chrisnj wrote:

So a bit of a long update on the search in case anyone is interested, if not TDLR: Still looking!

Went to see the SPP one nearer to me today. Absolutely beautiful colour scheme in the flesh and in a pretty good condition for a 7 year old car - the engine bay was the cleanest I think I've ever seen on a 7 year old car that's not a show car. Assume it must have had to steam clean or something at some point or a real good valet.

But not quite as immaculate as the dealer suggested and given I think they are asking about 4k premium for it. There were a few little chips and scratches but no more than you would expect for the age but was surprised to see them as its obviously had a valet and would have thought they would have sorted those but not a deal breaker.

What was an issue for me given the price is one of the side steps was reporting an error and wouldn't un-deploy saying there was an obstruction, which I couldn't see any. Dealer said that's common if they aren't used regularly and just needs a greasing?? But if its such a perfect car I don't expect to find the when I view it. Likewise only one of the keys worked could just be batteries but could be something else. Just little things but makes you worry.

Probably the biggest issue was the boot was quite badly scratched on the plastics and so was the rear window on the privacy glass film to the extent you could see it when you looked in the rearview mirror. Guess a previous owner had a dog in there. Dealer said they would sort the privacy glass and I could live with the plastics scratches as we have dogs as well so scratches happen but at the price point I'm not sure this is all great.

Rear infotainment screens were on the back seat awaiting refitting so unable to test, everything else on the car seemed to work ok from what I could tell, a/c was nice and cool and tyres were good and good quality.

All in all was it down around 40k-42k in price I probably would have bought it subject to the side steps being fixed and the rear glass being repaired but at nearly 45k I don't think it was perfect enough to warrant that price IMHO

What was also interesting in doing the test drive was because this was mostly small country lanes and some country tracks we really noticed the stiffer suspension setup in the SV. The previous one I've driven was mostly on regular roads and dual carriageways. It was not so bad to be a deal breaker but is making us wonder whether the non SV 5.0 s/c AB would be better for us as we do drive some smaller lanes and unmade roads fairly often as well and motorways and its not as if the 'standard' 5.0 s/c is a slouch! Also means for our budget we can move up to the 2018/19 models and not have the 3G mobile network switch-off issue I've just found out about for pre 2018 facelift cars.

For the Dundee car I think this is a much fairer price and its main dealer so comes with 1 year approved used warranty etc but I've been spooked with a lot of people telling me to beware with cars who've lived their lives in Scotland as corrosion could be an issue. 'Could' I think being the operative word offset I think with the approved used and the fact there are no reports on any of the MOT's...but Couple that with how far it is from me and I will be away on a business trip from Friday next week for a couple of weeks and it all goes into the too hard box. I got the impression the dealership is coming up to quarter end at end of June and wants to sell this car asap so probably could even negotiate some more, I suspect after next week they will just send it to auction?? If its still around when I'm back I might have another look but I suspect it will be gone one way or another.

So after my trip the search will continue later in July!

nadamson wrote:

I'd double check the warranty on a 2017 car from a MD, the proper warranties are only for cars Upto 7 years old (and 100,000 miles).

There's a Black 2018 SV P565 on Autotrader with red/black interior Facelift 64K miles from a Main Dealer @ £44K

Quote:

There's a Black 2018 SV P565 on Autotrader with red/black interior Facelift 64K miles from a Main Dealer @ £44K

No offence to anyone that has one but red interiors, even two tone don't do it for me or the misses
 ----------- Current Garage --------------------
2011 Range Rover L322 5.0 S/C Autobiography
2015 MINI JCW Hatch
2006 BMW 650i V8 Conv
1997 Range Rover P38 4.6 V8 HSE
2014 Harley Davidson Fat Bob
-----------------------------------------

Same here, black seats/black dash for me - but everytime you find a good car it's damned two-tone or sky-high mileage

I'm fine with two tone and our preference is light interiors, although with the big sunroof, dark interiors in the FF are not so bad, its just red that really doesn't work for us. ----------- Current Garage --------------------
2011 Range Rover L322 5.0 S/C Autobiography
2015 MINI JCW Hatch
2006 BMW 650i V8 Conv
1997 Range Rover P38 4.6 V8 HSE
2014 Harley Davidson Fat Bob
-----------------------------------------

Feel your frustration Chris - but such is often the way with a search for a fairly rare car.

On your original choice 17 SVA or 18+SC you seem to have found good reasons to turn to the SC - such values can only be judged for ourselves, not someone else.

I'm not surprised that the SPP car had a number of chips - seems to happen all too easily to these cars and nowadays chips away can be £100 each (as you'll know if you've ever tried to sell a car to WBAC.com) so it would soon mount up to deal with them all - I expect you'll see chips on all the cars you look at. Its incredibly disappointing but again no surprise that the dealer didn't bother to sort the sidesteps - obvs something that any customer would clock and an immediate turn off. All I can say is that dealer "laziness" is common. When I picked up mine from a main dealer, the battery didn't have enough charge to open the tailgate. "Yes when they've sat here for a while the battery runs down but it'll charge up on your way home and be fine" - was their comment. That indeed proved to be the case, but since they had 5 days notice of when I was picking it up you'd have thought they could have charged the battery in time, but obvs just too much bother.

