A Tough Decision

[davman]

Hello All. Your input please.
I find myself in two minds about which D4 to buy. The SE or the HSE. I can hear you already saying yeah tough decision, but I am caught in two minds.

1/ Do I buy a SE optioned with Sat Nav, Rear Camera, IPOD connection.
OR
2/A base HSE which has all of those options fitted as standard.

The price difference is about $7,000.

Now the additional features in the HSE don't really matter to me, I am probably more thinking about resale value of a SE versus the HSE.

Penny for all of your thoughts.
Cheers

[HangOver]

HSE will always go for more, even when its old and clapped out, if you in the market for a RR/Disco I'd be looking for the cheapest HSE I could.

But I guess it depends on lots of variables, in general thought you pay more for HSE.

[Disco4SE]

Hi davman, the SE is going to be more saleable as it is in that affordable price range. You will get more for the HSE but it will be out of reach for most. Trying to justify the extra spend is always hard.

[discomaniac]

Hi davman, I just went through the same decision making process. If you are worried about resale value, just remember, generally no matter what additions you have on your SE you will only get a SE price for it in the end. Even if the Nav, Audio and Camera addition add up to over $6000 originally.

Drove a mates HSE a few times, once you use the HSE "extras", they are nice to have. Rear air wasn't big on my list, but it cools the cabin quicker. Memory Seats work well when you have different regular drivers. Front Parking sensors may just save a scrape some time. Mood Lighting at night time in the doors sold me on the HSE, just feels different.

So if the budget can stretch that for go the HSE. If not, the SE is great too.

Just my thoughts.
Discomaniac

[trobbo]

I think it depends primarily on how long you plan to keep the vehicle and what condition it is when it comes time to sell. The longer you own it the closer the resale value of the two will become.

The D3 market will give you a guide as to how quickly the prices come together. I recently purchased a second hand 5yo d3 hse for about the same price as an se. Sure there are hse's of the same age that people are trying to sell for more than an se but they are either sitting on the market for a long time or are in dealers and over priced.

for example when I was shopping a set a budget of 50K and diesel. That put me in the 05 or 06 market. there are 8 cars still on car sales that I can remember were there when I started seriously looking in Jan this year. Only two of those are SE's (although I was concentrating more on hse's cause prices were similiar). The car I ended up buying was a 1 owner and was being replaced by a 5.0 ltr rrs (important to me cause it meant the guy hadn't got the irrits with it or land rovers). It cost the guy 105K new. I bought it for 41K. That's a lot of money to lose, but probably normal depreciation for 5 years.

The things these stopping cars from selling is:
lack of service history
90,000+ km
lack of some sort of warranty
many but not all are v8's

A couple of the v8's that I saw that did sell more quickly had low km's and were immaculate. Of course price helps as well.

So in the D3, the market is looking for the the tdv6 with full service history
and less than 90,000 km's. After that people start to decide between cars based on options. Options may get you a few extra dollars in resale, but generally I consider those options as being the difference between someone buying my car or someone else's, cause after all you CAN live without them.

In the D4 second hand market I am sure it will be similiar. The biggest question will be if people favour the 2.7 for the ability to fit 17 inch rims or the 3.0 for pure enjoyment.
Let's face it, most people who spend 50+K on a car wont take them seriously off road but live in hope of travelling some time. For these people I think the 3.0 will be the engine of choice.

[Disco4SE]

Davman, sounds like the others have passed on some good advise.
If you do go the SE, make sure that you get rear air. I didn't have it in the D3 but have in the D4. Makes a huge difference and costs very little as an extra when ordering the vehicle

[DiscoWeb]

Davman,

Really Tough choice, your life must be suck right about now

However, I do not think resale should be a determining factor in your decision making.

IMHO a used HSE might sell slightly faster and at a premium to a used SE in similar condition and with similar KM's but it will be no were near enought to close the the $7,000 premium.

So you can either;

Buy the HSE if you want all the fruit;

or buy the SE, add the extra bits you want (MAKE SURE THAT INCLUDES THE E-DIFF) and spend the $7,000 on fun bits, good wine or both.

I would and did go the D3 TDV6 SE and I am still enjoying the nice wine and not missing having to manually move the seats etc.

Hope this helps.

Regards,

George

[davman]

Thanks guys your opionions are awesome. Keep em coming please.
As I will buying the car through by business, I don't tend to keep cars for too long. I always say "This is a keeper" but tend to change them over every 18 months or so. So going on my past experience, I won't be keeping it too long.
Cheers

[trobbo]

well that makes the decision easy then, it is a hse with active rear diff. It is white and has the 3.0 ltr... and you can sell it cheap to me when your finished

[davman]

DID IT.
Ordered a HSE Today. Delivery in October.
Thanks for all your advise and help.
Heres hoping it is reliable and can tow my large van without any problems.
Cheers everyone.