.........says the girl who used to drive around in her Dad's 7 series  ON THE WAY: BMW F21 M140i
MERCEDES GL350 - Metallic Navy Blue w/Grey interior

GOING: BMW F31 335D MSport+ xDrive Touring
GONE: Land Rover Discovery 4 HSE - Stornaway Grey w/Black Interior (wish we'd kept it )
GONE: BMW F10 520D MSport - Carbon Black
GONE:MY12 RRS SDV6 HSE Sumatra/Ivory/Grand Black Privacy glass

Beancounter_74 wrote:

This might help with your decision
http://www.rrsport.co.uk/forum/topic35465.html

Like it  2001 Black Porsche 911 turbo
2010 Black BMW 325d Coupe
2006 Shogun (wifeys car)
2013 Honda Fireblade 1000RR Superbike

The X5 is a good car for sure and the infotainment is superior.....

but its really simple...... The big issue is how a car makes you feel.....and the pride you have in owning it....

and in that huge department.......the RRS makes you feel a million dollars...

and the X5 is just simply humdrum......as has been said before no sense of occasion .... no presence on or off the road and just gets lost in the crowd...

I´ll accept the few small RRS shortcomings for that every second of every minute of every day... 2014.5 SDV6 AB Dynamic ... Fuji /Santorini Pan roof and 22's
2013 Porsche Boxster S 3.4
2014 Audi A3 S line Quattro
---------------------------------

Very True andman - you have probably just knocked the nail on the head.

I have had a few Porsches - last one a 911 turbo. And they all made me feel great - loved owning them; but time for a change. Didn't really know what to get so just before Christmas I bought a 325d coupe. Nice enough car, but just isn't special enough. As the interior is practically the same in the X5, I guess it will be the same. 2001 Black Porsche 911 turbo
2010 Black BMW 325d Coupe
2006 Shogun (wifeys car)
2013 Honda Fireblade 1000RR Superbike

So I hit the nail on the head.... and are you of the fence yet... or clinging on for dear life.....  2014.5 SDV6 AB Dynamic ... Fuji /Santorini Pan roof and 22's
2013 Porsche Boxster S 3.4
2014 Audi A3 S line Quattro
---------------------------------

I too have had loads of BMWs including an E70 X5 3.0sd. I currently drive a L322 FFRR and have a RRS HSE SDV6 on order. My X5 was exactly what it said on the tin, a 5 series estate on stilts with a basic 4WD system. It wasn't screwed together particularly well (they're built in the US not Germany) and had a surprising number of squeaks and rattles which irritated me badly in the end. Also it wasn't particularly frugal either averaging about 26mpg and it was also surprisingly unrefined with a clattery engine and quite a bit of wind noise. I understand the latest F15 model is better in this respect. One major difference between the X5 and the RRS is the suspension. My X5 rode on steel springs and had runflat tyres and the ride was frankly dreadful; I changed the runflats for normal tyres in the end and that improved the ride a bit. Again I understand that the F15 model is improved in this area but it still hasn't got the sophisticated air suspension of the RRS and for me, this is one of the major reasons for going for a RRS. The new RRS has a sporty drive but it still has a compliant and quiet ride.
Coincidentally, I spent most of yesterday in a RRS SDV6 on a Land Rover Experience day near Perth in Scotland. I know you're probably not too interested in off roading but you wouldn't believe what a RRS can do off road. It has an amazingly sophisticated 4WD management system which together with the low ratio gearbox and that air suspension system means that it will go much further offroad than any X5. Whether you intend to offroad or not, there is something comforting in knowing that you are driving one of the best offroad vehicles of its type, probably the best. For me the air suspension and 4WD system justify the extra cost of the RRS over the X5 any day but there's more. For me the latest model X5 just looks wrong, too upright and gawky whereas the RRS really looks the dogs gonads in the right colour especially. But here's the real thing. There is a palpable sense of occasion driving the new RRS (also the RR) on the road which you just don't get in the X5. Yesterday I was trying to work why this is. Certainly it has a luxurious feel to the interior, steers well, goes acceptably well and looks great but above all, it has character which is something the X5 and indeed other German SUVs just don't have. Before yesterday, I needed a bit of convincing that the new RRS was worth the extra price over a X5 or ML or even a Cayenne but now I'm convinced. Oh yes, the touch screen infotainment system on the RRS is c**p compared to the BMW iDrive but after a while with the car, that doesn't matter

