DH wants a Range Rover (somewhat lighthearted)

[cadburyegg]

DH is in the market for a new car and has seen a Range Rover in the garage down the road. It’s very expensive obviously and much more than what we could afford.

Yet he keeps banging on about it and he’s been talking about how much he wants one for ages. He talks about how cheap the tax and insurance is so he’s already investigated it

We have 2 young dc, I’m on maternity leave, we earn average salaries, live in an average house.

AIBU to keep telling him to forget it. How can I get him to forget this pipe dream?!

In defence of those with ridiculous car dreams: I drive a 10 year old Megan, it’s bumpy and has bits falling off but in 8 years I’ve slapped some new tyres on, replaced the wipers and given it 1 new set of brake pads. I barely notice she’s there for the stress she generates and she’s not going to turn any heads, ever. Ds says he knows which car is ours because it’s the one with the bashes.

BUT I keep pages on my phone open with defenders for sale. I stroke them in sales rooms every so often and say things like “yes they deprecate but I wouldn’t want to sell it, could have it 20 years” and “what price safety”. I know it’s ridiculous, I know it wouldn’t fit with our lifestyle at all. I know when it came to the crunch I couldn’t part with the cash. But they speak to my sole. I think they are the most perfect piece of technology, the only vehicle that’s actually worth a dam and the definition of practical.
I’ve picked the colour, the seats, the trim, everything.

Ask him if he's a farmer or plans to go off roading a lot? If the answer to both is no, then give him a brochure for a Ford Fiesta..

No one needs a Range Rover unless they live in the middle of nowhere (and even then not really).

I have a 5 year old warrior pick up. Mate has a similarly aged discovery. We have horses so need towing vehicles and a vehicle that fits bags of feed in and won't get stuck in the mud.

Not only did hers cost about 4 times what mine did to buy, it's regularly needed expensive repairs, uses 3 times as much fuel and although technically it can tow a bigger weight than mine, mine is more stable.

My car was in repair 25 years ago, I borrowed the Work Range Rover, new one, it cost a FORTUNE to run!! Bearing in mind it was so long ago I was spending about £10-15 a day in fuel .... very short journeys!!

Maybe get him to look at Freelander2s or older Disco 4s instead. I love RRs. Always coveted the Vogue release. I currently have an FL2 which I adore but the boot isn't really big enough so when it comes to selling it (😭😭), I think I'll go for the Disco 4 next. Not the Disco sport. Horrid looking car with no room in the back at all for my family.
Not many 4x4s are cheap to run and maintain though. If you can't afford it, you can't afford it.

Point out to him that when most people see someone driving a sparkly clean, mud free off road vehicle they tend to assume the driver either can't drive (so needs the extra safety features of a tank) or has a very small penis.

Thelastnigel I grew up in the middle of nowhere and we had a Ford Fiesta! It's perfectly doable if you're not a shit driver.

They do cost a fortune in tax/mot/petrol/repairs etc but I absolutely love mine and wouldn't change back to a normal car again

I'm slightly horrified at the fuel costs! They seem really bad for the environment, I get 60-70 mpg out of my car which I know is OK, but 20 mpg is so bad for something so expensive.

We've just got a car. Looked at Range Rover amongst other 4x4s. I did a full spreadsheet on costs. Forget the RR. We went for discovery sport. By far the best for mpg, emissions, insurance and bonus is 7 seats. Great size. Not too big. I LOVE it.

borlottibeans

Point out to him that when most people see someone driving a sparkly clean, mud free off road vehicle they tend to assume the driver either can't drive (so needs the extra safety features of a tank) or has a very small penis.

I can drive. Have driven for 25 years without incident. My 4x4 is sparkly clean because I get it washed regularly 0and the paint work is too lovely to leave mud on it. You're almosy right about penis size though. I don't don't even have one! 😲🙄

My shower has one. I have a small runaround and my petrol costs a month are similar to his A WEEK

and he doesn’t even drive it a lot.

I do on the sly

They are actually really good cars if you can afford them. Solid AF. Perfect for british roads (or rather a lk sack thereof)

I move to a large city from a rural village and was amazed by the number of range rovers.

We never bothered with them in the countryside, we just drove cheap normal cars round fields and called a mate with a tractor if we got stuck. Driving a range rover in the city seems bonkers when the roads are flat and well paved but narrow and full of parked cars, and most of the time the traffics going nowhere and it is guzzling fuel. So what's the point of them?

Unless you own a petrol station, steer well clear.
RR have a serious drink problem

Also this.

Yes that range rover is parked like that.

It is HIS SPACE and he parks there every day even if a van is half in it and there is loads of spaces elsewhere in the carpark.

Knob.

My DH says that the only place a Range Rover belongs is on the back of a tow truck.

Their reputation for reliability is that bad.

Lots of people don't have mates with tractors or the time to wait for them to turn up if they get stuck.
We would often be going straight from town to a site in the middle of fields with no roads, sometimes not even dirt tracks. Like a PP said, we washed the mud off. I'm sure judgey people thought we just used our RR for driving in town. They would have been wrong.

I got towed by a tractor once in 15 years of driving round fields Jessica the rest of the time my 1L fiesta coped just fine

I currently have an evoque hire car. It's nice enough but the diesel isn't lasting 5 minutes and I've heard they have a lot of expensive problems as soon as you drive off the forecourt.

Eurgh I hate them. They just remind me of such "new money" people. They're completely over fashionable and I judge anyone driving one as someone who is desperate to show everyone that they've got money. They make me cringe. I live in a cheapish estate with 2/3 bed houses - all cars on drives are less than 5 yrs old and lots of range rovers. Yet go to the two million plus private estates round here and the cars are all totally average or really old. Guess they have nothing to prove, as they really are rich. I aim to be the latter and I wouldn't be getting there anytime soon if I parked a RR on the drive of my 2 bed semi.

Badly designed, badly built. One of the most shit cars money can buy.

So what's the point of them?

They're nice to drive. They have a great driving position. They're luxurious and comfy AF. They give a bit of extra safety for my son. They look nice. They mean I'm not stranded in adverse weather. Depending on the spec, they go fast. I can afford one. I like them. I drive an average of 20k miles a year and want to enjoy that as much as possible. They can tow my dhs fishing boat without effort. HTH.

We have one and I don’t like it - doesn’t handle that well. Costs a fortune to fill. Plan to get rid of it and get the Tesla SUV as we have to have 4X4 or we can’t get up the hill to our house in winter

avoid anything Land Rover related unless you want to waste loads of money and a have huge amount of stress. We've had 2, DH wanted them, I didn't. Both were a disaster. Only touch if you can afford to buy them brand new, once the mileage is on them, don't go anywhere without breakdown coverage. We still have the car loan but neither of the cars