You have to remember that most dealers won't and can't sell out of their specific geographic areas. Saying there are almost 2,500 around the country isn't a true representation of what's available in local markets.

 

I do not think anybody here bought a Defender thinking the car would become a collector piece. The point made was that the market is correcting the distortion that happened back in 2020/2021 because of everything cited above - Covid, short supply, hype with the car, etc. But correction for LRs is not as kind as with other brands that hold their value better. We have to face the fact that LRs depreciate at a much higher rate than most brands. A quick search will find full-fledged-loaded 5 year-old Range Rovers selling for the price of a new Highlander. Hell, even cheaper. It is a lot of car for the money to somebody in the used car market. But we all know there is a reason for that. Maintenance costs of LRs are no fun after the warranty is expired. That and the poor reputation our cars get for reliability - one thing that might hopefully change with the Defender, which appears to be overbuilt when compared to the other LR models. Time will tell.

 

"lose"

 

I do think the 90 will become a collector piece in the same way the FJ Cruiser has become a collector piece. There’s just not much (nothing?) else like it and it’s been produced in relatively low numbers; that’s a recipe for a collector piece in the future.

 

nice one mate

 

IDK. You may be right since with the old defender the 90 seems to be the preferred choice for collectors. The 90 V8 for sure will be. Nothing like that around now and I doubt in the future.

 

The reputation of LR is quite unfortunate and does not accurately reflect today's LR products across the line up. Today's LR vehicles are pretty reliable in comparison to other brands. You may believe all the JD Power surveys, but in my opinion, they are to be taken with a grain of salt. I believe LR owners are pretty picky and want perfection, hence their choice and wish to own a LR product. If you want boring and perfect, one cannot beat Toyota and Lexus.
Yes, there are growing pains with every new model, like the A pillar fiasco in the Defender but I find the Defender a pretty reliable and amazingly safe car. I would not be writing this if I did not have a Defender which kept me without a scratch when a tractor trailer hit me from the rear at highway speeds. The depreciation side of the cars is to be expected with any newer vehicles on the market and I must say we all got spoiled the last 2 to 3 years with the inflated value of cars in the market.

 

No reasonable person believed the covid/chip-shortage/low inventory inflated used car price debacle would continue forever. If it's true, I can't imagine anyone being surprised. Expecting a return on investment / windfall in a car you bought as an everyday driver is silly. FWIW, I live in New Orleans and in my area prices don't appear to be falling. Used/CPO'd Defenders are still listed in the mid to high 50s. We bought our '21 P300 for $62k, and it's been a great car. It has 44k miles on it, the only service history is for the "sos battery," oil changes and tire rotations and a windshield, it's never spent a night in the shop. When we ordered the replacement the dealer offered us a same day trade of $48k. We only have the one car, so we couldn't take it and be without transportation until the new one gets here. Our plan is to stop by CarMax on the way to the dealership, get an offer from them, and either trade it in or sell it to carMax. If we get $42k-45k, we'll be pretty happy. The 3 year driving experience has certainly been worth $20k.

Our Defender has been awesome, we put a ton of miles on it early, driving it back from NC where we bought it, 7 road trips from NOLA to Chicago/Green Bay, weekend surfing trips to Florida, holidays in Austin, Houston, San Antonio, over-landing here and there, even a trip to Los Angeles, Vegas, Joshua Tree and the Grand Canyon. This car is awesome, we're just hoping the new one will be as reliable.

We didn't buy the car as an investment or hoping to sell/trade it for close to what we paid, basically driving it for free. We're only getting rid of it because we like to be under warranty.

 

$20k in three years is really not that bad. Looks to me though for the higher spec'd models depreciation hits even harder. It is also interesting to see that if you have a 2020 or 2021 MY and you go to LR website and try to build a similar/same spec to your car, the MSRP will be at least $10k more than what you paid 2 years ago. At least that was my experience in doing that exercise. I know LR increased their prices, but was it really around the $10k mark? That would make me feel less bad if I had to trade in.

 

Yeah, I agree that the higher spec'd cars tend to depreciate more. But I do a lot of work for MBUSA and that's pretty standard across the industry.

That said, your absolute right about new Defender prices going up. When we ordered our 23.5 in April, with the P300 engine, to start we could pick a 110 Defender (@$55k) or 110 Defender S (@$58.3k). I don't recall all the differences but know we went with the S because the sunroof wasn't an option unless we started spec'ing with the S . Today, the build your own starting price for a 24my P300 110 is $60,600.

Our 23.5my build date was 6/16 with delivery 8/4, but if they "upgrade us" to a 24my, our agreement says we'll have to pay the extra $2k.

We spec'd our 23.5 as much like the 21 as possible, weren't able to get the cloth seats (because we added the cold weather pack?! which was weird) and added Tasmin Blue paint ($700), panoramic sunroof ($1,800), premium lights/fog lights ($600), Urban Pack ($1,600), recovery eyes ($250) and ebony headliner ($400). With $5,300 in extras, it came out to $70,785. So for 23.5my, probably a $3k increase over the 21my price.

FWIW, while deciding on a replacement vehicle, we spec'd a P400 ($81k), an X (($94k) and a RR Sport ($89k - but no build/delivery date available), for what we use the car for, and the price differences, we decided to stick with the P300. The cars I want are expensive AF.