Drivers looking to buy an interesting older vehicle that is set to rise in value have been urged to consider three models that are set to become classics.
While there is no general consensus on when a vehicle becomes a classic car, a growing number of drivers looking to make money are buying older models that are widely being scrapped in their old age.
According to the specialist insurance company Hagerty, one of the best choices for a future classic is the original Toyota RAV4, which offers the styling of an SUV and the driving style of a sportscar.
They explained: “The RAV4 is seen as the genesis of the modern crossover – it was designed to offer the higher visibility and space of an SUV, with the handling of a car, but with four-wheel drive.
“A tall order, but Toyota delivered on that with a monocoque platform derived from the Carina, a contrast to the separate chassis system used by most 4X4s. The engines came from the Carina and Camry, while the Celica GT-Four coughed up its gearbox and four-wheel-drive system.”
Introduced in 1994, the original Toyota RAV4 was one of the world’s first ‘soft-roaders’, offering trendy SUV styling on a smaller and more affordable vehicle.
Early examples of the RAV4 were offered with either three or five doors, with a wide range of special edition versions adding bright colours and distinctive graphics.
While they are expected to rise in price as they get rarer, used car buyers can currently get behind the wheel of an original Toyota RAV4 for around £1,000, with a £2,500 budget getting drivers a particularly clean example.
Hagerty also suggested that drivers looking for a 90s family car set to soar in price is the Mitsubishi Space Runner, a particularly rare multi-purpose vehicle that was made from 1991 to 1997.
They added: “Reading the words ‘Space Runner’, you might hope for something styled with a sliver of sci-fi flair, an interior Buck Rogers would be proud of or something equally out of this world.
Nope. The Mitsubishi Space Runner was essentially a big box full of, well, space. Built on a slightly shorter Mitsubishi Chariot base, it traded on a seemingly endless array of interior seating and stowage arrangements. It was a very serious, utilitarian car, as much an MPV as an SUV, thanks to its sliding doors.”
Finally, Hagerty also highlighted that the original Land Rover Freelander is also expected to go up in price in the coming years, thanks in particular for its good reputation off road.
They continued: “The Land Rover Freelander is something of a marvel, given the breadth of its sales abilities. Then again, it was such a marvellous idea – the appeal and abilities of a Land Rover in a car-based form – that it makes you wonder why they hadn’t thought of it before the Japanese.
“Despite no transfer box or ladder chassis, a wealth of innovative electric aids meant that you’d get much farther off-road than a RAV4 or CR-V. Still not quite a Defender, but a Land Rover through and through.”
