When (note, WHEN, not IF), a second/third/fourth-hand car breaks down, the costs to fix it are not related to the price you paid for it, but on the original 'new' price.

That's from HJ himself, though a bit of a misquote, and it's very wise.

In other words, that RangeRover that is up for sale for £5k might be nice and cheap, but when something goes wrong on it, the bill to fix it will be based on a £50k car.

Edited by Avant on 18/08/2015 at 12:21

As requested, I've edited out the model heading.

Try looking at a Lexus, which should give you the luxury you're after but with Toyota reliability.

Your nom de clavier 'Bigmaz' makes me think of the Mazda Xedos: a good car that had the qualities of the Lexus but didn't catch on here.

Parts for most cars are expensive now. Remember the "rip off Britain" campaigns, following which UK car prices came down 11% relative to other European countries? One of the knock on effects of that was that parts prices went up, as the manufacturers looked to replace the lost revenue.

So I'd look for reliability. A well chosen exmaple of a Japanese make, probably.

Bits for old Land Rovers (the proper ones) are relatively cheap. The trouble is you will need a constant supply.

I'd had company cars for years. The final one being a Mondeo estate.

I opted out of the car scheme and I bought a 'baby' Toyota Landcruiser at 11 months old, in 2008. It cost me £24k at the time.

When I looked at trade-in last year, I was offered £13.5k. So £10.5k depreciation in 6 years. £1750 a year strikes me as rather good. Expenses in that time had been the annual service/MOT, and a set of tyres.

I've decided to keep it, so treated it to a 'mid-life' overhaul. Rebuilt the callipers, changed the oil in the gearbox, transfer box and diffs. Had it dinitrolled (they do rust eventually). Not cheap, but it feels set up for another few years now.

Everything works (indeed, apart from the callipers getting a little sticky, they always did). The only breakdown was a split in a (non-OEM) tyre.

We now live in an area which can flood, so in no hurry to change back to a regular car (besides, I'm lucky enough to have an MX-5 for summer days).

The MX-5 has cost a lot more in depreciation and serving costs - but no breakdowns on that either.