If you can wait for a Sept delivery (2015MY), their should be a new Infotainment system which will evidently be class leading! Current:
2014 RRS HSE - Causeway Grey, Ebony with Ivory seats, Ebony roof lining, Black Piano wood, Panoramic Roof, Heated Exterior Mirrors, Heated Steering Wheel, Privacy Glass, 21" Wheels, Electric Tow Bar, Full Size Spare, Load through & Black Badges. 5 yr service pack
997 GT3
Golf R DSG
Past
2010 Discovery 4 HSE
2006 Discovery 3 HSE

Where did you hear that BlackGT3.... I will happily delay my order for that.......
Any reliable links

Totally agree with MikeF..... the few small shortcummings such as the infotainment become an irrelevance after a month or so of ownership... and you're still left with the rest of a spectacularly good and classy car !!
The sat nav still gets you where you want to go and the new premium meridian hifi is excellent.. 2014.5 SDV6 AB Dynamic ... Fuji /Santorini Pan roof and 22's
2013 Porsche Boxster S 3.4
2014 Audi A3 S line Quattro
---------------------------------

Last edited by andman on Sat Apr 05 2014 7:23am. Edited 1 time in total

Although there is no guarantee of either (ICE or September). 

mikef wrote:

Coincidentally, I spent most of yesterday in a RRS SDV6 on a Land Rover Experience day near Perth in Scotland. I know you're probably not too interested in off roading but you wouldn't believe what a RRS can do off road. It has an amazingly sophisticated 4WD management system which together with the low ratio gearbox and that air suspension system means that it will go much further offroad than any X5.

I also spent some time driving the new RRS at Dunkeld, at the launch event at Gleneagles

Where the new RRS will go off road, on standard road tyres, is incredible

Got speaking to one of the instructors there on the day. Said they took it round a fairly challenging course, but the car breezed it. So they actually had to make a special section in the forest to demonstrate the abilities of the car. He even went on to say, to get a Defender up the same course, you would need front and rear locking diffs, huge mud tyres, and a suspension lift.
The RRS done it all on 21" road tyres

I expect it would go much further off road than almost any 4x4 you could throw at it

^^^^ Yes - but at somewhere over £80k it's probably only LR that can afford to mend them after they've thrashed them cross country.

I remember the last LR demo day I went on the LR driver was very concerned about crossing and following lateral muddy ruts in case it knocked the suspension out of line or damaged the alloy wheels or tyre sidewalls.

As we know the wheel alignment can go adrift and tyre wear suffers quickly - some have cracked their wheels on pot holes !

So I agree the RRS is a very capable off-road machine (perhaps even the best) but at the back of my mind is a question about how durable it is and what issues may result from anyone actually using that capability.

I suspect LR may also try to back out of any warranty if off-road use was suspected/evident by quoting "driver abuse".

I've wondered about warranty claims and off road use. There's no way that LR would use off road use as an excuse because it would be totally contrary to their whole USP. They claim the vehicles are the best 4x4 and advertise them in off road situations. Imagine the negative publicity they'd get if they tried to say that off road use wasn't covered. They get crucified by the car media. 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

Disco_Mikey wrote:

He even went on to say, to get a Defender up the same course, you would need front and rear locking diffs, huge mud tyres, and a suspension lift.
The RRS done it all on 21" road tyres

I expect it would go much further off road than almost any 4x4 you could throw at it

RRSTDV8 wrote:

I've wondered about warranty claims and off road use. There's no way that LR would use off road use as an excuse because it would be totally contrary to their whole USP. They claim the vehicles are the best 4x4 and advertise them in off road situations. Imagine the negative publicity they'd get if they tried to say that off road use wasn't covered. They get crucified by the car media.

Quote:

WARRANTY TERMS AND CONDITIONS
14. Exclusions: This Warranty does not cover any of the following:
a) ...
b) ...
c) Any vehicle used for hire or reward such as taxis or driving school
vehicles or any vehicle with an unladen weight of more than 3.5 tonne
GVW or a vehicle used in any sort of competition, track days, rally
or racing.

I wonder if they classify off road leisure use (e.g. using a "Pay & Play" site) as any of the above

Quote:

One thing that annoys me about the LR days is that the demo vehicles have locking rear diffs when almost no one ever specs these. So the vehicles that people play with are more capable than what they think they're buying. Sure, in some cases the rear diff won't make a difference but in marginal conditions it could be the difference between breezing through and struggling/failing. My view is that the locking rear diff should be a standard fit - I guess for many it will be now that the Dynamic and AB get the active rear diff system as standard. About time too