Hi All

Just thought I would update the forum after 3000 miles in the AB 3.0 SDV6.

Engine has loosened up now and I now drive it mostly in dynamic mode. Initially, I couldn't see much of a difference between dynamic and normal for the first month or so, but now it does make the Sport worth the name. It handles like a substantial go kart. However, it has to be driven fairly hard to make the difference. This coupled with 22" wheels means fuel consumption is poorer than expected - 29.9mpg average. Even on a 300 mile motorway trip at 75ish average mpg was 30.
Colour : Chile with black pano roof + 22" wheels. Even though I wasn't entirely convinced, as this was bought ex showroom so I didn't select the colour mix, I've been a bit surprised by how many people think it's brilliant. But then I'm more into silver, black or grey!
Roadholding is probably the biggest impact for me : it corners as though it's on rails. Almost impossible to unsettle it, and no body roll. There is a lot of computer trickery going on here without you realising!
Ride comfort with the 22" wheels is 90pc of a Disco 4 on 20" wheels. Quite surprising.
Cabin : wonderful seats, heated/cooled. Meridian 19 speaker is pretty good but not sublime.
Pano roof - nice.

No diesel pre heater, apparently it's electric....not convinced. So, on a cold morning the engine wobbles for a few seconds, before running smoothly.
Fan max speed front and rear: poor
Electric tailgate - not for me. Would far, far prefer split gate by a million miles.
1st recall done, re-routing of battery cable, took a few mins, so guess they just used a plastic tie to relocate it slightly. The recall is for dynamic equipped versions only.
Mood lighting : entirely useless.



Mud flaps would have been useful...lots of crud thrown up by the big wheels.

Thank you. I do agree the mood lighting is a siily concept, a waste of money but at least it doesn't appear to have compromised the car elsewhere.

I do have the feeling that LR quality is lagging the Germans. Mark

SVR in Estoril Blue

Thank you. I agree the mood lighting is a siily concept, a waste of money but at least it doesn't appear to have compromised the car elsewhere.

I do have the feeling that LR quality is lagging the Germans. Mark

SVR in Estoril Blue

Agree fully with your comments, and I've had pretty much the same experience, and similar mpg on 22s

Mudflaps are a must. Get them fitted when you can.

Would prefer the split tailgate too. Love the electric towbar.
something I only discovers yesterday and love - the rear windows open a smidge when you press the button once, and it lets them down enough for some airflow with no wind buffering in the cabin.

I was coming home the other day, and took a left hand bend too fast and too sharp - it honestly caught me by surprise- but the sport handled impeccably - it literally pulled itself around the bend and kept itself in line perfectly when I really should have lost control. I know in my 2010 I'd definitely have lost it. Was a weird feeling how it reacted but I am so impressed in it. MY10 HSE 3.0 TDV6 : Santorini Black : Ebony Interior w/Anigre wood : Privacy Glass (total) : Sunroof : Sidesteps : Hybrid TV : Detachable Tow Kit : Spare Wheel Cover : 22" Dished Supersports

Nice report, thanks for sharing!

Will be ordering mudflaps soon and my car isn't due until mid-March! All of my cars have had them, they are a necessity IMO.  Arrived: MY16 A/B SDV6 in Aruba, Ivory interior, piano black trim, black panoramic roof, spare wheel, blind spot monitoring, mudlaps and more...

Gone but not forgotten:
2014 RRS2 SDV6 HSE in Loire Blue
2011 Freelander 2 SD4 HSE in Santorini Black

We got no more to the Gallon out of the SDv6 than we do the SDv8 , SDv8 touch peddle and like a rocket ship , SDv6 to much time with foot buried when trying to get a move on or over take etc, your fuel numbers look about right in fact at 29 you are doing well IMO , hope that is real world fuel consumption and not from the on-board nonsense !
Quality of build is hmmm....... handling yup spot on , 2014 5.0SC AB

Gone 5.0 SC

I have now done app 6000 miles (10.000 km) in my RRS SS and it has been brilliant. Im currently in Austria and on these smooth roads the humming from the front wheels is almost unnoticeable - I'm dreading coming back to the UK and the M25 with the car. With winter tyres the car is going absolutely everywhere and fuel consumption is not too stupid and is easily compensated by the poise and sound of the 5L super charged engine. No faults to report other than the humming noise when hitting 60-70 mph.

A couple of irritants:

The fact that the central display shows volume settings every time you change the volume of the radio and then takes a couple of seconds to disappear - obstructing the NAV map underneath at crucial moments.
The black plastic bits on the C pillars scratches very easily

Good things:
The drive, the torque, the roadholding and the noise, Seats are great too. Others have complained about it but the High Beam Assist works fine - also in LHD countries. You have to switch it off when it is very foggy as you don't see anything with the High Beam on and the system does not take notice of fog.

Acceptable:
Once having gone through the Sat Nav settings carefully the system is actually fine. There is a really irritating chime / dong when you hit max speed at 130 - 140 mph which very quickly makes you take the foot off the gas. First time you hear it you think the radio is about to explode so you are now warned!

Admin note: this post has had its images recovered from a money grabbing photo hosting site and reinstated

Thanks for the write-up. I'm looking forward to my SC, what sort of fuel consumption are you getting on a trip like this?

In the Evoque - which shares the same music system/sat nav DNA - there's a setting somewhere to suppress the volume setting pop-up when you change volume, maybe there is on the RRS as well.

The easily scratched black plastic is the same on the Evoque and is especiaily noticeable in bright alpine sunshine, best to avert your gaze. Mark

SVR in Estoril Blue

hornbaek wrote:

The fact that the central display shows volume settings every time you change the volume of the radio and then takes a couple of seconds to disappear - obstructing the NAV map underneath at crucial moments.

So if the only thing not to like is the easy to scratch C pillars, that's not bad. I suppose you could always have them painted Santorini black or something. Mark

SVR in Estoril Blue

Last edited by Mark_N on Sat Jan 25 2014 8:44pm. Edited 1 time in total

Regarding the C-pillar it is simply some cheap gloss plastic which is easy to exchange (rather than paint). However, on a 90k car that should hardly be necessary.

Consumption has averaged around 20 mpg including the long stretch from UK.

20 mpg seems reasonable to me.

As for the gloss trim, the reason I suggested painting it is that you might find the paint harder wearing than the plastic on which it's applied. Mark

SVR in Estoril Blue

Just for comparison to the OP, according to the trip computer I've averaged about 33mpg on a trip from Hampshire to the Alps. Virtually all the autoroute was done as 130 km/h. Not bad I think. 2014 MY RRS HSE Dynamic
2000 Porsche Boxster S
2004 BMW X5 (Gone)

Quote: Just for comparison to the OP, according to the trip computer I've averaged about 33mpg on a trip from Hampshire to the Alps. Virtually all the autoroute was done as 130 km/h. Not bad I think.

I went considerable faster than that as I went through Belgium, Luxembourg and finally Germany. The latter third done at around 180 - 200 km/h (Trier-Frankfurt-Munchen-Kufstein) so fuel consumption not really comparable.

Yes, I'm averaging about 32mpg on mixed driving. Pretty good, I think. Regards

Malcolm