Hi everyone

Long time lurker here but this is my first post. After some buying advice - I’ve decided to buy a used L494 and having been searching for a year or so I’ve decided on a 2020 4.4 in Autobiography spec. I want to star clear of the 3.0 SDV6 for crank failure reasons.

I was all set and ready to go but I’ve noticed in the last couple of months the D300/350s 2021 and 2022 MY are starting to dip below the price of the 2020 4.4s I’ve been looking at. This means I could potentially get a car with the manufacturers warranty remaining rather than the used warranty.

Question is - would anyone advise going for a slightly newer D300/350 over the 2020 4.4 Diesel?

I don’t really want a hybrid, so I’m still leaning towards the 4.4 despite it being slightly older and more expensive. But buying an older car for more money is niggling me!

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Can't advise on which one, as I have always had L320's

Have you checked what the insurance will be, this is the reason for the price drop... that may help you decide.

CJS

Haven’t checked insurance. It’ll be what it’ll be. I’m 40 with a clean licence and I live in a rural, low crime part of the country.

As CJS says, please check the insurance costs on these. The post 2018 cars are approaching uninsurable as they evaporate off the drive according to insurance companies.
If you are Ok with the several thousand to insure, just be aware that if things don't improve, getting rid of an STD will be easer than selling your car.
May be worth asking the dealer if the car you are looking at will be benefitting from any security upgrade that it's rumoured JLR are retrofitting.
Good luck with your choice, they are great cars.

Thanks for the reply. I do find it a bit hard to believe that they are uninsurable - I must see about 30 or 40 of the things driving round every time I leave the house. I seriously doubt everyone is paying thousands to insure them. But I will check regardless.

Any advice on my original post would be welcomed though.

1. Insurance on them is very postcode sensitive as many others on this site have found to their cost.

2. You should drive examples of both and see which you prefer. That's the only advice required when choosing a car - you have to like it. It doesn't matter what others think or prefer.

In terms of performance, the 4.4 and the D350 are all but identical - their torque curves pretty much match from 1750-2500 rpm and there's a slight difference in the top end power but it's fairly small and unlikely to be noticeable. Which gives better fuel economy and handling (more/less weight over the front axle) is where they will differ to some degree. Otherwise, they're going to be pretty much the same inside the cabin if both are Autobiography spec.

As for the hybrid bit, the D300/D350 are "mild hybrids" that just do some regeneration when braking and then use the stored energy to give some torque fill. So not like the bigger battery PHEV hybrids. The Igenium straight-6 lump is about 80kg lighter than the V8 diesel so that is likely to be noticeable when driving around, especially if you have a favourite bit of twisty road. 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

We got rid of our sdv6 when the warranty ran out for fear of it needing another engine outside of warranty as the first engine went at 20k miles. We got the inline D300, the other day we had LR assist out to it as it was playing up which turned out to just needed the latest software update to sort ,very anoying that it had just had a service as you'd think they would update the software then, anyway I was chatting to the guy about reliability and he said the new D300 was bomb proof , however he said in 4cyl format he wouldn't touch the engine with a barge pole !
It was good to hear as with the way the residual values are going it looks like I will be keeping the d300 for a long time !
Performance wise I see no difference to the earlier sdv6 , however it is a little better on MPG and doesn't suffer the lag time on the throttle when pulling out of junctions. MY24 Dynamic SE,MY21 HSE Silver, MY20 SQ7, MY 18 RRS HSE Dynamic , MY 16 RRS Autobiography now gone & MY 2005 Discovery 3 HSE that I will be buried in !

Thanks for the reply. My biggest worry with going with a D300/350 over the 4.4 is that it’s just extra stuff to go wrong on what can already be a lottery of a car to begin with! Electric motor, batteries, warranty on batteries not lasting the life of the car etc etc.

I plan to keep the L494 for 5 years, so I’m guessing it will be my last pure diesel vehicle. The fact that the v8 diesel is the last of a dying breed also appeals, and they do appear to be more reliable than the SDV6, although perhaps that’s due to the sheer numbers of the SDV6 in circulation compared to the V8.

I’ve noticed the new models have dropped to around 76k. I’m in two minds whether to wait another year and see if they’ve dropped below 60. A part of me worries the facelift L494 might look as dated as the pre-facelift version soon.

As others have said above I would definitely be doing your homework before you commit to anything.. personally as a long term multiple Land Rover owner/lover I would be looking elsewhere..

Dealers are desperately trying to offload cars at present.. had two dealers this week alone call me offering 10k off and half price finance on cars which just 2 months ago had a minimum of a years waiting list!

My RRS has lost £20 k value in two months..

Don’t do it..it will be financial suicide..

I have had the D300, 4.4 and currently got the D350.. the inline 6’s are sublime and offer great power and MPG. Whichever car you get in this range will be high insurance so get the one you want and enjoy!

Farmer Chalk wrote:

As others have said above I would definitely be doing your homework before you commit to anything.. personally as a long term multiple Land Rover owner/lover I would be looking elsewhere..

Dealers are desperately trying to offload cars at present.. had two dealers this week alone call me offering 10k off and half price finance on cars which just 2 months ago had a minimum of a years waiting list!

My RRS has lost £20 k value in two months..

Don’t do it..it will be financial suicide..

JDPRRSUK wrote:

I have had the D300, 4.4 and currently got the D350.. the inline 6’s are sublime and offer great power and MPG. Whichever car you get in this range will be high insurance so get the one you want and enjoy!

Jaybird wrote:

If what you say is true, and I don’t doubt it is, I might just wait until the new year and buy the same car I’m looking at for 20 grand less.

Jaybird wrote:

Farmer Chalk wrote:

As others have said above I would definitely be doing your homework before you commit to anything.. personally as a long term multiple Land Rover owner/lover I would be looking elsewhere..

Dealers are desperately trying to offload cars at present.. had two dealers this week alone call me offering 10k off and half price finance on cars which just 2 months ago had a minimum of a years waiting list!

My RRS has lost £20 k value in two months..

Don’t do it..it will be financial suicide..

How have things changed so much so suddenly? I know there was a spike in the used car market during and post Covid, but surely they’re not going to start giving these things away?

If what you say is true, and I don’t doubt it is, I might just wait until the new year and buy the same car I’m looking at for 20 grand less.

In answer to your question 90 cars a day from London alone made the insurance underwriters think again.. why have the risk? A 17 yr old male driving a souped up Fiesta is a far better risk …

Other insurers took note when LR insurance stopped insuring their own vehicles.. the freefall in secondhand values came as a direct result..there is going to be a huge glut of JLR products with people dumping theirs.. I am only too glad I did mine on a set price agreed value PCP as I’ll be handing mine back as soon as possible..

Personally I think the Police should be somewhat accountable since the demise of all of the stolen car squads which has allowed the subsequent proliferation of organised crime gangs dealing in high value cars and their parts…