A 2005 RRS will be one of the first (been there had one) and the interior is not a patch on a FFRR of the same era. The TDv6 is a much nicer engine than the TD6 (I chopped in a TD6 FFRR for a TDV6 RRS about the same time as Adam ordered his S/C).

Mechanical problems are much of a muchness, the big belt job on an RRS is a body-off job, not as scarey as it sounds as the body is designed to be removed easily, just like a Disco3 or 4 and just unbolts. TDv6 is a lot smoother than the TD6 and is less wheezy. RRS doesn't have the same interior space as the FFRR either. 2.7TDv6 in the Sport was almost under powered for the weight so look out for re-mapped and chipped 2005MY. Also only the S/C could wear 20" wheels at launch unless you specced an HSE with Dynamic Pack, then your 2.7 got an uprated steering rack - from 2007 on all RRS's got the uprated rack as LR made 20" wheels optional on even the lowest S spec cars.
If you can find a post good 2007My TDv8 RRS I reckon it was the best car I ever owned - it didn't fall over in corners, had a fantastically powerful engine and was more economical on fuel than the 2.7 TDv6. These TDv8 only came in HST and HSE models and had lots of toys on them. The RRS interior only got facelifted in late 2009 for the 2010MY. 2018 Mini Countryman Cooper S E All4 PHEV in Melting Silver - it’s whisper quiet in EV and polluter modes

Thanks for your input Tim, the body off job on the Sport does sound like a scary prospect!!, I think whichever way I go I might just suffer the higher road tax and get a newer TDV8, saying that though I saw Merc do an ML 420 CDI which is well into Supercharged territory performance wise, but at the same time I'm not greatly bothered about that in a 4x4, as long as it isn't as woefully slow as the RR Classic diesel I once had was, and has adequate performance I'm happy.

To split opinion what does everyone think the best colour on a FF or Sport is?, so many of them are Black and while it's a decent colour it's one(especially on the Sport) that I would rather avoid, I really like Stornoway Grey and there is another colour that's blue but almost sort of purple that looks fantastic too, although I've only seen this on a Sport not a FF.

Stornoway is great (it was also very popular) and the Blue you mention is Bali Blue aka Bali Purple. RRS also looks good in Rimini Red, Tonga Green/Galway Green and even better in Nara Bronze. Your biggest choice of used ones will be Black (which is a metallic except on S models IIRC which had Narvik Black solid). The predecessor to Stornoway was Bonatti Grey. If you are going for a new one the Orkney Grey looks quite good but personally I think that Firenze Red doesn't suit RRS. Avoid Atacama Sand or Maya Gold on the RRS, very few were made and they can be hard to shift on. 2018 Mini Countryman Cooper S E All4 PHEV in Melting Silver - it’s whisper quiet in EV and polluter modes

Regarding the Merc , the daughter has the ML 300 Cdi and the couple of times I have driven it , I find it to be a comfortable and a nice vehicle to drive , the interior is nice and although it is the typical Merc layout dash wise it does have a fair size of boot space , all owners have their own opinions of what marque they drive tho ...

Probably should have got her one with a bigger engine tho

Personally I like the Merc