I too prefer lighter insides and that sadly isn't one of the no-cost options on the SV - its either black or two tone or a mega expensive extra which very few have. Light insides are much more common on the SC - but no diamond quilting.

On the suspension, going from a 322 SC to the 405 SV was a very positive dynamic improvement for me. The 322 could feel overpowerd for the suspension's handling abilities, whereas the 405 SV has vastly improved handling and feel. And I don't feel its at all harsh....but I'm not comparing it to a 405 SC, or a roller, or a Citroen - depends what you're used to and what else you drive. Maybe worth checking the tyres were right?

Anyway, bottom line is the cars you saw had issues at their price point. There will be more cars available next month. Well done for playing the long game and not being suckered in to the first you saw. Mike - MPx

2017 5.0 V8 Supercharged SVAutobigraphy Dynamic SVO Palette Grey (2021-...)
2012 5.0 V8 Supercharged Autoboigraphy Orkney Grey (2017-2021)
2007 4.2 V8 Supercharged Vogue SE Tonga Green (2012-2017)
2002 4.4 V8 Vogue Bonnatti Grey (2008-2012)

Thanks Mike appreciate your response. An SV is not 100% ruled out as I'm a sucker for a noisy exhaust. Our other regular drivers apart from the L322 being a BMW 6 Series V8 which is a bit of a beast and a JCW mini which brings out the 18 year old in me with it popping exhaust - childish for someone in their late 50's I know but addictive

Actually if I was to get a call from the SPP dealer next week prepared to negotiate on price then we may strike a deal but I doubt they will. I'm good for the long game here though and suspect more stock will come in as we approach August.

Also given what I'm likely to get for the L322 PX we've kind of decided to probably keep it when we get the L405. The P38 we have that lives in Somerset is probably at end of life. Its been SORN for 6 months as it has a fuel leak that made it fail its MOT and I keep looking to try and fix it but in reality its probably something I should give up on. I've just have the alloys refurbed in the L322 and will look to get the bumpers that are clear coat peeling repainted and maybe some underseal sorted to address the corrosion thats starting underneath and its then a fairly solid car that can replace the P38. I had the timing chain thing done on my L322 about a year after I got it at around 80k miles and although its now got 111k on it hopefully not much big to go wrong with it. Its regularly serviced and is a sweet drive. So keeping this does leave open to go for the more mad SV option

BTW has this 3G mobile network thing being turned off affected you much with your SVA?

Will share my progress ----------- Current Garage --------------------
2011 Range Rover L322 5.0 S/C Autobiography
2015 MINI JCW Hatch
2006 BMW 650i V8 Conv
1997 Range Rover P38 4.6 V8 HSE
2014 Harley Davidson Fat Bob
-----------------------------------------

If you go for a SV LWB no two tone sir or Autobiography Black again no two tone leather. Try a LWB you wont be disappointed.

Quote:

If you go for a SV LWB no two tone sir or Autobiography Black again no two tone leather. Try a LWB you wont be disappointed.

chrisnj wrote:

BTW has this 3G mobile network thing being turned off affected you much with your SVA?

 ----------- Current Garage --------------------
2011 Range Rover L322 5.0 S/C Autobiography
2015 MINI JCW Hatch
2006 BMW 650i V8 Conv
1997 Range Rover P38 4.6 V8 HSE
2014 Harley Davidson Fat Bob
-----------------------------------------

chrisnj wrote:

Quote:

If you go for a SV LWB no two tone sir or Autobiography Black again no two tone leather. Try a LWB you wont be disappointed.

What makes a LWB better than a SWB then DrF?

Miles better rear leg room for sure... Different handling characteristics. Rear tinted glass that matches

I recently went through a similar dilemma working out what to get to replace my 2013 SC L405 - the choice was either down to a 2017 SVAD or a facelifted P525. In then end, I went for the latter and, for me, I think it was the right choice. While I'm also a sucker for a decent exhaust note and sharper handling, I've got other cars for that... However, the seats and entertainment system on the facelifted car are fantastic, and overall the car is very comfortable and refined. The only downside is the boot. Almost all of the P525s have the 'Executive' seating. While the seats are very nice and comfy, this makes little difference to me as I'm normally transporting kids in the back. However, they are much bigger than the pre-facelift bench seats and this cuts into the boot space. This is more of an issue as we also have a dog (a very lame Labrador). What it means is his ramp no longer fits front to back (it's now just too long) - this is really annoying, but at least they make a tri-scopic version that will work (although it'll mean I have to make a new box for it to slip into). Also, rather annoyingly, you can't get an off the shelf hatchbag to fit and dog guards (and, crucially a boot divider) are more tricky.

I've been able to fit the old hatchbag with some strategic folding, and I may actually get it remade to fit properly in due course. On the dog guard, I may modify the old one, as I'm pretty happy I can make something that works. I will do a post at some point running through what I've done as it may be useful for others.

A bit of an ask but I’ve just purchased a SV (swb) ( picking up next week ) with the executive seats and wondering if you would measure the length of the boot ( maximum from rear seats to tailgate ) as we have a made to measure dog cage for my wife’s Q7 from Transk9 and looks like it may be a little tight fingers crossed. Also there’s a bulkhead carpet flap behind the seats if you move the rear seats forward does this create a little more room then giving the option of removing the carpet flap. A lot to digest there thanks in advance