Had to go to Newcastle (from Manchester) last night and shared the driving with a friend who has a TDV6 on big wheels.
Was better than I anticpated, but not as good as I had hoped. The lower profile tyres made the steering wooden, and the ride too jittery. The damp white lines on the road also tugged the wheel occasionally. I wonder if the standard wheels make it a better drive?
The engine is quiet on a run, but rumbly at idle and with not enough shove from a standstill. Overall performance was fine but not great although the economy seemed to be pretty good. The Zenon headlights were pretty good as well.
It has a very comfortable driving position, helped by the fact you don't have to totally climb up into the car. However the driving position in the Subaru Forester remains in pole position for me.
The disappointment was the dashboard which is very plasticky and the steering wheel is too big and too thick. The stalk controls have little refinement and although using the identical SatNav system to my Outback, it is not as well integrated into the car's systems, so that there is no trip computer and it is not as easy to manipulate the SatNav on the move.
Overall its a fine car, but could have been so much better. I just kept thinking that my Outback did everything the RR did but far more sweetly, quietly, comfortably and probably for not a lot more fuel costs and a lot less purchase costs.
The most amazing thing of the whole trip was that having driven up at about 5:15pm and got back at about 11:30pm, I did not feel stressed, overtired or with dry eyes or any of the other things I used to get simply from driving back from London to Manchester in the evening. It must be a combination of a good cruising car and little traffic.
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A customer of mine was talking to me about Range Rovers - I said to him that the Sport is a really smart looking car - he agreed but said he would only have a 'proper' RR because virtually every Sport he sees is driven by a woman, usually trying to look posher than she really is. In short, its a wifes car and the hubby would have the standard RR.
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The engine is great - the TDV8 is better but more costly. I agree about interior fit and trim its not the best - very Ford. I drove from Birmingham to Gatwick and back last week in one sitting on standard wheels and the drive is very comfy.
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Espada - I do the Newc to Manc run quite often and I have to say I quite enjoy it, nice roads, often quiet and my friends always like to gawp at the strange farmhouse in between the carriageways over the pennines. Plus it helps that I'm normally going there for a party so maybe it's an anticipation thing!
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e strange farmhouse in between the carriageways over the pennines
M62 - World's spookiest experience, I was driving past this one Sunday when Radio 4 ran a programme outlining its history - odd in the extreme. It was covered in that Secret Life of Motorways programme as well. It survival is down to geology more than any preservation order or anything.
Not driven or ridden in a RR Sport - for a brand I have owned at various times over the years, never been attracted to it. Too blingy.
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There are quite a few of these blacked-out, blinged-up RRs in my part of town, at least half of them driven by people who cannot be described as ladies even by a colour-blind inclusiveness freak... Occasionally driven in true getaway driver style as well.
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The first 58 reg I saw was a white (quite smart actually) in Liverpool 8, being driven in this fashion - by a woman in sunglasses.
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