I just had look on autotrader and was slightly shocked to see plenty of 4.2 and not that many 5.0, the gap is now nearly £10K. I think that says it all as to which is 'better'. A big change from when I got mine earlier this year.

The 5.0SC can be remapped, but also remapped with a supercharger pulley change The stock exhaust seems overly restrictive as well. I'm just chasing a slow coolant leak, as with that no reputable shop will touch my car, and then it is going in. Should take it up to about 650Hp.

It's simply a newer, better engine and come with the added benefit of being fitted to the later, more modern cars. TBH the tech is all pretty poor, even the latest ones, but TFT dash and facelift front end are improvements IMO.

Total budget for for purchase would seem to be the main factor here. Your budget is either large enough to buy the 5.0 or it's not. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with the 4..2, just I can't see the rationale for buying a slower, less economical version if you have the budget not to.

For context, I went through the exact same decision making process before I bought mine. Having had my 5.0 S/C for nearly 2.5 years now, I'm very pleased with my decision to choose the 5.0 over the 4.2.

In case it's deemed relevant, I had the timing chains done on mine shortly after I bought it. Total bill at a local independent was well under £2K, and I was fine with that. It's just not the big deal that everyone seems to make out, and if you can't cope with a potential 'one off' 2k bill, then driving a Full Fat RR is possibly not the right vehicle for you!

I chose petrol over diesel due to (at that time) making lots of short journeys and likelihood of the possible EGR/Turbo costs that lots of short journeys can create. That said, both of these items are likely to be in the same ballpark as chains on a 5.0 - again this back up the point that all of these can kick up a big bill every now and again.

Cheers

Jon

@JPBoost, Hi Jon, can you pm the details of the independent garage that did your timing
chains as would like to have a chat with them.
Cheers Dave

@ Dave,

Unfortunately they're no longer in business, so (while I'd be happy to share), it won't help. The garage location was bought out and is now well on the way to being a load of new houses. When that happened the mechanic went to work for another independent.

From memory it was something like £650 in parts (all genuine LR from the local dealership (albeit with appropriate trade discount), and about 15 hours labour. Obviously whatever labour rate you can get will change the overall bill significantly.

He did have to buy a locking tool for the job, which he said was something like £100-£150. He didn't charge me for that though.

FWIW he said it was a straightforward (although fairly lengthy) job, so I'd expect any decent independent mechanic to be able to do it.

Hope that all may help in some way.

Hi Jon, thanks for reply.
Cheers Dave.

Spent the afternoon looking online. Prices for a 5.0 seem to be quite varied. Seem to go between £10k-£25k. Was more thinking spending around the £15k region but think I may just stick to a 4.2 version n have a bit of change left over. Anyone know why they vary on price so heavily?

Not looked recently but variation typically starkest when comparing dealer vs private. Some dealers notorious - eg Vogue Centre = optimistically expensive. Also we seem to over value milage so low milage = loadsamoney, high milage (especially over 100k) = knackered. Daft really when there's plenty of evidence that they can go 200k+ with sensible maintenance. Mike - MPx

2017 5.0 V8 Supercharged SVAutobigraphy Dynamic SVO Palette Grey (2021-...)
2012 5.0 V8 Supercharged Autoboigraphy Orkney Grey (2017-2021)
2007 4.2 V8 Supercharged Vogue SE Tonga Green (2012-2017)
2002 4.4 V8 Vogue Bonnatti Grey (2008-2012)

It is a buyers market. I would definitely not pay some of those prices.

I’d say that you’d should be able to get a nice 5.0SC for about £12.5K with about 100K miles. As per the previous posters, there are chances who go like but it has low miles, I don’t buy into that at all. It’s is still a 8–11 year old car. I prefer cars that have been driven and properly warmed up.

I read this thread with interest as when I was looking for mine I had the same dilemma. A couple of things swung it for me and I ended up with the 4.2 despite the 5.0 being in my price range. Test drive some. Having driven both mine and a friends 5.0 back to back on the same day, they don’t in my opinion feel much different until you get beyond 90-100mph. My car felt firmer than my mates but that could just be down to differences in maintenance but my 4.2 certainly didn’t seem to roll as much in the bends. My brakes also felt more progressive and not as wooden as the 5.0.
The main thing that swung it for me was speaking to a couple of specialists and reading all the reports on this forum. One bloke told me that he never sees the 4.2s in with engine issues, but has had quite a few 5.0s “grenade”. In his opinion the 4.2s were the most reliable of them all.
So it was an easy choice in the end based on what was important to me. As has been said though, condition and history is always the key!
Si. FFRR 4.2SC/KTM 990SMT Current and cherished.
Honda Accord 2.4 Vtec touring. (Yeah, I know, think: Kids)
Mitsubishi Pajero Evolution Nut-wagon. and a Buell XB12R
TVR Griffith 5.0 (backed up with Vauxhall Carlton road barge for the weekly shop.)
Honda Integra Type R DC2 Possibly the best drivers car. Ever.
Mitshibishi FTO GPX MIVEC.
Honda CRX Vtec Mk2 -NO, Not the del sol!!!
Volkswagen Scirocco GT
Mini 1275GT
MG Midget (Heavily modified)
I'm going to stop now.....

After looking at prices, think I'll stick with the 4.2 version. Seen a few dogs for £4k but some decent spec motors for under £10k where as the 5.0 seems to really range from £15k upwards to £25k so not sure it's worth the extra money where as I can get a fairly decent 4.2 for £8k

It is definitely not so straight forward with the way the prices are at the moment for the 5.0SC. I now feel like I got a bargain getting mine February last year. The asking price seems too high now. I think the sweet spot for the 5.0SC is sadly gone for now.

Think it's like any car mate, they all have a time where they depreciate massively then for some reason a year later the prices just go up crazy amounts

For what its worth I have a 4.2 that I bought 6 years ago for 15k on just short of 60k miles its now on 198k going strong and gets thrashed when on one of my european long runs - cant speak for the 5 but mine has never missed a beat