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Stuart-

Member Since: 16 Dec 2017
Location: UK and Hong Kong
Posts: 338

2017 Range Rover Autobiography SDV8 Santorini Black

I've Joined the L405 Club - First Thoughts

As some may recall, my beloved L322 had an electrical fault that nobody seemed able to locate. That car has now been sold to a member here who will hopefully enlighten us when he has fixed it. Knowing my luck, he'll have found the fault in half an hour and will have fixed it with a £3 part. We'll see,

So I took the opportunity to get an L405. I wanted a black 4.4 Autobiography with not too many miles, and with the glass roof. Turbines and electric steps would have been a bonus. My initial foray at the local dealer proved utterly useless. I did some private searching and found nothing at all decent there.

Eventually, I found a forty-odd thousand-mile 2017 one at Sytner BMW in Sheffield.

Click image to enlarge

It ticks most of my boxes. I'm not too keen on the wheels, personally. But as it's just had new tyres and 4-wheel tracking as part of the sales prep, I'll live with them until they're worn and kerbed. It has the standard leather steering wheel and not the half-wood one my last one had, so I'm going to change that. But on the plus side, it has electric steps and the glass roof I wanted.

Why was it at a BMW dealer? Apparently, that dealer seems to be a repository for good PX stock from around the local Sytner group. This had been PXd at their Audi dealer, and deemed good enough to put right and sell. They serviced it, and did quite a few jobs including front suspension arms, new tyres and tracking.

I got their Sytner warranty for £995 for three years. It has a £4k per claim limit, so I look forward to using that as often as possible.

In fact, it needs new wipers, coming back over the Pennines it was like wiping the screen with a bacon butty. And the tailgate doesn't go all the way up, and the lower tailgate doesn't always engage without help. I spoke to the salesman and he has painlessly arranged my local Sytner LR to fix that and bill them direct. But credit where it's due, the salesman, Steve Vickers was a pleasure to deal with throughout. How often can you say that? Niggles aside, the car was well prepped, there were no pushy upsells, and I'm quite pleased overall.

However, when I went to collect it, I *almost* didn't buy it. Parked next to it was a rather nice Bentley for only a few grand more. My wife took rather a shine to it as you can see.

Click image to enlarge

I sat in the Bentley and pondered for a while, I felt too low down and hemmed in, so decided to stick with the Range Rover. Buying two cars in one day seemed a bit much, so my wife will have to stick with her Evoque for now.

So, first impressions? £165 road tax was a shocker! The L322 was £500+.

As a driving experience, I expected to be more impressed than I am (although I have no complaints). Not terribly different to drive than the L322 to be honest. It handles a bit better but maybe that's the 22" wheels. It seems a bit smoother and quieter than the L322, the hands-free is better, and the touch screen is quite intuitive and well-designed. It's perfectly nice and I'm sure I'll adapt and come to love it, but I see no earth-shattering differences between my old L322 and it. At least from the drivers seat. It just feels like a mild facelift inside.

Is it worth 3x the price of a good L322? I suppose that's subjective. A nice L322 does the same job in similar comfort for a lot less money. But this is 7 years newer than my L322 was and half the miles. Is that worth another £35k? Seems like a lot of money to me, but as with anything, our choices have a price.

Once I've recovered from parting with a big lump of cash, got my plate on it, put a black half-wood steering wheel on it and got used to it, I'll probably be a bit more upbeat about it.

2017 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography in black
2018 D300 SE Velar in champagne
1982 Rolls Royce Silver Spirit in green
Spiffing wheel centre caps, L322 sill repair panels, etc

19th Nov 2022 6:31pm

philip1972

Member Since: 16 Jun 2017
Location: Marval 87440
Posts: 526

2006 Range Rover Autobiography 4.2 SC V8 Java Black

The 405 is lovely.....I would buy the Bentley though if it came with your wife

19th Nov 2022 7:10pm

Stuart-

Member Since: 16 Dec 2017
Location: UK and Hong Kong
Posts: 338

She costs more to run than a Bentley would, Philip. 2017 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography in black
2018 D300 SE Velar in champagne
1982 Rolls Royce Silver Spirit in green
Spiffing wheel centre caps, L322 sill repair panels, etc

Last edited by Stuart- on 20th Nov 2022 12:21pm. Edited 1 time in total

19th Nov 2022 8:26pm

Cam-Tech-Craig

Member Since: 03 Aug 2011
Location: Gloucestershire
Posts: 16306

2015 Range Rover SVAutobiography SDV8 Loire Blue

Sorry was there a Bentley in those pictures somewhere?

If you're after a steering wheel? I have several sir... Drop me a PM if of interest?

19th Nov 2022 11:38pm

Haylands

Member Since: 04 Mar 2014
Location: East Yorkshire
Posts: 8355

2014 Range Rover Autobiography SDV8 Loire Blue

Welcome to the 405 club....

