Looks lovely, bet you're over the moon with it but shame about the puncture, did you have a full size spare or just the skinny thing?

Interested to see if you managed to get a discount or did they load the price of your part ex to compensate?

Anyone know when the L460 might be arriving?

I've got the space saver, which I now realise was a mistake. The dealer gave me a generous discount on the overall price, but I took a hit from them on the p/ex.

I think the L460 is due around 2022 - I might be swapping if the price doesn't go through the roof!

nubbin wrote:

Went out for a little drive this morning, GOT A F***IN' PUNCTURE! Right on the shoulder of the rear wheel, new tyre required!!

]

Feel for you !

As posted elsewhere I just had two new tyres in a week! One with only a couple of hundred odd miles

@ 200 quid each u may want to check prices!

On the bright side , by the law of averages you are not due another puncture until the next car.  Filters are in fact so good that in certain circumstances, when the ambient air is already polluted, a diesel car will tend to extract more particles from the air than it emits. Emissions Analytics worked with........etc etc

He who dies with the most toys wins...

New tyre is on, all wheels back in their correct position, and I'm in love with my car again! Been on the motorway for the first time today, effortless and almost silent cruising at a gentle 70 (+10)

Also a bit of mist gave me my first chance to see the adaptive headlights in action. It's a continuously dancing ballet of light, and the "pixels" are clearly visible at times, as are the gaps blocked off to other road users. Nice piece of tech!

Sadly, a new full size spare is £1000 plus a tyre - ouch! Ebay might give me a tickle though....

A few photos of the navy seats (the colour hasn't come out well in the back seats), and a couple of bits added to enhance my enjoyment...

Click image to enlarge

Very Subtle but nice

That close up photo on Nubbin’s start button and upper dash... dear forum members what I am hoping is for a similar image for:

1. an AB with ebony or navy dash
2. an AB with Espresso dash
3. a VSE with Espresso dash

My understanding is VSE gets ‘inferior’ dash top leather to AB but I am wondering how visually different it is. The extended Arabica leather on my 2010 RRS dash and door roll tops is the same as my seats (kinda Windsor ish, it’s actually very nice) whereas the dash and doortop roll leather on the 2018 Vogue at my dealer was significantly inferior vs AB which has given me the heebeejeebies about a VSE.

Any one of those 3 photo asks would be rewarded with a 1000 virtual thank yous from someone about drop their life savings on a 2019 order for a car that will last 10+ years. Thanks.

I know that feeling very well ilard - this is a once only purchase for me too!

Best thing to do is go to your local dealer and hope that they have a well-specced Ab and a VSE so you can compare directly. Even good potos won't help compared to getting youe hands on the leather!
This video https://www.whichcar.com.au/reviews/2019-r...4x4-review shows the dash fairly close up at 1:46 onwards, the double stitching is different to mine.

My dealer has a corris grey AB as display model, and guess what? It has navy and ivory interior - they admit they copied my spec! Because of what I reveal below, I will be back at the dealers early next week, so I will try to get some shots of the dash. I have to say though, the interior didn't jump out as looking much different to mine.

On another note, I am currently absolutely fuming, mixed with a possible dash of acquired gormlessness. I have just got my car back after the 18D update (android Auto/Apple Carplay for free thankyou very much!) and noticed a new vibration through the steering wheel that wasn't there before, and a noise almost like a window was slightly open from the rear of the car. I thought maybe there's something caught under the car, so had a look when I got home. Nothing amiss underneath. As I stood up I noticed the offside rear tyre looked smoother than I recall, and had a closer look - it's a Fecking Pirelli P Zero!!! So I've got 3 Scorpion Verde, and a P Zero!!! They must have ordered, and put on the wrong tyre when I had a puncture, and for some reason (road conditions, air temperature, whatever) I have only just noticed the noise.

I have rung my dealer, and they have checked the work schedule, and it does indeed say "P ZR" on the computer.

FFS, I was very clear which tyres were on my car, and one glance would show the wrong tyre on the car. So now, I have to go back next week once they have ordered a tyre, to have it replaced!

