It would have continued for years more, but I was being offered £11k trade-in, so it seemed to me to be in a sweet spot. It only cost me £24k! Road tax was £500, which I thought would become an increasing issue on resale prices as the landcruiser got older.

As some of us predicted at the time this is now biting severely into high emission used car values, just taken longer than others due to Cruisers holding their value ridiculously well, as expected those cars made in the 18 months or so before March 06 cut of date are now holding their value more than those made after, i think Marlow timed it well.

I've just replaced my 90 series year 2000 Cruiser with an LC5 on a 55 plate, as Marlow will know only too well finding a good one that's been in the right hands and cared for properly is getting hard, i had to look at several (including Amazons) which looked clean and apparently had the right history but two minutes underneath told a different tale...rust and more rust, i was luckly to spot this one the weekday morning the ad went in and had bought it by lunchtime, too many of the best ones have been exported.

Agree about out OP's position here, if the current car is a good one and it's been cared for then i'd be keeping it, but we arn't all the same and probably most people would have changed it before now.

It's not dealerships or buying a new car that bother me, it's finding one that isn't stuffed to the gills with pointless electronics that serve no useful purpose and will go wrong, or no spare wheel or some dodgy gearbox of doom and a myriad of other boxes to tick, if i was buying new it wouldn't be Toyota any longer because they've managed to make their new cars (and i include Lexus here for they are worse) frankly hideous, and they've saddled Hilux with a small engine for some reason which i can't fathom...where did you find your designers MrT?, has anyone seen the new Toyota C-HR revealed at Geneva, dear Lord, though Toyota are hardly alone in beating their designs with the ugly stick.

Not sure where i'd go if i wanted new from a British showroom.

Good points above thanks.

I'm currently more likely to keep the current car because:

- I still really like it

- It performs very well, including towing

- It's been well looked after and I know the full history

- The depreciation curve is levelling out

- A new model offers more 'stuff' that in reality I don't actually need/want.

- Its replacement would be more fuel economic but this won't touch the depreciation cost on a new one, as also probably applies to any additional non-warranty repairs which may be needed over the next couple of years. As mentioned, i hope my run of good reliability continues.

I have to say that the last experience I had of purchasing a car (not the one in this post) engaged with staff who didn't know their product (a major brand) and didn't listen to the customer, and this factor probably seals the stuatus quo.

On refection, this in fact may be the most significant factor; I just cannot look forward to the process....

Kia is 7-year warranty - Hyundai, Subaru and Toyota give 5-years - it's also possible to extend the manufacturers 3-year warranty on some brands, on the same terms but at extra cost - I have with my VW.

Current car Avant is a Santa Fe 7 seat auto.