xc90 practicalities

They are certainly selling. Little hope of any discount and probably a waiting list. I'm a Land Rover man at heart, so I find the XC90 a bit soft (and horribly ugly) but it's very nicely put together and the seating is neat.

Not an awful lot of leg room for the 6th and 7th seats, but enough for a small adult for moderately long journeys I suspect.

Boot space is naturally greatly reduced in 7-seat mode.

I have a lot of respect for LandRovers, which are justifiably considered excellent workhorses, but to hear the XC90 described as "horribly ugly" in comparison defies belief!!!!!

It is a beatiful car, and attracts positive looks and comments, which is not often the case with LRs.

AB

Tim Hobbs wrote:

I thought Land Rovers are piece of shit, that's why their parent company Ford has given them an ultimatum to improve on their quality control.

I believe the third row is officially for children or small adults.

The salesmen have told me that the third row is not something you'd want even a small adult (or a large child, e.g. teenager?) in for any sort of long trip. There certainly doesn't appear to be any proper legroom.

This is the impression I get from the Honda Pilot too.

Of course I haven't tried it since I don't need 7 seats.

andrew [ snipped-for-privacy@wwwebbers.com]

Thanks Tim

So, could I get 7 passengers in a landrover and take them on a long run without too many complaints? Are they reliable these days? I knew someone who had one some years ago and he spent more time repairing it than he did driving it, then the rust got it and it fell to bits. That said, I can see the attraction towards them but work does not permit extensive repair and care time.

I believe Saab is about to release a version of the GMC Envoy/Chevy Trailblazer. The long wheelbase version of those vehicles have very good 3rd row seat room.

Supposed to be a nicer version of the basic GMC platform, much like they recently reworked the Subaru WRX.

Not sure if they'll sell it in the UK however.

Do any of the full sized US built SUVs sell in Europe? I'd guess the fuel economy (lack thereof) would make them a poor choice for EU markets, but the

I often did with my Discovery. Reliability in recent years has improved drastically and there aren't many horror stories with the Series 2 Discovery. The Series 1 had various 'issues', but would do minor miracles off-road. The engines in some recent Land Rovers were terribly unreliable - the P38 Range Rover and 1.8 Freelander were disgracefully poor in that respect.

They are very different to 'normal' cars, and if you don't like taking cars to bits and saying a little prayer every time you get in then you shouldn't really get one! The new Discovery is fantastic (my company was a supplier to the production line) but I wouldn't buy the first model year of any car from any manufacturer - just a fact of life that the second models are always slightly improved in key areas as the manufacturer learns from warranty claims.