After 6 years of faultless service I have decided to swap out of my 2016MY SDV8 VSE. It’s the longest I’ve ever kept a car and I’ve really enjoyed owning it. Time to upgrade though and I’ve gone for a 2021MY P525. Portofino Blue with Ivory leather. Pick it up next Saturday - here’s a pic from the test drive. Can’t wait!

That’s stunning. Only 7 days to go 😀

thats lovely, I'm so tempted to go petrol next time I change First time FFRR owner

Picked up the new wheels on Saturday and had a good trip back from Milton Keynes via Brackley (to watch a football match). Engine is awesome and lots of gadgets to work out.

Spent yesterday sorting bits out like putting in the rubber floor mats and boot mat. Ah….. Seems if you have executive rear seats, then the standard boot mat is slightly too long, so I’ve pushed it in with about an inch of the far end folded up against the seat backs. Not ideal, but I can live with it. The floor mats are fine in the front footwells, but the pegs in the reat footwells are in a different position (the previous car was a 2016), so I need to put holes in the mats to line up with the pegs. The real pain though is my hatchbag bootliner doesn’t fit and they don’t make one for cars fitted with executive seats, not it seems do Land Rover.

Apart from that, its brilliant - Mrs S particularly likes the massage seats!

Looks lovely, great colour but then I would say that...!!  Pete
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2014 L405 Autobiography SDV8 4.4 Loire Blue Ebony interior
2011 L322 Vogue SE 4.4 TDV8 Baltic Blue. Parchment over Navy Interior. Sold
2012 L322 Autobiography 5.0 Supercharged Ipanema Sand, Jet Interior. Sold
2002 L322 Vogue 4.4 V8 Epson Green, Ivory over Aspen Interior (Fatty Offroader) Sold
-Click for Project Fatty off roader-

That looks a picture, I plumped for the 5:0 sc as lots of short trips and couldn’t be happier. All I do out of the ordinary is pop it on a battery trickle charger once a week to keep the battery topped up as I’ve read and previous experiences show these big old girls are voltage dependent. 2021 SVautobiography Dynamic Black ( Black wheels need to go )
1997 C140 Mercedes Benz CL500

4 months into ownership of the P525, some thoughts on my experience so far.

The car replaced a 2016 MY SDV8 VSE which I owned from 2018, which was by some distance the best car I’ve ever had. Never let me down and only costs were servicing and replacing worn parts. But I had a hankering for a 5.0 SC car, so after looking for the ‘right’ one, plunged in last August.

Overall, the only difference I’m really noticing is the engine, which is hardly surprising! Thing is though, I’ve been surprised at how docile it is; quite happy to bumble along just like the big diesel, but when you put your foot down, it roars and goes off like a scalded cat. I find myself looking for excuses to put my foot down………. Fuel consumption is better than I expected too, around 25 mpg on average.

In terms of the rest, well the differences are down to the differences between a 21MY and a 16MY, so the split info screens, different seats, no door cubbies, extra storage in centre console. In terms of comfort though, no different. The car has exec rear seats, but I’m not fussed about them - rarely have rear passengers and they mean the boot is shorter (hence putting the bootliner and rubber mat up for sale - still available!). That slightly smaller boot is a bit of a pain if like me you go shooting; my gun (in its slip) doesn’t fit unless I rest it at an angle on top of other things, so not ideal.

All in all, I’d say the upgrade is positive, but at the moment the new car still doesn’t feel like its ‘my’ car, which the old one did. It’s great fun though and at the moment I’m glad I made the change. I suspect I won’t keep it for as long as the last car though, not least because I’ll be retiring next year and I won’t have the car allowance to subsidise my car habit!

Good update Andy, I may go the same path as you have, SDV8 > P525, out of interest, what mpg were you getting form the SDV8 to compare with your 25mpg for the petrol?

I'm currently getting an overall average of 31mog from all forms of driving journeys so I'd be very happy with something like 25 in a petrol. First time FFRR owner

Andy, thanks for your update. I’m following a similar upgrade path having owned a reliable VSE TDV8 for the last 5 years or so, collecting a MY21 SC this weekend, in what may be a snowy drive back from the Midlands.
Hoping that I’ve also made the right choice and looking forward to all the additional features that come with the newer model. I now only do shortish journeys so have convinced myself and the missus that a P565 makes more sense! 🤣 2021 SVAutobiography Dynamic Black

Previous Land Rovers
2017 L405 TDV8 SE
2011 L494 Sport SDV6 HSE
2013 L316 Defender 90HT
2005 L332 Range Rover 4.4 SE
2002 P38 Range Rover 4.0 Westminster
1988 Range Rover Classic 3.5 V8
1985 Range Rover Classic 3.5 V8

Arch Stanton wrote:

Good update Andy, I may go the same path as you have, SDV8 > P525, out of interest, what mpg were you getting form the SDV8 to compare with your 25mpg for the petrol?

I'm currently getting an overall average of 31mog from all forms of driving journeys so I'd be very happy with something like 25 in a petrol.

thanks Andy, thats really helpful. First time FFRR owner

very very nice combination

Looks lush sir… Well done you

That looks lush. Nice wheels….

I was pondering the change. But have decided to stick.

It’s was the boot space in the end with the exec seating which put me off the one I was looking at. I fill the boot on a fairly regular basis and losing 200L and the ability to fold them flat has kind of put most of the AB models off the table as they seem to all be specced with it as it was a free upgrade. There is nothing that can't be fixed with a hammer😜😜
FFRR 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography Santorini Black.
KIA E-Niro 4+
2010 LR D4 Commercial 2.7 TDV6

I too have just bought a (older model to yours) blue/ivory but really like the upward side 'stripes' with the chrome effect which I think make them more integral to the car.