Perhaps you missed the part of my post that said ‘ex-dealer here’. My views are not formed by ‘people I know who own one’
LR Dealerships are and have been overwhelmed -just because you just don’t know about it doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. And I’d wager you don’t take your 15 yo Disco to a franchised dealership to get serviced - so why would you? I was at Director level in the motor industry for both manufacturing and retail groups and know most people running the largest groups. DH still is. And he used to run a significant number of LR/RR Dealerships. I’ve had direct experiences of a wide number of brands including the German ones. So yes, my views are mine, but based on actual experience of interacting with thousands of customers and driving hundreds of different cars over the years… My LR/RR ownership numbers aren’t just odd, it’s how the industry works. You can’t have one of those ex-demo/management cars (the type that you yourself have bought) without someone actually owning it first…
The franchised dealer group agreements generally don’t permit the selling of non-franchised product so the large dealer groups send their part-exchanges to auction because you will realise your money more quickly and improve your cash flow. They are then bought by buyers representing those other franchise dealer groups and put on a forecourt. You seem to be sniffy about auctions, but there is a good chance that the car you are looking at on the forecourt may have been acquired via one - especially if it is an ex-motability car. One of the largest franchised car retailer groups in the UK is run by the same firm who also owns the largest auction houses, owns webuyanycar and Cinch….
Getting back to LR…is not to say I don’t like the product, I do - but as @buffyfaithfredwesley says most owners buy hoping that the next one will be better. Or because they don’t like the alternative. Sometimes they are. Sometimes not so much. Her experience of working in a dealerships absolutely corresponds with my points made above. Overwhelmed is exactly what they are.
Your comment about how Chinese cars ‘are dumped’ into our market does show a lack of understanding as to how the retail motor industry works. The Automotive industry in the UK has c.800,000 people working in it and roughly 3/4 of those are in the retail sector not manufacturing (which our government supports heavily). Those retail businesses need something profitable to sell to support the livelihood of those working in them…and most of these cars are not made in the UK. Jaguar has made the decision to wind down their manufacturing (and therefore supply) operation before reinventing itself which leaves their Dealer investment plans somewhat in disarray…you can’t sell what isn’t there..DH has several dealerships in his portfolio representing 3 of the newest Chinese brands currently and one of them is selling more than the other more established brands (the type you seem to approve of) at the same price point hands-down. That is consumer demand driving the market, not availability. But something is making customers take a leap of faith. You will be able to tell the over-supplied brands by the amount of pre-registered cars available at any one time…and right now they are not the Chinese ones. Dealers who acquired the new brands first are happy with their investment (you can’t just set up a franchised dealership, the approval process is involved and requires a significant investment based on a low-margin model for any franchise save for Tesla who operate a direct supply model) and so far, customers are happy with their products. Happy customers are what any of us want. Most manufacturing is subsidised by national investment- Chinese brands are no different in that respect. Most franchise agreements are operated in the same way with a similar margin model so the only way the product is profitable is to increase the incentive to the dealer to sell it (which is then discounted if there is low demand ) or to make a product people want to buy at a price which is reasonable and create demand which is what the Chinese are offering. The only way to stop the Chinese brands dominating the market would be to increase the import tariffs and right now the government isn’t going to do that. Even Tesla slashed the price of its own product to try and maintain competitiveness in the marketplace . You’d be pretty annoyed if you’d just bought/ financed a car only to find it was suddenly worth £10k less over normal depreciation rates the next day.
I can confidently say that Kias and Hyundais are reliable not because ‘the magazines like them’ but because I’ve had several - none of them have arrived in an incorrect colour/faulty and none have broken down…price is not necessarily an indication of build quality. Competent manufacturing is.
Naturally I love cars. Not ‘just the idea of them’ as you put it - I was in the industry all of my working life -so with respect, it does allow me a viewpoint and actual experience of the good/bad what I like/don’t like. And on the point of Jeep Cherokee /Grand Cherokee product (and I’ve had to own a couple of those) I would tend to agree with you.
Perhaps now we can let the thread get back to the OP’s request for recommendations for reliable cars at the £40k price point?