better to occupy 2 spaces and get called 'ignorant arrogant bastard' than occupy 1 space and have some muppet open thier door into yours.

if you want to use only 1 space, try and find a spot which has only one of the adjacent cars' driver's door facing your spot (car A) and park your left side close enough to the other car (car B) to ensure that B's passengers don't even attempt to open thier doors whilst their car is still parked. that reduces liklehood of damage to your left side doors and gives both you and A's driver more space so helps on that side too

Further to my previous post, I must admit I still have a hankering for a supercharged AB and I with man math logic i can make it work. I'm not a fast driver in face i stick to the limit 95% of the time and when i go over its only for a quick overtake. but I do like the sound of the acceleration and I can't stand the smell of diesel at the pump. however, I have a few concerns that I hope a few of you with the 5.0 can help answer;

1. What sort of engine noise are you getting from the engine at 70 MPH and what sort of rpm is the engine running at?
2. on a long motorway drive at the limit whats your MPG? and more importantly how many miles to a tank? I'm not worried about the cost but i don't fancy spending half my life stood at the pump. Most of my mileage is motorway with about 5 miles at each end. One being medium sized town and from home, country roads with a 50mph limit
3. I notice on another forum that people complain that the petrol can be a little unpredictable i.e its smooth but slow off the line unless you floor the pedal and it shoots off. but is there a middle ground?
4. How loud is it on startup? until we complete on our new house we are in a rather built up area with a lot of elderly neighbours and I don't want to scare the living daylights out of them when I fire up the car to head off to the office early in the morning. (probably my biggest concern)
5.0 the ad for a 5.0 car i'm looking at states it comes with Cabin Pre-Conditioning with Remote. Do you happen to know if this is a fuel burning heater or it just starts the car?

A lot of questions i know but i look forward to your reply.

1. It's pleasantly quiet and refined at 70mph. Assuming cruising along at that speed I'd say about 1800rpm.

2. It depends on the weather e.g. head or tail wind, rain/snow or whatever, whether your speed is up and down or steady, what tyres you have etc, but travelling Edinburgh to Hampshire and back in two days last year the car showed 26.2mpg. The real figure will be slightly worse, as the speedo overreads. That was unusually good, normal longer journey type mpg shown by the car is about 24.5mpg. Tank range shown by the car when i filled up during the Hampshire trip was >500 miles, normally the car shows about 450. This all on Shell V Power which i find gives better mpg and performance. But I get anxious about range when the car shows < 100 miles left, so tend to fill up every 350 miles or so. Towing has more of an adverse effect on the 5.0SC than on the 4.4 diesel, so if you do lots of that the diesel is better.

3. You just have to learn how best to drive it. Incidentally at my last service mine had a gearbox software update, as there was occasionally a bit of a thud on kickdown, apparently LR identified that the change could be a bit slow, so by the time the gear is in there's a lot of power coming through and it thumps. That might possibly account for some of the stories of on/off power delivery. But even before the update it was manageable and smooth enough.

4. It is quite noisy from cold, the revs come in at about 2,000 rpm, not so when warm. But nothing remotely like the SVR Sport.

I don't know about the pre-heater as I never use mine.

The thing is to get a reasonably extended test drive, so you can see how it works in the conditions you normally encounter. Apart from the slightly 'vroom' start-up form cold, it's very civilised, but with impressive power on tap if you want it and the conditions are suitable to use it (NB it can pick up speed pretty quickly and effortlessly, so you need to watch for speed limit enforcement). I'm certainly not thinking of going back to diesel. Only Range Rovers since 1988

Thanks everyone!

Order placed today for a new supercharged AB with a substantial discount.

After a test drive in both diesel varients and then the 5.0, I was sold.

The 4.4 seems to be the logical choice but the smoothness of the petrol is just amazing. My advice to anybody with a similar predicament is just test drive them all. I’m sure the dealer thought I was wasting his time until We got back to the dealer.

Thanks again

 Only Range Rovers since 1988

5. cabin pre-conditioning with remote means a fuel burning heater, on both diesel and petrol models.


You've ordered the 5.0, congratulations, I am sure you will be thrilled with it. Did you try the P400e, out of interest? It solves the launch issue by having torque from the electric motor from zero RPM, which I am really appreciating. It doesn't look like your driving would necessarily suit a P400e vs a 5.0, but... I bet you'd find it the same performance in the real world, slightly better MPG, and better launch, so a back to back test would have been interesting.

Finally, did you go for any interesting options? Active rear diff or signature hifi, for example? And what colour? L405 P400e Autobiography (MY2020)... Silicon Silver / Espresso

sbradleyrr wrote:

Order placed today for a new supercharged AB with a substantial discount.

Obligatory pictures required on delivery, Congratulations.....  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...

Essentially specced all the options as I tend to keep it until I kill it. It’s balmoral blue without the shadow or black pack. Diamond cut wheels and the ivory interior. Deployable side steps were a must due to elderly relatives. I think the only option I didn’t tick was the 1700w meridian as I’m not that into my music and tend to listen To podcasts or music through Spotify so 850w was more than adequate. Totally in love with the seats. I don’t think I’ve sat in anything so comfortable. They had an SVA in the showroom but it’s a little too bling for me and the difference in cost was unwarranted And the exhaust a little too SVR like. Plus the insurance quote was more than double that of a plain AB. I did have a very short (2 minute) run round in an SVR and did not enjoy the exhaust or the rock hard suspension. I think I may be the most boring man under the age of 30.

The main reason I didn’t even consider the PHEV was the MPG when the electric range is empty. It’s not far off the supercharged. I don’t have off road parking until we move and my journeys are generally 70 - 80 miles. My concerns about roundabouts was unfounded with the 5.0 however the same could not be said for the SDV6. That and the body roll was a deal breaker for me before we’d traveled a mile. The 4.4 is still the most sensible choice And a damn good car. I very nearly didn’t bother going out in the 5.0 after the v8 as the torque was amazing but i’m glad I did. As stated, if you can afford a supercharged go for it. You should not be able to accelerate that hard in a house and then waft along silently.

Again thanks for all your help. Photos will be forthcoming upon delivery.

You will love the 5.0 Petrol so much that you will never buy a diesel car.

I hope you selected the special paint! And 1700 watt audio is actually worth it.