Is this a bad time to buy a petrol SUV?
Discussion
Been looking at changing my wife's car for an X5 4.8i, an ML500 or a Supercharged Range Rover for £20k max. With petrol about to hit £1.50 a litre, I can't help thinking that the value of the above cars has got to take a hammering soon, yet so far they don't seem to be affected. I'm getting a bit impatient but know that there must be a lot of owners out there who are riding the storm and hoping petrol will come back down to where it was a few months ago. I know there's no crystal ball for this sort of scenario, but I'd be interested to hear from anyone in the trade, as to how they are handling anyone trying to part exchange one at the moment. I just don't want to take the plunge, then wish I'd waited 3 months, because my money would get something a year newer. What do we think?
Welshbeef said:
If your expecting petrol to go back down... I'm think again this is the new level and after the Aug2012 duty rise of 3-4p per ltr it's going up only.
Question is at what petrol price point will it make these cars SUVs not possible to part x so private sales only.
I'm not waiting for petrol to go back down, far from it. We all know that the price of fuel will only go one way in the long term. I just want to bag as much car for my money as I can. For example, I really like the ML63, but the entry level is around £25k, with the exception of a 90,000 mile car at around £22k. If I bought now, then the price of those took a tumble over the next three or four months, I'll wish I'd waited, but I don't really want to wait another year. HTHQuestion is at what petrol price point will it make these cars SUVs not possible to part x so private sales only.
slippery said:
Afternoon Gary, hope you're well mate. 
Likewise, sir.You know I stalk the various cars in the classifieds but I’ve never witnessed the sudden drop in price that people often refer to. It would seem to me that the value of mass produced cars drop uniformly regardless, it’s only when they the market is limited that they can sometimes creep back up.
With that in mind, my advice would be to buy the finest example you can afford, in the happy knowledge that 6 months prior it would have been out of budget
slippery said:
I'm not waiting for petrol to go back down, far from it. We all know that the price of fuel will only go one way in the long term. I just want to bag as much car for my money as I can. For example, I really like the ML63, but the entry level is around £25k, with the exception of a 90,000 mile car at around £22k. If I bought now, then the price of those took a tumble over the next three or four months, I'll wish I'd waited, but I don't really want to wait another year. HTH
Is the 4x4 suv quite a seasonal purchase? As in higher cost in winter second hand due to the "need" of 4x4 whereas it's cheaper in the summer. I've no idea as never been interested in the Market but worth understanding.
Clearly there are two times a year where prices drop March and Sept with reg change so my money would buy in Sept and as it happens that will be after the fuel duty rise so they should be less desirable.
If you cannot wait 5-6months then unless you can find an example that's been sat on the forecourt for too long and they want rid rather than take it to auction you might get a bit more off.
How d the different version stack up in terms of MPG ? my cousin was saying here X4 diesel only does 25 mpg in her knocking about type use, so the petrols will be worse but is a 4.8 worse than a 4.6, in turn worse than the 4.4 and 3.0 ? surely any car in normal usage can only be so bad, unless it is hopelessly inefficient, so a 4.8 doing the same run as a 3.0, is it a coupel of mpg, broadly the same or a vast gulf in consumption ?
Not sure if petrol will ever come down again, but I'm also not sure if it has much of an impact on the prices of used beg petrol SUVs. They were always going to give half the mileage of some econo-box, so I don't think anyone that ever bought a petrol SUV was that worried about running costs.
Not long I replaced a 2.5l turbo diesel 4x4 with a Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi as the daily driver. The joy of pressing the loud pedal and actually making decent forward progress is hard to beat, plus the soundtrack is nice too. Now and again I try to drive really economically and just use the lightest of throttle openinings - it lasts all of 5 minutes before I miss the soundtrack and the poke in the back. On-board computermebob says 16.2 mpg average. Still the most economical thing in the garage
My only regret now was the years spent with diesel as a daily driver. You can't put a price on the grin a big V8 delivers.
Not long I replaced a 2.5l turbo diesel 4x4 with a Jeep Grand Cherokee 5.7 Hemi as the daily driver. The joy of pressing the loud pedal and actually making decent forward progress is hard to beat, plus the soundtrack is nice too. Now and again I try to drive really economically and just use the lightest of throttle openinings - it lasts all of 5 minutes before I miss the soundtrack and the poke in the back. On-board computermebob says 16.2 mpg average. Still the most economical thing in the garage
My only regret now was the years spent with diesel as a daily driver. You can't put a price on the grin a big V8 delivers.
Jimboka said:
Only buy one if you dont need to get anything for it when you decide to sell. You will also be on first name terms with local petrol station staff!
She will probably keep it about four years, by which time I guess a £20k car will probably be worth about £8k. The local petrol station staff already know me well! 
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