I spoke to a guy a couple of weeks back who has a 405 and a Continental, he doesn't drive it much since buying the fatty he recons it's better in just about any respect..... so you made the right choice... Pete
I now have permission from the boss to use Y.O.L.O. Enjoy life
__________________________________________________
2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

20th Nov 2022 12:33am

caymanblack

Member Since: 08 Dec 2015
Location: DEVON
Posts: 1152

2017 Range Rover Autobiography SDV8 Carpathian Grey

Congratulations Stuart, it looks lovely. A 17 model with the low tax is worth looking for.

20th Nov 2022 11:25am

Stuart-

Member Since: 16 Dec 2017
Location: UK and Hong Kong
Posts: 338

Yes, they also have the later top screen without the side buttons. 2017 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography in black
2018 D300 SE Velar in champagne
1982 Rolls Royce Silver Spirit in green
Spiffing wheel centre caps, L322 sill repair panels, etc

20th Nov 2022 12:22pm

24valve

Member Since: 07 Apr 2009
Location: Cornwall
Posts: 165

2010 Range Rover Autobiography Black TDV8 Santorini Black

Congrats Stuart, it looks really nice.

I havent spent alot of time with your old car yet (mainly because the battery was dead flat after a couple of days so I'm getting to the bottom of that first, but will be tackling it soon and will do an update on here.

Nice to meet you last weekend,

Neil. 2010 L322 Autobiography Black Edition
1975 Land Rover

20th Nov 2022 1:21pm

Stuart-

Member Since: 16 Dec 2017
Location: UK and Hong Kong
Posts: 338

I dropped my daughter off at school this morning and she told me she prefers the older one.

A spiffing new half-black wood steering wheel is on the way from Craig above. It's a mystery to me why the person who bought it new didn't specify that option. The all-leather one just looked wrong in a cabin with black wood cappings and trim. So that'll be on by the weekend and all will be well.

I'm liking the car now but the drivers seat seems a bit hard, is that usual? And where do y'all keep your sunglasses? No roof cubby like the L322 has. 2017 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography in black
2018 D300 SE Velar in champagne
1982 Rolls Royce Silver Spirit in green
Spiffing wheel centre caps, L322 sill repair panels, etc

21st Nov 2022 4:35pm

Haylands

Member Since: 04 Mar 2014
Location: East Yorkshire
Posts: 8355

Sunglasses fit in the opening door pocket...

Personally I can't stand wood steering wheels so that's probably why it had a full leather one, first owner like me...

Seats are harder than the 322 but personally I like them better, certainly on longer runs.... Pete
I now have permission from the boss to use Y.O.L.O. Enjoy life
__________________________________________________
2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

21st Nov 2022 6:38pm

Stuart-

Member Since: 16 Dec 2017
Location: UK and Hong Kong
Posts: 338

I just had to go out in the rain and have a look, by jove, there's a nice little opening cubby in the door just as you said. How did I miss that?

I take your point about the wheel, we all have different tastes. My L322 had the wooden wheel and I loved it. Why I want one on this. To my eyes, it seems incomplete without it.

At least I may get a few bob back for the leather one on here. 2017 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography in black
2018 D300 SE Velar in champagne
1982 Rolls Royce Silver Spirit in green
Spiffing wheel centre caps, L322 sill repair panels, etc

21st Nov 2022 6:45pm

Haylands

Member Since: 04 Mar 2014
Location: East Yorkshire
Posts: 8355

Boring if we all liked the same thing...

Glad you like the door cubby... Pete
I now have permission from the boss to use Y.O.L.O. Enjoy life
__________________________________________________
2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

21st Nov 2022 7:01pm

caymanblack

Member Since: 08 Dec 2015
Location: DEVON
Posts: 1152

Stuart can i ask how is the seat wear on the drivers seat? I just passed on a car with 47k miles on it that had the leather scratched on on the seat base. tia.

21st Nov 2022 7:25pm

Haylands

Member Since: 04 Mar 2014
Location: East Yorkshire
Posts: 8355

My 2014 is mint at 63,000 miles, IMHO it seems to depend how heavy the previous driver was.... Pete
I now have permission from the boss to use Y.O.L.O. Enjoy life
__________________________________________________
2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

21st Nov 2022 8:03pm

Stuart-

Member Since: 16 Dec 2017
Location: UK and Hong Kong
Posts: 338

caymanblack wrote:
Stuart can i ask how is the seat wear on the drivers seat? I just passed on a car with 47k miles on it that had the leather scratched on on the seat base. tia.

I wonder if we saw the same car? There was one in Auto Trader in Coventry with allegedly that kind of miles I went to look at. It had bad seat wear and a very worn start button. It had also been very badly painted down the whole offside and the wheels and trims were well scuffed. Not an honest car IMO.

Mine is about 98%, so pretty good. My previous L322 was still looking quite decent at 97k miles, and I'm not a small bloke and I had it 5 years.

All the ones I saw in the Vogue Centre recently had good seats and they were variably in the 40-70k mile range. 2017 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography in black
2018 D300 SE Velar in champagne
1982 Rolls Royce Silver Spirit in green
Spiffing wheel centre caps, L322 sill repair panels, etc

21st Nov 2022 8:15pm

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