Sunday, October 23, 2011

Pretty Ride Reveal

 After a year and a half watching every online car review and Top Gear reviews, especially that crazy episode where they place Range Rover Sport against a Challenger II tank, we finally took the plunge. I mentioned in a blurb this past spring about how we wanted this vehicle as our first choice:

Photo: usautochoice.com


 But we could not find one in that particular colour that was still under warranty- a key-must for RR's! And we also test drove their crossover, the RR Evoque, which was our second choice:

Photo courtesy of Gman

 In my opinion, the Evoque was gorgeous with some pretty wicked features: visual assist (crazy fish eye cameras that can see around corners!), electronic tailgate, panoramic sunroof (which every maker is catching onto), better integrated dash/touchscreen (meaning way less buttons than older RR's), neat gear shift knobby, and side mirrors which project a silhouette of the evoque on the ground at night. It drove like a car rather than SUV and it was certainly punchier than the Audi Q5 3.2 Turbo (our 3rd choice)... but I found myself uncomfortable because the side mirrors were so big they occluded my view and the back window was too small (in the 3 dr coupe). I don't want to go through life with endless lawsuits because I run over pedestrians on a weekly basis. Besides, Ford was the parent company to Land Rover (now its Tata) so that's why their Edge and Escapes are looking a lot like the Evoque. Most people won't know that the design for the Evoque was created years earlier and Land Rover just took their sweet time in fine-tuning their baby Range Rover that the copy cats came out before it did.


 Needless to say, we think we made the right choice when we brought this one home:




... And we are in less debt than if we went with the Evoque and massively less debt than buying a new one- it must suck when you lose half of what you paid in 3 years anyhow? She's an 08 Sport Supercharge and the former owner loaded it with everything available the time he bought it. However, we still miss out on some of the features and options that the newer models have with only 400hp rather than 510hp and of course, it's not like it's big sister, the classic Range Rover (maybe our next one in 10 yrs? :) For now we like the more streamlined look of the Sport and we love it and shouldn't have to justify it to anyone. As for the black colour, we accept that we share the same vehicle as the drug dealers and douchebags of the world. That's ok...

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