Those theft figures are shocking. Thankfully I live about as far away from London as it’s possible to get, so other than the hike in insurance costs I would hope my car would be fairly safe. I’m 40 and I honestly can’t tell you one person I know who has ever had their car stolen. Which is fairly good going in 40 years. That’s not to say it isn’t a worry, of course it is, as obviously I would travel to airports and go to other areas on weekend breaks etc.

I’d also put a Ghost immobiliser on it which I had on my previous D4 (coincidentally bought from a guy in London who watched as all the LRs on the streets around his house got nicked whilst his immobilised vehicle sat there).

I wouldn’t be buying a used L494 just now unless you are getting it for a great price, my leased 21 plate black edition P400e is due to go back in June 24, I’m planning on buying a similar age AB P400e when this happens so have been keeping an eye on values of mine & similar spec cars I like on Autotrader to understand the used market on these. Up until last month my car was around £55k on Wbac and Arnold Clark’s car buying site, now it is down to £35k! I checked a nice 21 plate AB P400e and it is around £33k but the LR dealer wants £50k! I know they need to make money but that is crazy on a 2.5 year old car losing £17k as soon as you drive it away as these car buying places are now virtually bang on what trade in prices you get offered. From what local dealers are telling me the used car trade values are now dropping massively after the crazy upward trend during covid but it seems as usual the dealers want to pay buttons for yours but they do not reduce their sales stock at the same rates.
I’m just lucky I can wait another 8 months for the market to stabilise!

If you are buying just now I would recommend checking the car you are considering buyings value on wbac and the Arnold Clark website and use this to hammer the dealer down or you will lose a fortune. All cars depreciate but these examples are eye watering!

Good luck

Funnily enough I have done exactly what you suggest - checked the reg of the cars I was interested in against WBAC and also the trade in valuation on land rovers own website. There was a 17k difference between the forecourt price and the values offered.

The one I found most eye watering was the Land Rover valuation - 33k trade in for a car they are trying to sell for nearly £50k 🧐

That being said I do think they’ll bottom out next year. I doubt anyone is going to be getting a 2021 plate L494 for 25 grand 😬

m13lky wrote:

my leased 21 plate black edition P400e is due to go back in June 24, I’m planning on buying a similar age AB P400e when this happens

Why not just pay to keep your existing one? At least then you know its history, that it hasn't been thrashed (unless it has, of course ), etc.. 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

I might, if the price is right, the intro company tell me the company I am leasing from usually want cap clean + 10% so if it’s around £30k plus £3k I would buy it but I reckon they won’t let it go at that but I’ll wait and see.

That being said I do think they’ll bottom out next year. I doubt anyone is going to be getting a 2021 plate L494 for 25 grand 😬[/quote]

I know but even 20% mark up would have it at around £40k which would seem about right just now but there is no way they will drop them to that. You should go to the dealership if you’re serious about buying just now and show them the trade bid on their own website for their car to see what reaction you get!

One can buy nice FFRR for £30-40k now. Decent spec, decent engine, decent miles/price ratio.

E.g. https://www.thevoguecentre.co.uk/used-cars...9141962996

Sure, if one must have a newer vehicle then one is going to pay more, but that vehicle looks, to me at least, to be excellent value for the amount of vehicle one is getting - full AB spec, HUD, four-zone climate, deployable tow bar, surround cameras, massage seats, the works. For less than £40k. What's not to like?

I can see RRSs coming down to that sort of level as people feel the insurance squeeze over the next 12 months. There are going to be some good deals to be had. 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

Jaybird wrote:

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!

Is it too soon to have any hard information on the reliability of the D300/350 compared to the previous SDV6 engine? Do they suffer from the same issues with crank failure? The reason I was leaning towards the 4.4 was purely on a reliability front - an SDV6 would be more than adequate for my needs, however the horror stories about new engines needed and LR refusing to cover the cost under warranty put me off.

Is it too soon to have any hard information on the reliability of the D300/350 compared to the previous SDV6 engine? Do they suffer from the same issues with crank failure? The reason I was leaning towards the 4.4 was purely on a reliability front - an SDV6 would be more than adequate for my needs, however the horror stories about new engines needed and LR refusing to cover the cost under warranty put me off.[/quote]

Please excuse my ignorance, what rationale can LR give to not covering what sounds like a known issue under their own warranty?