I suppose you could say I should have noticed earlier, but I think the cold weather has changed the nature of the P Zero, which is after all a summer tyre, but it is a bit dangerous to have that mix of tyres on the car!

Great looking car.

I really like the gear selector and start button surround, can these be retro fitted? (DIY) 718 GT4
FFRR AB
BMW R1250RT
Honda ST 1100

Sold
Freelander 2
Porsche C4S Cab
D4
BMW 520 M Sport Touring
BMW R1200RT
BMW R1150RT
MX5 2lt Roadster

I can't believe that about the tyre, it's incredible incompetence and on top of that just adds significant inconvenience for which no doubt you will not be compensated.

Thanks for offering to try to get a nice close up of the navy AB dash... that will be very interesting. I find it difficult to get to the dealer during opening hours so a lot of my purchase preparation is from the armchair. When I did go last week they only had Vogue and AB, no VSE, which was frustrating. My guess is the AB dash will appear smoother than the VSE dash. If that is the case I will need to go AB because my silly OCD will keep reminding me every time I get in the damn thing. I'll end up paying for stuff I do not need in the AB (like I will have fixed roof, body coloured accents, don't need 4 zone climate, illuminated tread plates, diamond turned alloys etc) but when I look at the long term TCO what's an extra £7k between friends?

Or maybe I should get some hypnosis.

Don Henshall wrote:

Great looking car.

I really like the gear selector and start button surround, can these be retro fitted? (DIY)

Yes - and it's incredibly simple! All you need is - https://www.powerfuluk.com/vehicles/range-...ype-1.html (or possibly the other type with a different fitting) as shown on the website. Easiest upgrade ever!

Start button surround (you'll need one for the glovebox release button as well) - https://www.powerfuluk.com/vehicles/range-...ound.html. Ignore the Evoque reference, it's one size fits all.

So I managed to get an hour free to do some Miss Marple on dash top, facia and door leather. There was only an AB in the showroom and no 2018+ VSE for sale, so in the end I took a look at one of their customer's cars. My local dealer thought I was bonkers which got me thinking too. But then they also thought you could order a VSE with extended leather (which you cannot - unusually, LR missing a money spinning trick on the L405) so I sleep easy.

I learned that:

1. AB leather on doors and facia appears the same as the dash top (i.e. smooth... not necessarily aniline to my eyes but maybe Windsor?) EXCEPT for the left and right corner pieces of the dash. Here you can visibly see a distinct difference in leather finish.
2. VSE leather on doors and facia appears same as AB
3. VSE leather on dash top appears inferior to the door and facia finish, and interestingly there is no difference across the whole top of the dash from the very left corner to the very right corner, which is different to AB. And when viewed on it's own the VSE dash looks good (or certainly OK), even though I prefer the AB finish.
4. They did not have Vogue, but my memory of Vogue was same leather on dash top as VSE, but distinctly inferior leather on doors and facia, similar to regular E Class leather which I have a real aversion to.
5. Semi aniline leather seats on VSE & AB is delightfully soft, in my opinion. Sumptuous.

In short, if the only real reason you're buying an AB is for the leather, then it ain't worth the premium. This means as someone who would delete sliding roof, doesn't need 4 zone climate, ambivalent to frivolities like illuminated tread plates, and additionally are concerned about P400e boot space with executive class seating, the VSE is looking as compelling as ever.

It just bugs me that my ancient RRS has superior leather on the dash and cowling than a £100k+ L405. I may need to be hypnotised to not notice it (which will still be cheaper than going AB).

Hi ilard - I did mange to get the photos of the dash on the demo at our dealer. The main diffrence seems to be double stitching on the AB dash (see below) but I ouldn't say that the leather seemed much better quality. Leather headlining might be nice but is it worth the overall extra cost of the AB version? However, you do get more stuff as standard particularly when it comes to the "packs" such as he drive pro pack. But do you get an extra £20k worth of stuff? Not really, IMHO. (i do wish I'd specified the wood and leather steering wheel though! )

I really appreciate you gathering these. I had not picked up on the stitching on the dash and on the facia. That is a detail that no one would notice but that I will never forget. Oh dear

No problem