Conundrum

I have a 2013 sd4 with the recaro style interior, santorini black. Love the car, faultless for a year and still has a years warranty to run.

One owner before me, full rr history etc, its the perfect car. HOWEVER!

Im hankering after an si4, i want my car, with the si4 engine. I don't want to buy a dog as mine is proving to be a good solid motor in mint condition.

I won't get what I paid for it and thus leaves a gap, i would need to find more money to buy a car thats potentially worth less in real terms. (Dependent on taste of course)

I only do about 3k a year, current car on 47k.

What should i do?????

Steve

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Si4 is relatively rare in the UK and fuel economy on cars prior to 2014 was pretty grim - up to the point where the Active Drive system was fitted that makes the car into a front wheel drive car above 28mph but in 1/300th second can revert to 4WD if slippage of a rear wheel is detected. Problem is anything with a facelift won't have the Plus Pack which wasn't just the Recaro seats but also a leather dashboard top and better leather on the door cards. Both my Evoques were 2.2 Lux Plus's and the Recaro seats were the most comfortable seats I have had in any car. You will have to hunt hard to find a 2015 Si4 with Plus pack I think but have you tried using the filters on the LR Approved used website? There is also the other point that after 2014MY you will also get the 9 speed Auto instead of the 6 Speed. AFAIK S14's were also auto only, no manual gearbox was available on UK cars.

Tim, there's not much out there as you say. If I swapped the evo it would have to have the recaros. Without them I would look at a different car. We just brought a new Audi for the missus. I was very tempted by a nearly new sq5 or a 4.2 q7.

I've had the car a year and I'm at my usual point where I want to change caus I'm bored. Loose lots of money this way unfortunately.

Steve

Bit of a long shot and a bit extreme. These interiors come up from time in breakers yards. You could buy the interior first so you know you have it and then change your car. May be expensive take a bit of time and research but may solve the problem.

The biggest problem is that the car I have is genuinely like new, and i mean immaculate, theres not one scratch, crease or mark on the leather, door cards dash or anything.

When valuing people don't take into account the interior option. been valued at less than 20k, which i thought was low. Ive seen other cars where the interior was trashed, even the smallest scratch does my head in, I'm a bit ocd when it comes to things like that.

I waxed it the other day and it gleams like mad in the sun, may be i will try a blue fin, see if that perks it up any first.

Steve

I think that the Plus Pack interior should have been standard on all Dynamics, I have had both an Ebony and a Tan Plus Pack interior on my cars. You can buy new replacement Plus pack seats from the likes of Paddocks, Simmonites and Exmoor Trim

I'd have to say, put your hankering to the back of your mind, why in gods name would you change a reliable mint car of the spec you like! I have a similar problem kept mine mint for 5 years, would never get another car like it, a new one is near £10000 more for same spec, so I just keep it.

If you feel you need more power, try a re-map, I re-mapped mine, yes it was faster, but then put it back as I preferred the standard map, ok not as fast, but better drivability at slower speed which tends to be the bulk of driving anyway.

I have a half map I could try but to be honest I can't be arsed to mess with the insurance.

Well my RRS will be 3 years old next spring and I am considering a change to another RRS but which one? I fancy an SDv6 Autobiograpghy next and when I look on the Approved Used website there are many with very very low miles and there are 5.0lt S/C's that are less than a year old............. BUT at that price point there are also 2 year old low miles SVR's too.................. When I asked my friends at LPR they say there is only one way to go.............. SVR, they say that the difference in performance between the 5.0ltr Autobiography and the SVR is huge BUT the price difference used is very small. Also folks are prepared to fork out the bit extra that an SVR costs over the S/C Autobiography so the Autobiography is getting rarer and rarer - conversely SVR's are becoming more common.
I also have other interesting cars on my "wish list" mostly a lot cheaper than RRS - the purely electric version of BMW i3, the forthcoming Mini Countryman E, a used Tesla Model S, Renault Zoe, or once production settles down a Jaguar iPace........... not interested in the RR Velar as it is not a nice looking car to me and is also as big as an RRS without the capability of one and at a decent spec as expensive.

SVR looks the biz. Not sure about the rear bucket seats tho. My next car may be an Audi. Rs5 estate maybe. Who knows, I think I may start leasing as I change so frequently.

Wife's had a few audis now and they are so bullet proof. Not as plush as the rr tho.

My brother swears by the various Audis that he has had over the years and his current A4 AllRoad is a beautifully built car, BUT he has far more problems with it than I have had with any Land Rover. Previously he ran A4 cabriolets and hardly a week would go by in the summer when the rescue services weren't called out to them when he had opened the hood and it jammed half way up/ down.........

The bucket seats on the SVR are the same as the Evoque's Plus Pack but somehow they are not quite as comfortable - there appears to be some extra padding on the Evoque's version of them. I was also warned that the same design of seats in the F Type Jaguar and Defender are also not as comfortable as the same seats in the Evoque.