My FIL is a big time car nut. He is retired now, all he does every day is work on his cars (got 2 big V8s) and read about them. However, he has pretty extreme views when it comes to cars as well. Dislikes everything German for example. Anyway, the reason why I brought it up, is that has an old Dodge Caravan V8. And I've done many miles in it since we borrow it quite often, and it is such a relaxing place to be. Automatic gearbox, big engine, big car, lots of space inside, lots of power, very comfy front seats. It being 20 years or so, there isn't many toys, but it got AC, cruise control, and many other things modern car have these days. Many people look down at it, I wasn't sold on it until I've done like a 1k miles in it too. While most people in my age lust after sports car, I'm on the opposite side of the scale. I like comfort and relaxing drive. Yes, I still want some grunt and I want to be able to overtake slow cars easily, but most of the time I just want to glide over potholes and sit in a nice comfortable place. Don't get me wrong, I'm no royalty, I am not Lord Adrian, but I came to part of my life, in which I appreciate peace of mind.
I saw RRS on the road today, a woman behind the wheel, and I honestly don't understand the image thing. It just looks like a nice place to be in. Yes, the pre 2010, pre facelift cars have pretty poor interior, but other than that I like its looks. I couldn't care less if a few footballers bought one many moons ago. Who cares. However, it is a different matter when it comes to reliability. I have read many many things about it since I started this thread, and there was a lot of bad about maintaining costs. Some horror stories too... quite a few actually, and I thought FFRR would be the same, but so far, I have actually read a lot of good things about it. I am surprised. A guy not far away from us has one, the new one, and it is absolute massive. It looks like a building on wheels. I think I will have to spy one of the older ones not too far away from me and have a test drive.
I will also have a look the other cars mentioned. Mercedes ML and VW. FIL jokes that he won't talk to me ever again if I buy a German car, but I'm not the one to care about silly things like that. When it comes to old Cayenne, I don't like its look if I'm honest.
@Bl4ckGryph0n This got me scratching my head: "For your roads and potholes stay clear of big wheels." Could you elaborate on what do you mean by that please?
@gizlaroc Thank you again for your input.
Yes I get that, I like big engined large cars as welll.
What I meant is that a lot of the Range Rover sports had large alloy wheels with little rubber on it. That is not a good combination, although it looks good data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 Our Mercedes GL AMG has 21” but with 295/45 iirc correctly and with air suspension that was just about ok. But hitting a pothole did make you worry a little.
Our current Mercedes GLC AMG also came with 21” wheels but 275/35 so a lot less rubber. And despite active air suspension it makes you hurt your tears and cry a little when hitting a pothole.
It is flipping hard nowadays to find a luxury big engined car without these silly big alloy wheels. The big brakes stop me from down grading the wheels.
From that perspective I’d be more inclined to the full size Range Rover where many more models had a nice lot of rubber on them. And similar with the VW Touareg.
But if it has to be non German then it will get difficult. I think the Land Cruiser Amazon do a big V8 as well, but hold their value. The Nissan Patrol only did diesel in the U.K., but perhaps a Japanese Import might do it. Or the Lexus version of the Land Cruiser Amazon.
And if you like the American cars, how about a Ford F-150. In the right version that can be quite nice as well. Definitely still on my list to have one day data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Enjoy the journey to finding the right car to me that is part of the fun.
A significant element to a cars suspension is the sidewall of its tyres. So a sports car like an M3 will have relatively large diameter wheels (20 inch) with small aspect (30) tyres - so eg 245x30x20 tyres.
Very 'thin' tyres to look at so very little tyre deformation for great grip/handling and your teeth fall out.
An off roader like a defender might have relatively smaller wheels (16 inch) with thicker tyres to look at so more deformation to cope with pot holes etc - maybe 185x80x16.
I should stress I don't know the exact sizes of the above cars but that gives you an idea how it works.
Regarding the relative comfort factor of the range rover compared to the discovery I always felt the range rover to be a fantastic place 'to be' but the discovery is a nicer drive. There's something more planted about the disco. The modern range rover seems best placed parked outside Harrods.
Thank you both, @Bl4ckGryph0n and @djbsom I understand now. Cheers data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
@Bl4ckGryph0n Ford F-150 is a completely different beast, but I like how it ejects testosterone out of the exhaust pipe instead of fumes. It's like Arnold Schwarzenegger on wheels lol Too expensive though data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 I did however spied this one not long ago
2017 Black FORD F150 Sutton Edition Raptor for sale for £82950 in St John's Wood, Borough Of Westminster
LOL I was thinking of an older one, but that one is awesome. I like Dodge as well.
Are you sure a Grand Cherokee isn’t for you?
Ps. I wouldn’t be afraid buying a Range Rover second hand. Would wait to find a nice clean original example as mentioned by someone before.
I have looked at Grand Cherokee as well. I like the newer ones, but they are too expensive. The older ones, not so sure. Still on the list though. I think they are quite simple vehicles underneath and therefore would be cheaper to maintain.
I was hit by a Tram in one in Brussels. It was just fine data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
New one looks great indeed.
LOL that's some memory to have data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7 Grand Cherokee was suggested by my FIL as well. Petrol and convert to LPG. So was LR Discovery and Toyota Land Cruiser.
I really like his version. Black leather, black dash, post 2010 faceflift... looks like I'm going to have to up my budget somehow... or even, double it
But within the ops budget he is looking at a facelift W164 ML vs a 2010 Range Rover.
I stand by what I said, the Range Rover is in a different league compared to the Merc interior wise.
That era of ML I found really disappointing interior wise, actually much prefer the quality of the earlier W163.
When I said the RRS has an image problem, I meant be careful with what you get, in a subtle colour combo without pimped out wheels etc. I still like them.
Personally I would go for a 3.0 diesel with good history of decent oil changes.
Plus the interior on the facelift sport is a nice place to be...
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Something like this...
2010 Black LAND ROVER RANGE ROVER SPORT 3.0 TD V6 HSE 5dr for sale for £12500 in Manchester, Greater Manchester
Or this, if you can get it for £12k...
2010 Grey LAND ROVER RANGE ROVER SPORT 3.0 TD V6 HSE 5dr for sale for £13995
Shame I didn't see this before, neighbour just traded his 2011 4.4 TDV8 Range Rover Vogue SE for £14k with 56k miles on it.
Which was a hell of a bargain.
But when you are buying an Autobiography for £115,000 I suppose trade in value doesn't really matter.
I was tempted myself, but he needed to know by last Friday and he only told me on Wednesday.