Looking at finally going to get a new FL2. The question now is whether to get a new dealer pre-ordered GS or a Year old SE with 6000 on the clock.

Currently thinking that the SE would probably be the better option as it has the higher spec and still has 2 Years of warranty remaining. (More toy's as well )

Ah, choices choices.

Your festive opinions at the ready please.

Merry Christmas to you all.

Steve

StevenA wrote:

Looking at finally going to get a new FL2. The question now is whether to get a new dealer pre-ordered GS or a Year old SE with 6000 on the clock.

Currently thinking that the SE would probably be the better option as it has the higher spec and still has 2 Years of warranty remaining. (More toy's as well )

Ah, choices choices.

Your festive opinions at the ready please.

Merry Christmas to you all.

Steve

Have to say that I have greatly enjoyed my SE toys..... however I would also definitely want Auto gearbox!

If you buy a used FL2 I guess you'd also want assurance that all the software updates and fixes have already been applied. As you say you will have 2 yrs of manufacturers warranty left, but you also want a reliable vehicle and no hassles.

Best of luck with your important decision.  Life is not a dress rehearsal!

I went for a 4 month old SE and not regretted it,

I wouldn't want to read too much into the 'software' updates, lots of cars are performing fine with out them, and some software updates can make things worse (fix one thing to the loss of another)

I always think if you buy a 2nd or dealer demo, at least somebody else has loss the initial money that you lose when you buy new.

I just as happy with my ex demo but with money in my boss' pocket which keeps him happy Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

All depends on your money situation I supose. I have bought secondhand and new vehicles in the past but, you can't beat that feeling of buying the car that you personaly spec and knowing that you are the first owner.
A feeling not quite matched when I have bought second hand even when one vehicle I bought was only a few months old.

I can appreciate your concerns especially If cash is tight, if you want a better spec then you will get more gadgets and refinement for your money buying the secondhand SE obviously.

Good luck with your choice.

the car before my FL2 was brand spanking new, and the feeling and excitement was great, but when somebody bounced a motorbike off the dashboard when it was less than 2 months old, the feeling and excitement soon disappeared.

Since then i decided that since my boss gives me a amount of cash to spend on a car, that wasn't too old (under 1 yr) i would opt for a near new demo.

better spec, than a new one, i presumed the niggles would have been sorted (but have had 2 or 5 )

Have a look at the specs and see what you could do with, and without, adding on extra sat nav (like funsmarts) DVD players (stand alone or radio/satnav integrated)

But the many thing is don't over stretch yourself financially just because the SE has one or two things that may make life easier over the xs

The cars are virtually the same, bar a few little extras externally they look identical

have a sleep on it, test drives, play around and bargain hard!!!! Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

I bought a year-old TD4 HSE with privacy glass, side steps, adpative bi-xenons, detachable tow bar and twin electrics with 12,400 on the clock for £24,950 from a non-Land Rover dealer.

I would have paid for a Land Rover approved used if they'd had the same car available, but even my local Land Rover dealer pointed out that this car would still have two years warranty.

Highlandcow wrote:

I bought a year-old TD4 HSE with privacy glass, side steps, adpative bi-xenons, detachable tow bar and twin electrics with 12,400 on the clock for £24,950 from a non-Land Rover dealer.

I would have paid for a Land Rover approved used if they'd had the same car available, but even my local Land Rover dealer pointed out that this car would still have two years warranty.

true  Former Mod/Member, with the most post & Chicken George Arch nemesis

Well, the price difference between them is about £500 more for the SE. Have bought both new and used previously (manly used).

First new car was kindly spat on by a passing motorist within the first hour of owning it.

I think that the £5K saving on the SE might sway it as I would not be able to get the GS with the spec I want in a reasonable timeframe. The SE has most of them and a few I wasn't too bothered about but would be nice to have (i.e. no gap where the sat nav should be ).

I think that I will probably sway with the SE as I love my gadgets

Thanks for the advice and opinions,

Merry Christmas,

Steve

"First new car was kindly spat on by a passing motorist within the first hour of owning it"

whoops I thought it was somebody else , sorry




As for the cars both are good buys, only you can decide which one to go for. I like my 3y ear warrantys personaly but used is a great way to get better spec, depends how long you want to keep it I suppose.

You can extend the Land Rover Warranty for an annual fee if you want. I stopped extending my 12 Year old Defender's warranty this year...................................... because I never needed it, the car just never breaks down , it does 4000 miles a year and gets an annual service just before MOT time by a non-franchised LR specialist who looks after all the cars in his care like they were his own and all of his employees are Land Rover fanatics too. The key to keeping them running is either to to the maintenance yourself (which ofcourse with something as complex as a modern Landy is nigh on impossible) or find somebody outside the dealer network who is Land Rover trained and has the right gear to look after it - these guys also tend to be an awful lot cheaper than main dealers too, despite them using parts bought from the local main dealer's spares depart or Britpart and instead of the £80-£120 an hour for labour charged by the dealership they put their rates up to £28 an hour this year.
I hope now that I have typed this I have not let myself in for a 2008 of mechanical disasters!  How can carbon have a footprint, it has no feet?
Now driving - RRE Coupe Dynamic Lux Auto with Plus pack, Fuji White, Ebony, SD4 with tow pack
Gone - 2010MY FFRR TDv8 Stornoway and Ivory, Privacy - the pace of a TDv8 RRS, the incomparable grace of a Range Rover
Gone but will be missed- RRS Tdv8 HSE Stornoway Grey with Ebony Leather
Gone (only a little missed) RRS Tdv6 2.7SE Giverny Green/Aspen
Defender 90 County HT in Epsom Green

In Belgium demo cars with 15000 km are quite expensive. I would not spend 40K euros on them when you can get a new for less than 45K euros.

So I bought a new one (still 3 and a half months to go: that's the problemn with buying new ones).

Tim in Scotland wrote:

or find somebody outside the dealer network who is Land Rover trained and has the right gear to look after it - these guys also tend to be an awful lot cheaper than main dealers too, despite them using parts bought from the local main dealer's spares depart or Britpart and instead of the £80-£120 an hour for labour charged by the dealership they put their rates up to £28 an hour this year.

Highland Cow, the main dealer that I use is Morrison's at Bannockburn - have always had 1st rate servicing, care and attention from them over 12 years of Land Rover buying and owning. Hopefully this will continue as for the first time in 5 car purchases I didn't buy from them but used MHC Finance (Kam100 on the RRSport forum) who found a car to my exact spec at Charles Hurst's available from stock with a discount and a very good trade-in value against a Tdv6 RRS SE with 21000 miles on it. I also considered Stratstone at Perth and Taggarts in Glasgow for buying the new car as they also had cars with similar spec and colour choice available immediately.

I use a company called GEMM 4x4 at Larbert/Camelon for the care and attention of my 90. http://www.gemm-lr-parts.co.uk/

BTW if anybody is looking for a good finance and sales package MHC/Kam100 did an excellent package for me and I would recommend anybody looking for a car (new or used) give Kam a try! How can carbon have a footprint, it has no feet?
Now driving - RRE Coupe Dynamic Lux Auto with Plus pack, Fuji White, Ebony, SD4 with tow pack
Gone - 2010MY FFRR TDv8 Stornoway and Ivory, Privacy - the pace of a TDv8 RRS, the incomparable grace of a Range Rover
Gone but will be missed- RRS Tdv8 HSE Stornoway Grey with Ebony Leather
Gone (only a little missed) RRS Tdv6 2.7SE Giverny Green/Aspen
Defender 90 County HT in Epsom Green