In terms of engines on 2019/2020 model year cars up to present day, is the following correct?

I seem to have read conflicting information online. As I said in my earlier post I intend to keep the car for 5 years or so, and as LR appear to only guarantee the batteries on hybrids for 6 years from date of manufacture it’s another reason to steer towards a purely petrol or diesel vehicle.

As far as I understand it the engine options are:

SDV6 - Diesel
SDV8 - Diesel
D300 - Mild hybrid diesel
D400 - Mild hybrid diesel
V6 SC - Petrol
P300 - Mild hybrid petrol
P400 - Mild hybrid petrol
P400e - Plug in hybrid petrol
P525 - Petrol

So I’m still leaning towards a SDV8, which I think they put in the L494 until 2020.

Last edited by Jaybird on Mon Nov 27 2023 10:17am. Edited 1 time in total

Hi,

I think you’ll find the warranty on the PHEV battery is 6 yrs or 70% SOH (State of Health).

I don’t know about the MHEV battery.

Scrumps Somerset - Where the apples do grow and the cider do flow!
2021 Defender 90 D250 HSE in Tasman with white roof.
24MY D300 AB - Verasine Blue - 😀
19MY SDV6 AB - Byron Blue - Gone
17MY D5 SDV6 HSE - Firenze Red - Gone
16MY SDV6 AB -Aruba Silver - Gone
13.5MY SDV6 "HSE Black" - Baltic Blue - Gone
10MY TDV8 HSE Galway Green - Gone
14MY D4 HSE in Scotia Grey - Gone
05 TD5 D90 CSW in Cairns Blue

6 years or 60,000 miles according to the Land Rover website. Considering I’ve seen reports of quotes from Land Rover saying £10k+ to replace the battery I want to steer well clear for as long as I can.

Hybrid technology is a joke. But then so is electric. Fast forward a few years from now and the 6/8 year warranty on vehicles with batteries will effectively render most used cars worthless, where as a petrol or diesel vehicle could have another 15 years of life in it. There will be no such thing as a used car market by 2030 unless manufacturers up their game and offer to change these batteries for free once they degrade. But that’s a topic for another day… 🤣

There are already companies that that repair/replace the batteries at a much more reasonable price than manufacturers charge. 2023 P440e SE Dynamic on order -cancelled

2022 HSE Dynamic P400e

2017 Discovery 3.0 HSE Silicon Silver Nimbus interior and a few extra toys SOLD

2013 HSE Black, Orkney Grey, Ebony Seats and Ivory Interior SOLD

2006 HSE

Plus a few other cars inbetween!

Resurrecting my old(ish) thread here after a few months. I took a step back to try and be more objective and decide what I wanted to buy after the horror stories surrounding insurance costs etc.

Test drove a few cars, including the Volvo XC90. Now have a shortlist of the following. If anyone fancies giving their opinion it’ll be appreciated. Specs to be decided once I’ve chosen the car.

1) Volvo XC90
2) Range Rover Sport L494
3) Discovery 5 facelift 2021 MY onwards
4) Range Rover Vogue L405 / Vogue SE

Budget is about 40k give or take a few k. I’m leaning towards the Discovery. It’s practical, it has the latest infotainment. I think it’ll feel less dated in a few years. Has 7 seats etc.

What would you buy and why?

I used to have an XC60 T8. It was comfortable, practical and fun to drive in sport mode. The only real downside was the old Sensus infotainment system that wasn't great to use.

A later model XC90 should be fine though if you fancy a change from JLR.

The only things that went wrong with the XC60 were the rear wiper jet blocked up (admittedly I never got around to unblocking it), and the charging port flap cover wouldn't open and wouldn't close in cold weather. Getting it to open involved a sustained attack of firm punches.

Fuel economy on the XC60 T8 was roughly the same as the P400e I currently have although the P400e holds onto to electric motive power more than the Volvo did. 2021 P400e Autobiography