Help to decide whether to replace car or not

tjak

My DH has a landrover defender 110 (09 plate) which he uses for work. It is the only option on the market to tow the weight needed.
The car is now 3yrs old, and we have 22 months left on HP (no balloon payment), however it is now out of warrant. He does about 25k miles a year, and it currently has 46k on the clock.

We have been looking at replacing it with a defender on a 2011 plate, with about 8k on it. The thinking is that it would have a warranty again which gives peace of mind with high mileage. We would expect to sell it again in 2/3 years depending on mileage at the time.

Are we just wasting money by doing this? Peace of mind is really important as it is used for work (he is self employed). Monthly cost of new car would be slightly less, and tax would be lower. We buy service packs from landrover and pay a local mechanic to service it.

Any thoughts welcome
Thanks

colino

Instead of just the timeframe, you really have to do some hard arithmetic with the £ figures. The LR is a hefty beast for doing 25,000 miles a year and you should really figure out if this is the best workhorse at all.
Bear in mind when you do the calculations, the extra servicing you need to do and the double depreciation you are contemplating makes a fresh warranty look almost insignificant.

Strider590

tjak wrote: »

My DH has a landrover defender 110 (09 plate) which he uses for work. It is the only option on the market to tow the weight needed.

What on earth can you be towing that's 2.5 - 3.5 tonnes in weight? Anything under 2 tonne can be towed with most medium family hatchbacks..... Larger cars stretch to 2.5 tonne.

Baring in mind of course the limits on width and length, it can't be easy to get 3 tonnes into that space, are you towing big blocks of lead?

Rolandtheroadie

Is there not any extended warranties out there you could buy? A decent one via a reputable company perhaps?

or this even http://www.landrover.com/gb/en/lr/owners/warranty-and-assistance/warranty-and-assistance/

APeatree

I would be tempted to visit a dealer and explain your challenge, stick to your budget and see what they can offer as new with a trade in. This may seem like a long shot but i managed similar recently with a 3 year old Audi A5 swapping for a new A4, and got the warranty and service and slightly lower monthly payments.

EcoR1

Why not spend 4k buying two older Discovery's? They'll tow the same and you'll always have a spare.

tjak

Thanks for your thoughts - it has to be a defender as it tows a tractor on a trailer, hence the 3.5ton weight. Nothing else in the market does that apart from other Landrovers which are much more expensive. We have decided to stay as we are, and finish the existing finance. The car will have almost 100k on the clock by then, but should still be worth about 10k, which will be a good deposit against the next one. Good points raised though, thanks

Hintza

Just keep an eye on when the Defender is going to cease production. That might have a bearing on when you change.

The good thing about the Defender is it holds it's value well (compared to a Disco) and if I was keen I might try and get one of the last ones. I imagine residuals will creep up a bit when production ceases (depending on how any new model is received).

Hintza

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/articles/2012/03/cars/land-rover/geneva-2012-land-rover-dc100

http://media.dc100.co.uk/

marlot

tjak wrote: »

Thanks for your thoughts - it has to be a defender as it tows a tractor on a trailer, hence the 3.5ton weight. Nothing else in the market does that apart from other Landrovers ...

Other cars capable of towing 3.5 tonnes legally:
VW Toureg
Toyota Landcruiser Amazon (the big one - the 'baby' only tows 2.8 tonnes)
Merc M-class

(I realise that these might be more than you want to pay, but many of the plant operators round my way use the big toyotas - quite a few of them with 200,000 miles on the clock).

Other which might:
Jeep Cherokee (depending on model)
Mitsubishi Shogun (depending on model)
One of the bigger Ford Transits or other large vans

andrew-the-cat

As above. There are plenty of vehicles which can tow 3.5T