Completely Torn - advice please!

DrEskimo

JoshRH93 said:

Thanks for your comments everyone. 

I think now after reading all comments and hearing both sets of opinions it’s made my mind up, as I’m still young I have plenty of time (hopefully!) to get the Range Rover, I don’t want the guilt of owning a car that prevents a holiday a year (or equivalent) for my kids because then I’m likely to resent it anyway, even if I love it also! 

I’ll remove the ‘saved search’ for Range Rover from my autotrader app and look at Focus’ and similar. Someone mentioned watching reviews on family cars which is a great idea, i’ll do that. 

Ultimately though, I will be spending half the amount I would have on a RR and I think it’s the right decision even if it is a little sad because I’ve been waiting for a long time. 

Thanks again for everyone’s input, it’s been very helpful.

If you can accommodate one, I would highly recommend an EV. They are great fun to drive and such a change that it makes even something as 'low budget' as a Renault Zoe feel new and exciting. Great torque for low end makes it perfect for around town (and off the lights!), and no gears means it's so smooth and linear. Love the silence too.

On top of all that, it's not depreciated at all in the 12m I've owned it, £0 VED, servicing was free, but usually only £70 a year and for around the 5,000 miles I've done, it cost <£100 in 'fuel'. That's on relatively expensive public chargers too. Home charging could be around 1/4 of that.

Battery still has 99% health despite being 3yrs old now, and I have warranty on it for another 5yrs.

mark55man

DrEskimo has a point.  My company is doing a scheme with electric cars that reintroduces them as company cars (its a lease taken out of salary sacrifice).  The one that made my eyes water was the Jaguar ePace.  At £700pcm I decided against it, even though I would have saved 40% of that by paying gross income.  But it just looked fab, and was 0-60 is ridiculously low number of seconds.  Which was the second reason for not buying it - it was too nice for me to wrap round a lamppost!

PSI think you made the right decision - 3-4 years time things will be a lot a clearer

Dr_Crypto

I always said expensive cars were a waste of money until I could finally afford one. Now I drive a Jag and wouldn’t drive anything less. 

If you’re both doing OK for money and have no debts just buy the motor you want. Have you considered leasing rather than purchase? 

Alanp

Someone I know hade an evoque, they found it claustrophobic especially in the back, just make sure you check it out  properly if you do get one

jacko74

greyteam1959 said:

Money pit from start to finish.
Servicing costs around £1400 for a basic service.
Main dealer labour costs around £140 per hour.
Bas*ards  to park in Aldi car parks !!

I agree they're overpriced cars with exorbitant running costs, but £1,400 just for a basic service? Really?

AdrianC

Mickey666 said:

Yep - my last Saab was 17 years old when I finally changed it.  Passed it’s final MoT test with no advisories!  But I needed something for towing and swapped it for a Defender, the last of the ‘proper’ ones with the Land Rover TD5 engine instead of the Ford Transit engine.
...
I reckon I could sell it today for pretty much what I paid for it 4 years ago.

So even that was a decade old when you bought it...

Having said that, there’s no way I’d recommend it as a family car . . . Unless you want something only slightly more comfy than a tractor  

Nah, that's yer soft civilised boingy, that is.

Herzlos

I had an Evoque for about a week and didn't like it - the boot wasn't particularly big and it just seemed pretty small all round. I'd go and actually sit in one (all 5 seats), maybe test it out first.

At the end of the day, your kids are more likely to remember the holiday than the car.

castle96

Hairdressers kiddie type range rover

Boa21

LOL, sort of my situation. I want (not need) a new car and really want all wheel drive. I like to sit high and a decent sized boot. I am more or less settled on a new Rav 4, but possibly the Volvo XC40. BUT, the family keep pointing out that there is nowt wrong with my existing care - Citroen Picasso, zero VED and over 50MPG on a decent motorway run. 

Ho hum 

facade

Neither of those are AWD, they use electrically controlled "bang the back axle in when the fronts start spinning" systems. Very few cars are proper AWD now, I think the RangeRover RangeRover is, the evoque started with a haldex system, like the Audi quatro system, then moved to a GKN "terrain response" system, both types are mainly FWD biased.

Would you notice the difference? Probably not.