six-hour dash south from Wick still makes me smile. I had Mars the Bringer of War on the excellent six-CD autochanger stereo as I climbed through the dramatic twilight of Glen Coe, and Clair de Lune in the darkened woods of Loch Lomond. No one was in my way for long.The latest incarnation of the Freelander is the best looking yet. In this three-door version I'm still not sure about the sloping C pillar, but in general it gives an overall impression of strength and integrity. Visibility over your shoulders isn't great because of all the pillars and the three headrests for back seat passengers, but out the front it's excellent, and that clear view of the bonnet means you know exactly where the car's extremities are when manoeuvring in the belly of a ferry or nudging into a roadside parking slot. The main downside in manoeuvring, however, is the turning circle at a disappointing 11.6 metres - four and a half times the wheelbase.The front doors are big enough to make entry to the back seats easy even if you aren't a contortionist, and the rear door, carrying the spare wheel, swings heavily around to the right so that you can get in from the kerb side. The cargo hold isn't cavernous but I got a full rucksack, a small suitcase, a camera bag and a big box of groceries inside, and there was still room for more - a little more, anyway.Being on a camping holiday I didn't get much chance to take the hard top off and enjoy the open air - you can't just tuck the lid into the body of the car, you have to leave it at home - but the option was there. I made good use of the twin manual tilt sunroofs, though, to create the perfect interior climate and let the scent of the trees in.Surprisingly enough, the three-door Freelander has exactly the same external dimensions as the five-door - to the last millimetre, in fact - so it has five good seats with full over-the-shoulder seatbelts for everyone. The rear seats can fold flat, and easily roll forward out of the way to leave a much bigger cargo space if you need it.The interior is not very exciting to look at, but everything's clear and easy to find and use, with little more than a glance away from the road. There's no on-board computer or temperature gauge but the Sport has air conditioning, front and rear foglamps, his and hers front airbags, electric mirrors and front windows. Cubby holes include the door trays, a lidded box between the front seats, a sunglasses tray in the roof, and a couple of trays and cup holders on top of the dash. I would have liked to lose the ashtray and replace it with a little tunnel tray to slot my mobile phone into while I charged it up off the cigarette lighter plug. As it was, I just took the ashtray out and stuffed the phone into the rough hole it left.The driving position was perfect for me, the adjustable lumbar support helping make a day's non-stop travelling a delight - while it was happening and afterwards too. The suspension felt firm on the flat as well as in the corners, but I didn't find it intrusive enough to be uncomfortable.That five-speed auto box fed in every cog with the minimum of fuss on the way up or down through the ratios. The sequential option was electrical and I couldn't get any more satisfaction from using it than the fully automatic option. I tried it several times, but it became redundant after a few miles. What I'd really like to know is: why does it have the lock-in option of fourth, second and first in fully auto mode when you can easily lock them in through the sequential system?The Freelander Sport is primarily a road car aimed at grabbing back some street credibility against the Toyota RAV4 and the Honda CR-V, and as such has no complicated differential locks or low-ratio gearing options. It does, however, have the award-winning hill descent control system that brakes back the downhill runs to five miles per hour without the driver having to do anything but steer, so it hasn't totally neglected its roots.Freelanders have had a patchy reputation for reliability, but things at Land Rover are getting much better this year, and reports suggest there are far fewer build problems than before.One of the Sport's big selling points must be the low running costs - this model with the Td4 engine, even fed through the auto box, will get you an average of around 33 miles from a gallon of fuel (the manual box takes that up to over 37mpg) which is up there with the best of the rest like the RAV4 and the Nissan X-Trail. Recently increased fuel tank capacity means it will take around £40 to fill the thing to the brim, but you'll be able to drive almost all day before you have to fill it up again.The only major drawback to the Freelander is a simple one - its price. That green and gold oval badge may mean it has strong residual values, but to my mind £21,000 for a three-door car is excessive.Apart from that it's hard to fault. The Sport is roomy enough for occasional full family outings, it's big-hearted enough for epic journeying, it's good looking enough for every occasion and location, and it's economical to run. In short, 2000 miles and two weeks after I'd picked it up, I could easily have kept it. Engine 1951cc, 4 cylinders Power 112bhp Transmission 5-speed automatic Fuel/CO2 32.7mpg / 240g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 14.3 seconds Top speed 100mph Price £21,025 Details correct at publication date
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