2021 Buying Guide: 11 pages of advice and tips from our experts

What sort of Land Rover could you buy with £7500? Here are our top ten suggestions…

What sort of Land Rover can you buy with your lockdown savings? We look at ten contenders for £7500

YOU don’t need us to tell you that 2020 was a disaster of a year in many ways. But there have been some positives which have come from the seismic changes brought about by being locked down. For a start we are all commuting less (and not going out as much), which means we don’t spend as much time in traffic and get to be with our families more – or an extra hour in bed. We’ve not been allowed to go abroad as much either, which has meant there could suddenly be a large chunk of holiday money burning a hole in your bank account, earning very little interest.

Perhaps now is the chance to use all of that cash you have saved to buy the Land Rover you have always promised yourself. Choose wisely and it could prove to be a better investment than any savings account. There’s no need to worry about the wear and tear of the daily commute if you’ll not need to use it every day and it’ll be a much better car for any future staycation adventures in the UK.

We are not the only ones to have had this idea, according to the Land Rover specialists we spoke to. Even in the midst of lockdown complications buyers are seeking out all sorts of Land Rovers, from the classics to the most modern.

Ross Munro, General Manager, LR Motors, told us: “In times of economic uncertainty, investors tend to put their money into safe commodities, such as gold and Land Rover Defenders. In the past six months or so, the price of Defenders has been rising quickly again. Buyers know they are unlikely to lose money on one.”

This has led to a run on the best quality stock, he says. “The low mileage stuff is selling really well, whether it’s the last of the line or earlier Td5s. On the one hand you have people who want to buy them and say they will keep it forever and pass it on to their kids, but farmers are seeking out the utilitarian stuff, too. They held onto their old cars and waited to see what the new car would be like. Now they realise it’s not the tough, robust machine like the old one, so they are all coming in and buying late-model Puma Defenders off us.”

It also seems some drivers are starting to begrudge paying hundreds of pounds every month in finance, lease, insurance and road tax for cars which simply aren’t being used as much now. A cheaper Land Rover can be bought for the price of a deposit on a new SUV and doesn’t need to be handed back – it will still be owned by you in three years. You won’t be stung for refurbishment costs for every scuff and stone chip either.

For the ultimate in hardy Land Rovers, ex-military Wolfs and Lightweights are in particular demand according to our trade sources. Part of this is because they are collectable, becoming rarer and the supply of fresh vehicles from the Ministry of Defence has almost dried up.

Buyers looking for these models need to be wary though, as stocks of military surplus parts are also dwindling and prices of these high-quality genuine components are rising steadily. It means they are no longer cheap to restore or fix properly, and some restored examples might have used inferior repro parts.

On the other hand, complex cars like the Range Rover P38 and Discovery 3 are becoming cheaper to repair and the reproduction parts can actually be better than the originals. “It’s the air suspension which tends to cause the most concern on these cars, and often owners will look at the potential bill for parts and give up,” says Kieran Manning, from X8R. “But we remake the components which tend to fail and make them better, and it works out much cheaper to rebuild than replace.”

So could now be the time when you can finally take the plunge and buy the Land Rover you’ve always wanted? We’ve selected our favourite candidates which you could buy with your lockdown savings.