We are nearing the end of the year, and you know what that means: we are looking for the best Section 179 hacks.
If you don’t know what Section 179 is, it is a tax code that allows a business owner to write off the entire depreciation on vehicles with a gross weight of over 6000lbs the first year they are purchased.
This is great news for individuals who own businesses and need fleets of trucks or even just a single pickup, but what’s even better news is that the loophole allows ANY car with a gross weight over 6000lbs to qualify.
This means:
Rolls Royce Ghost
Rolls Royce Dawn
Porsche Cayenne
Lamborghini Urus
Mercedes G63
Mercedes GLS63
Audi RS6 Avant
Range Rover SV Autobiography
Range Rover SVR and so many more…
We have already written prior about some great Section 179 hacks so be sure to check out the past buyer’s guides for some interesting reads, but today we are going to talk about a personal favorite of many of our members for this tax loophole and it is the Range Rover Sport SVR. This is an SUV with a packed punch in terms of speed and handling and it very well just might be the car for you; keep reading to find out.
Driving Experience
I know a lot of people that think SUVs are the step into the category that negates your ability to have fun while you drive. To be fair that is true about some SUV and while some enjoy the tall, up-high, rugged ride that SUVs like the G63 offer, or the more practical everyday usability that the Cayenne offers, the SVR is somewhere in the middle of a venn diagram with the circles being: Fun, Usable, and Practical.
The V8 Supercharged engine makes 575 horsepower and 516 pounds of torque and can go 0-60 in under 5 seconds, making this quite the fun way to get your kids to school every morning, especially if you are running late.
It is a wonderful balance, the way the car is able to speed up so quickly and deliver excellent handling, even for an SUV, and the way the SVR is able to be taken & parked anywhere so there is a sense of getting to be worry-free with this daily driver. A great bonus is the immense amount of trunk space that the SVR has, making travel, tasks, and more all a very easy thing to do, and even a fun one too.
Range Rover Sport SVR Common Problems
Even though they are the higher trim of the Range Rover line, it seems just about anything made by Land Rover Range Rover is going to have the same common issues. For Rovers of all trims and sizes this means suspension problems, differential issues, electrical issues, oil leaks, and even engine problems too. These are all costly issues to fix, especially out of warranty like most SVRs currently are at this time (2022).
However, a great way to ensure you aren’t going to get yourself into any problems like this before taking ownership of your Range Rover SVR is to get a PPI performed by a trusted shop (try to avoid the dealer if possible as they will always WANT to find issues, even if they aren’t really there).
This $400 fee will help save you from headaches and costly repairs during your initial time of ownership. To ensure your SVR runs well throughout your time of ownership, be sure to listen to the car if it needs something (service, gas, etc) and treat the car like what it is: an investment and an asset, protect it.
Range Rover Sport SVR Cost of Ownership/Maintenance
Rovers are costly to fix, there is no way around it, and like we said beforehand there can be some pretty expensive common gremlins that plague these types of cars.
Routine maintenance won’t break the bank, but if electrical issues are spotted it can be upwards of $1,000+ to simply diagnose the issue and a few additional thousand to repair it.
Suspensions can be damn near $15,000 to replace if messed up enough and don’t even get us started on the cost of replacing an engine, might as well buy a whole other Rover for the same price. But don’t let these dollars scare you, for one, be sure to PPI your SVR before taking ownership to help make sure no costly repairs are needed before you become the new owner and inherit someone else’s thousands of dollars problem.
Another great way to help cut on the cost of repairs is to avoid the dealer service shop like the plague, they will charge hand over foot for these issues and give you the “parts have to be shipped from the UK” run around, leaving your wallet empty and you without a car from anywhere for a week to 3 months…
Instead, find a local trusted, and qualified repair shop to take a look at your Rover, build a relationship with them for future hacks that you plan on getting in to, and watch as your car receives great care and your bank account doesn’t drain over these issues that could happen to any car at any time.
Range Rover Sport SVR Trim Differences
There are no additional trim levels to the SVR as it itself is the highest trim level of the Range Rover Sport line.
However, there was a generational shift from 16-17 to 18-present, with the 18+’s having some additional features such as new internal display interface, updated facelift, etc.
Range Rover Sport SVR Options
Seeing as Range Rover SVRs are indeed the highest trim level of their class, they do not have a lot of interchangeable options. What you want to ensure your SVR has is the interior carbon package (not to be confused with the Carbon Edition trim of the SVR, which boasts a carbon fiber front hood as a marker), as well as a strong color combination that is objectively hot. Blue, Red, White, and Black are all favorable exterior colors with white, red, tan, and black all being favorable interior colors.
Best Range Rover Sport SVR To Buy
If you are looking for perhaps the most budget-friendly option of the SVRs, then you will want to go with the 17s. Seeing as the SVRs are the highest trim level it is more about finding one in a strong color combination and decent miles than anything else.
If you want to pay more for the newer tech and slightly updated body, then go for an 18-19 in the second-gen.
A good rule of thumb to follow in terms of mileage: take how many years old the car is, and multiply that by 5,000. So a 17 is 5 years old (2022) and that would mean a good mileage allowance would be 25,000 miles on the odometer, always better to find less, and you don’t usually want to stray too far over unless the price point matches the mileage overage.
Conclusion
If you are looking for an SUV that is nothing but ordinary and boring to drive, then the SVR might just be for you. Sure there are plenty of other performance SUVs out there like the RSQ8 or the Urus, but both of those are well over the $100K and even $200k range respectively. A budget-friendly, fun to drive, and tax hackable, sounds like a win-win-win to me (and many other members of ECH too).
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