Hi - I'm Pete: a prospective owner of an RRS.

Have had a number of RRs in the past - but not for many years (20+) - and never had the Sport.

Our retirement treat is going to be a nearly new RRS P460e (we think) - when the house sale completes. But somewhat worried regarding all the things that seem to go wrong with these brutes! I hear such conflicting stories.

We live in a rural area of North Wales with a very steep hill and lots of muddy and flooded lanes. Seriously looked at the new Defender 110 P400e, loved it, but cannot live with its mpg (my friend gets 17mpg) when the battery depletes (after c.20 miles!!!). RRS seems to be much better suited to our needs - especially as most of our motoring is <50mile trips and we are getting solar to reduce charging costs for the PHEV.

A preliminary exploration of insurance, despite 50 years motoring without ever a claim, seems to be around the £1700pa mark! Ow! Our superfast BMW 530d MSport XDrive touring is £630!

Also, love all the toys on the Autobiography but they all seem to come (s/h anyway) with massive wheels. I have low profile tyres on my present car and can feel every lump and catseye - don't need that on an RRS! Ideas of what to do if I do get one?

Are we doing the right thing? Would welcome some advice.

Thanks

Pete

Some love the hybrids, some don’t, there are beginning to be some reports of HV heater failures, which blighted the old P400e - mine had three replaced! That said the EV range is very good. IMHO Autobiography now isn’t worth the premium as the Dynamic SE is a much better spec than the previous model. If you want Cooled/massage seats and an opening pan roof, plus soft close and the better sound system get the AB but I’ve had several in the old model and don’t feel short changed in an SE Dynamic now. I’d check your insurance, mine with NFU actually went down when I moved from the P400e to the D300 Dynamic SE and is c. £860, 55 years old, full no claims and rural location, behind electric gates and garaged. Hope that helps.

Thank you, Tizzy. That’s very helpful information.
Any thoughts on these huge wheels that, even on a RRS, must reduce comfort?
Thanks again

Morning, on wheels again a very personal thing. I suspect most on here would say avoid the 23’s - just way too big and style over substance. I had a demo loan D300 on 22’s for two weeks, it looked good, but the ride was harder than my P400e on 21’s so I spec’d my new D300 with the 21’s which are dark grey on the black pack. They have a noticeably higher sidewall which gives a noticeably better ride especially over ridges and bad road surfaces - so basically the UK! No obvious difference in handling, though I don’t drive it hard - we have a JCW Mini for that! Trade off I guess is a little on the looks some might say it looks slightly under-wheeled. Personal choice. The only thing to note is that AB comes on 22 as standard, and also strangely on the 21 you get Michelin Premacy tyres OE fit, rather than Pirelli Scorpion Zero, which I’d have preferred to be honest as I have always found them to be a great tyre and very long lifed.

Morning, we have ordered a d300 dynamic SE with quite a few extras, as previously mentioned on here they are very well specked as standard, on the wheels my current p400e is on 21’s and I do find it rolls a bit on cornering even in dynamic mode, compared to my 2 previous L494s that were on 22’s, we have taken the 23’s but they didn’t feel that bad to me compared to the 22’s on another car we test drove.

I was swaying on what to go for next as my current P400e black edition is due to go back next month, it was a private lease, I looked at going back to bmw x5, but they cost as much as a new RRS now, and don’t seem to have to have moved on that much compared to my last one in 2015. Also Volvo XC90’s again the price of these is now shocking compared to 3 years ago.

There are some great deals to be had out there if you are serious and will take a stock car this month, there are hundreds available now.

Good luck with what ever you choose!

Malc

I have 22s in England with no issues BUT the roads in Wales generally are far better maintained than here and if most of your mileage is there - no problems! 2017 3.0 SDV6 HSE

Thanks all Very helpful stuff.
I am quite sure we will get an RRS - but might well, in light of your advice, look at well-specced Dynamic SEs too.
The roads are better maintained in some places in Wales - but my BMW has shredded a few tyres on potholes here.... and we can feel every bump. There is one road near where we live that is underwater every time there is a period of rain, and it breaks up the road surface too. Drive through the flood slowly etc and then, crunch, another new mine shaft has appeared!! Not really, but low-profile tyres do not react well.
Thanks again

Be very carefull to test drive one at speed. I saw a couple of reports about steering loading up a lot at speed, 60 70 mph and unfortunatly dismised them. I now fimd my one week old Dynamic SE firms up so much at motorway speeds that it takes quite a bit of effort to input small corrections to the steering. I havent heard anyone else on here say anything about it , so either its a fault on some cars or I'm just to sensitive. Either way content yourself before buying.

Little trick I’ve discovered on Motorways - put it into Comfort mode (I leave mine in Auto TR all the time) in Comfort it smoothes out the motorway ridges and crucially lightens the otherwise heavy steering.