The British Motor Show takes place this weekend and is fantastic value for money

So what can mum, dad and two kids who love nice cars, foreign holidays and fancy restaurants actually get for their money in balmy August 2025?

How about spending around £1,500 this month (and the following 47) on one of the cheapest, lowest-spec, 8,000 miles-per-annum Range Rover diesels currently available for lease? Total leasing costs (after putting down a deposit) during those four years are in excess of £80,000. To that, add expenditure on essentials such as annual Group 50 insurance cover, fuel, maintenance, plus a few other standing and running costs. To be on the safe side, best to make sure you’ve got circa £100,000 to lease and run this car, before handing it back 48 months from now.

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For families keen to just get away from it all this month, two parents and two kids could quite easily pay more than £20k for a two-week vacation, even using a high street package-holiday company. In return they’d get, for example, return economy-class tickets to Spain and a 14-night all-inclusive hotel stay in a family junior suite in Torremolinos. Honest.

Back in Blighty, a few hours wining and dining for mum and dad at London’s Sushi Kanesaka eatery could set them back £400-plus EACH for the “no-choice menu”. Call it a £1,000 night out by the time the kids have each had a burger in a nearby cafe.

Meanwhile, 30-odd miles down the road from the capital, you might like to consider spending considerably less on a day ticket for our annual national car exhibition: The British Motor Show at Farnborough Exhibition Centre in Hampshire, from Friday 15 August through to Sunday 17 August.

The ‘original’ British International Motor Show was owned and run by the UK motor industry establishment. But by the early 2000s, the stuck-in-a-rut business model crashed and burned at the NEC Birmingham, then died at ExCeL, London.   

The reborn (since 2021), now privately owned, officially named and recognised British Motor Show is home to fewer unveilings, sadly. But there are many more moving vehicles driven by everyone from professional race or stunt drivers, to mums and dads testing some of the latest showroom models, and kids getting behind the wheel for the first time. Then there’s the onstage action from TV celebs like Tim and Fuzz from Car SOS, famous vehicle wrapper Yianni and multiple world record-holding stunt driver Paul Swift.

Also, don’t miss the almost non-stop live music and those potentially life-changing careers advice sessions and car maintenance workshops. The price a family of four must pay on the gate for a long, action-packed day at the reborn Brit Show? Think 70 quid. The same sort of money they’d have to shell out daily to lease and insure a limited-mileage Range Rover diesel... whether it’s parked up or not.

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