I currently have a 2003 Range Rover Vogue with c. 92k miles on the clock. I have owned the car for 4 years and have very much enjoyed it. We live in Scotland, do c. 10k miles a year, mostly long motor way journeys. We find the space useful as we own a labrador, whose cage takes up quite a bit of the boot. Whilst off-roading is not crucial I do enjoy this and use the car frequently to shoot and stalk, where i will take it off road.

We are now about to have our first child and i am wondering whether to upgrade to a newer car. I have the current car serviced at a small Land Rover specialist. He says that the car is mechanically in good nick, however i worry slightly about the electrics, which have some small niggles (radio, speakers, CD changer, SatNav and central display). i presume that if these go it could write off any value in the car etc.

i have been looking at options including A6 allroad and Skoda Superb 4x4, but am not sure if the running costs will be so much cheaper as to make up for lost ability to use the car off road. i am currently veering towards a Discovery 4 or 3.6 TDV8 Range Rover or Range Rover Sport, all of which appear about the same price if late 2009/early 2010. Which car would you recommend and is it worth paying the extra for the post late 2009 facelift models? The Discovery seems the most practical and i wonder if it will hold value the best (i would look to keep the car for 4/5 years). However i am tempted by the range rover as it seems like more car for the money given the original list price.

Are there other options i should be considering? and how much cheaper would an estate be to run?