Need help persuading myself (plus a few questions!)

(31-12-2012 12:30am)muff Wrote:  Go with what your heart is telling you. You'll love the car

My heart is notorious for leading me in ways that see me ending up weeping money My last car (a few years back, now) was a Smart ForFour Brabus, which I accidentally fell in love with while passing a dealership and, even though it was expensive and impractical, found myself buying. Ended up selling it privately about a year later, and taking a roughly £5k hit in the process. That smarted (excuse the pun!).

(31-12-2012 12:42am)PhilSkill Wrote:  If you dont absolutely need the money in the future, go with what you want if you desire a coupe then get one it'll sell at the end of the day, whatever you get, but an Evoque will never be a financial investment as its way too mass produced.

It doesn't have to be an investment, it just has to be a not entirely flagrant throwing-away of cash. Currently we're throwing money at taxis and car rentals, though obviously an Evoque would probably end up being more than that!

(31-12-2012 03:05am)michaelJ Wrote:  probably not what you want but just in case you may wish to know that I have just advertised my 2012 (12 reg) SD4 Manual Pure diesel 5dr with only 4150 miles on autotrader for £32950 but will accept £32k for quick sale. Reason for sale is that I persuaded myself last year that the Evoque was large enough for my family's needs - which has not proved to be the case! So I need to sell in order to buy a Disco 4.

Incidentally, reason for buying my spec Evoque: Manual gives better MPG than auto; besides I prefer driving manuals given the choice; Diesel give better MPG than petrol and diesel engines last longer; why go for Pure? because the additional cost of the dynamic/prestige is more about higher quality leather and electric seat gadgetry than anything else so you can save money by buying the Pure with the tech pack as I did to get sat nav etc; the panoramic roof is so cool i just had to have it and my understanding is that the non-pano versions are a bit gloomy on the inside due to the smaller windows at the rear of the car and lack of daylight; i have privacy glass more for aesthetic reasons than anything else. I really wanted a red one but my family outvoted me in favour of Orkney Grey. My heart pulled in the direction of a petrol, firenze dynamic but captain sensible reigned me in!. Decisions, decisions, I think i know what you are going through. Anyway, I need to trade for a Disco 4 because I need more space, so if you are interested please call me via the autotrader ad telesafe number of PM me. Currently no photos on the ad because the weather is too bad to take good ones but I am in Cheam, London Borough of Sutton so not too far if you want to have a look. In my opinion the price i am asking is really good compared to trade prices i have seen - some over £37k for similar car!!

That does seem a great price! I'm pretty much set on a 3dr auto, though, so it's not for me, but I bet it won't take long to sell. I can definitely see your logic on the Pure/Prestige/Dynamic decision (the "base" spec of the Pure is very impressive) though the pricing difference concertinas in a little second-hand from what I've seen.

If you know where you might be going abroad then why not buy a car for export? Only decisions then are LHD or RHD and is it somewhere where you would be better of with a petrol rather than a diesel. Land Rover export sales can advise you which engine suits which market abroad.

(31-12-2012 01:24pm)XFullFatTim Wrote:  If you know where you might be going abroad then why not buy a car for export? Only decisions then are LHD or RHD and is it somewhere where you would be better of with a petrol rather than a diesel. Land Rover export sales can advise you which engine suits which market abroad.

I hadn't even thought of that! It would most likely be the US; I've just had a Google around, and it seems shipping a car from UK to US would be around £2,600, though there are issues about keeping a car there permanently.

(31-12-2012 01:33pm)chrisd Wrote:  I hadn't even thought of that! It would most likely be the US; I've just had a Google around, and it seems shipping a car from UK to US would be around £2,600, though there are issues about keeping a car there permanently.

I live in Vienna and have ordered a LHD car...it can be done...

(31-12-2012 01:33pm)chrisd Wrote:  I hadn't even thought of that! It would most likely be the US; I've just had a Google around, and it seems shipping a car from UK to US would be around £2,600, though there are issues about keeping a car there permanently.

Beware shipping to US rather than buying through the local dealer network of Land Rover North America - LR export sales will be able to advise on this. There might also be insurance issues to consider around whether the car was sourced locally or not; and you may not be able to buy an export model from LR to ship direct to countries where there is an established LR network, not to mention the warranty being void or not. I had Diplomatic status during my posting to New York and was able sell my Discovery on the open market but as I recall there were import duty rules around how long you have owned an imported car before you can sell it - I cant remember if it was one or two years, and if you don't qualify under the criteria you could only sell on to another person with Dip status without paying duty.

That said, in the US a petrol engine will be obvious choice. My thirsty V8 petrol discovery was brilliant, especially in the winter during the occasional snowstorm. And at that time petrol was less than $2 per gallon........and btw, the best thing i ever did was to buy an extended warranty from the LR dealer; at that time a 2 year extension to the 'bumper to bumper' warranty cost me $2000; but the first service after the standard 3 year warranty expired would have cost me more than double this amount.

Hmm, this could get tricky, fast. I like the idea, but I think the feasibility of exporting it might be another unnecessary headache (when moving is stressful enough on its own!)

Thanks for the suggestions/advice on that, though, definitely something I hadn't considered.

It isn't hard to buy an Evoque in the USA, the problem seems to be finding a good dealership or even one that is local to where you are as they seem to be a bit far flung in the US. At least then when you have problems or need to sell it you can sell it, it is a legit USA spec car. And don't forget that the price in the USA is often the same in USD as the UK price in pounds............ And that each state has its own taxes on top of that, and you will only be able to buy a petrol engined car there.
There are American Evoque owners posting here and some "blown away" Brits living there who have USA spec Evoques who will be able to advise on buying Stateside and what is involved

(31-12-2012 03:01pm)XFullFatTim Wrote:  It isn't hard to buy an Evoque in the USA, the problem seems to be finding a good dealership or even one that is local to where you are as they seem to be a bit far flung in the US. At least then when you have problems or need to sell it you can sell it, it is a legit USA spec car. And don't forget that the price in the USA is often the same in USD as the UK price in pounds............ And that each state has its own taxes on top of that, and you will only be able to buy a petrol engined car there.
There are American Evoque owners posting here and some "blown away" Brits living there who have USA spec Evoques who will be able to advise on buying Stateside and what is involved

Yep, that all seems straightforward. I was really thinking that trying to export a LHD Evoque bought in the UK to the US at some point might be trickier. Plus I would most likely have to buy new here, as I don't imagine there's much LHD stock in the UK.

American car sales operate differently to the UK although I don't expect there will be a vast number of used Evoques available there will be used cars in the network - dealer demos for example.

(31-12-2012 03:17pm)XFullFatTim Wrote:  American car sales operate differently to the UK although I don't expect there will be a vast number of used Evoques available there will be used cars in the network - dealer demos for example.

I think, since I don't even know for sure whether we'll be going to the US anyway, I'm just going to work on the principle that it would be a UK car I was looking for, and if we move, I sell it here and look at getting a car over there. I confuse easily