Still looking for the right car, my question is, how many owners is deemed acceptable. Whilst I realise that finding a 1 owner would be perfect, but some are 4 and 5 which I feel is too many.
Your views and thoughts appreciated. [/i]

The best (and first) FFRR I ever bought had 6 previous owners, was 7 hrs old and never went wrong. ‘nuff said?

When a car has lots of owners, it's often because none have "bonded" with the car, so almost definition they don't care about it & often don't bother with servicing or repairs before moving it on..
However "lots" depends on how old the car is, 10 owners on a 5 yr old car would seriosly worry me, but on a 20 yr old car is not so bad. Paul,
2001 Discovery 2 TD5, 211,000 miles & climbing
2006 FFRR TDV8 Vogue 145,000 miles & climbing
Member of Midland (Land) Rover Owners Club, www.mroc.co.uk

I went through this last year, but most of the 2 or 3 owner examples I looked at were poor. The example I ended up buying had 5 previous owners but last owner for 5 years and was the best example I saw, bearing in mind its a 10 year old car.

A friend of mine bought a one owner example, similar age etc and has had lots of issues so with these beasts its not always easy to know the best approach.

That said I would imagine getting rid of a 1 or 2 owner car might be slightly easier than a 6 owner car but mine was reasonably priced and so I'm pleased with the decision i made. RR Vogue TDV8 Grey/Black
D3 TDV6 HSE Silver/Black (Gone)
D3 TDV6 HSE Black/Tan (Gone)
RRS TDV8 Black/Black (Gone)
RRS TDV8 Stornaway (Gone)
RR Vogue TDV8 (Gone)
RRS 4.4V8 (Gone)
Defender 110 300tdi (Stolen, much missed)
RR Vogue V8 P38 (Gone)
LR 90 TD (Gone)

Only you can decide how many owners you deem acceptable. 2012 4.4 TDV8 Westminster - Baltic Blue, Jet interior
1997 P38 2.5 DSE auto & 1998 P38 2.5 DT Manual
1988 Vogue 3.5 EFI - Manual, gone.
2004 Volvo C70 2.0T convertible, had since new.
2007 Mazda MX-5 2.0 Sport Roadster/Coupé, had since new.
2024 Mini Cooper S cabrio, JCW kit, 2.0, DCT auto

Buy on condition, previous owners, service history. In that order. Generally, more than one previous owners warrants extra caution.
Some buy them preowned at an age banks would still accommodate financing, at a price already stretching their credit. Then drive them for a while before they are inevitably faced with bigger bill items and start taking shortcuts on maintenance being faced with the dilemma of installment vs service.
Most horror stories and brand-bashing come from this kind of individuals.

I'm the 4th owner of my 2012 Autobiography.

It had a full service history and 97k miles when I picked it up 7 weeks ago. It's now got 3k more miles on it, about 600 of which were with a near 2 ton caravan on the back and it's been magnificent.

Dunc. The life you have is the only one you'll get; make the most of it.
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2012 4.4 TDV8 L322 Autobiography
2003 TD5 Oslo Blue D2 ES Premium Auto (with mods!)

I personally wouldn't worry so much about the number of owners. Service history and condition are by far the most important factors. Some people buy a car and decide after owning it for a while that it's not the car for them and sell it on/part ex it for something else. As has also been mentioned, some people don't bond with the car they have purchased regardless of manufacturer. Sports cars change hand frequently as a lot of owners buy them for the summer and move them on once winter arrives.

Remember, a one or two owner car doesn't guarantee that it's been looked after 2011 TDV8 Vogue SE