[vinay_ss]

I took a good longish test drive of the X5 in Chennai OMR with some good open stretches as well as stretches with heavy traffic. We then did a bit of rough roads. I was blown away by the car. Key observations;

1. Engine feels extraordinarily refined to drive even compared to my A6 which is a very refined engine. It's very silent and the power is on tap. When you need it, the car can lunge and when you don't it can be pretty sedate in traffic conditions.

2. The cabin is very plush. But some bits I thought are overdone. Like the sky lounge glass roof. Perhaps at night with the lighting, it may look classy, but in the daytime it didn't feel sophisticated. Similarly the swarvoski gear knob, is a love it or hate it. I hated it. At some angles, the sunlight reflected back and I thought it was a safety issue.

3. The sound system from Harman Kardon is good, though I felt the Bose in my A6 is much better. I wish they gave the Bowers that comes with X7.

4. Rear seat could have been slightly more reclined, just a few degrees. After a point, you start feeling it's too upright and the seats are non reclining.

5. I loved the color combinations of the interior. Cognac leather looks classy in a blue or black body exterior.

6. You can apparently expect a mileage of 8 to 9 in city and 12 on the highways. A tad lower than my expectations.

7. The big bummer, the diesel engine is not BS6 , only the petrol is. This is what the sales rep told me and I was surprised and it was a shocker.

8. My wife found it a breeze to drive ( she currently drives the kodiaq). While the size is huge, it's very manouverable.

9. The seats are super confortable.and have a very wide adjustment range.

Overall, it seems this is the car I can live with and drive everywhere without a worry. It can stay with me a long time. It's got me into serious consideration, but the perspectives of the others on the forum are valuable and I want to take my time to decide. I am not in a hurry ( to the contrary, I will need to first sell my cars at a reasonable price), but at the same time I'm also impulsive.

I am now 46, still have the drive, energy and passion to drive. I can afford to buy this with a stretch (considering I will loose money selling my A6 and Kodiaq, both bought in 2018 and together have done 42k Kms). The dilemma is whether I will loose more money by keeping the A6 and Kodiaq in absolute terms and will have to fund a larger gap for the X5 one year from now or alternatively, if I have decided X5 is the car to buy, I should rather bite the bullet and sell now. Clearly it's not that I have not used my A6 and Kodiaq. I have driven 23 k and 19k respectively in 15 months and 9 months since I've owned both cars. So obviously, I will have to pay for the depreciation. I would have felt worse had I not used them as much and had to sell. There is of course merit in having just 1 car instead of 2 since one of them isn't being used daily as much. The 3rd car which is a Baleno does daily duties to the school and market etc and is driver driven with almost zero cost of maintenance.

This combined passion of cars and driving can be both expensive viewed from self and can sound insane viewed from others perspective. Mid life crisis can take the blame.

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

You will need to introspect on your need to save money (a very legitimate need) .....If the need is urgent, and the savings are critical and you don't care too much (like me) for the latest then there is nothing wrong with the current GLE.

The biggest draw of the GLE was the space and the really good discounts. But after taking a test drive, I felt let down with the interiors and boaty ride when roads get uneven. Typical SUV, but very pronounced. Kids and wife didn't like the interiors and feel of the car one bit. So it's pretty much out of my mind.

Originally Posted by navpreet318

Have you tried the Wishbox offerings on the Mercedes?

Ofcourse the finer print needs to be read but on the face of it, looks like some good deals.

The fine print doesn't make it attractive. The offers are on the car without discounts. So they roll back the discounts and pass it on as wishbox. Also you are tied up with MB Finance with slightly higher than the best rates available in the market. Also prepayments and foreclosures are expensive. The buyback like GTO and others mentioned, look attractive initially since it lowers the EMI but it erodes your capital ( since residual value of the car is adjusted to the last EMI).

[vinay_ss]

New twist in the tale. I test drove the All New Discovery V6 diesel and am completely blown by the space, refinement and character of the car. The dealer has offered a HSE version with additional specs like 360 camera, rear entertainment, electric 7 seat configuration, 16 way adjustable Windsor leather with a tan shade etc. The dealer is giving a massive discount of 25 Lacs considering its a 2018 CBU along with extended warranty of 2 years making it a 5 year warranty covered car.

I am now completely torn with heart on the Discovery Vs head with X5. I really loved the car, but worried if I am getting too carried away. It just makes me feel I'm potentially buying a hugely capable car with the confidence of using it the way it is meant to be without worrying about things going wrong ( would never have confidence to do even close to serious pff-roading with an x5).

Is there any LR owners here who can vouch for the Discovery V6 engine? This is not the ingenium. Also from running cost perspective, can I expect a mileage of 8 to 9 in Chennai city and about 12 on highways? Last uncertainty is about body roll in the huge car, though dealer tells me it's very largely mitigated because of air suspension. But is it good enough to beat the high center of gravity?

[BackInTheFold]

Originally Posted by vinay_ss

I am now completely torn with heart on the Discovery Vs head with X5. I really loved the car, but worried if I am getting too carried away. It just makes me feel I'm potentially buying a hugely capable car with the confidence of using it the way it is meant to be without worrying about things going wrong ( would never have confidence to do even close to serious pff-roading with an x5).

Forgive me, but this sounds like the "impulse creep" phenomenon akin to the scope/requirement creep in other projects. It might help for you to take the proverbial clean sheet of paper to write down why you'd originally embarked on this journey. It'll help set context for a rational evaluation of your options, after which you can choose to do whatever you'd wanted to do anyway

As for your existing vehicles, as you consider your options, you might want to explicitly add the depreciation hits to the purchase price of the new vehicle for it to reflect the opportunity (and real) cost.

Good luck with the search. Do keep us posted as to where you land!

PS If you do decide to sell your old vehicles I hope you list them on TBHP. Please ping me too

[Turbanator]

Kodiaq and A6 are good vehicles and you have already taken a large depreciation hit in first year. They will certainly lose more but not to that extent that your new Discovery or X5. You are getting a deal on LR for a reason, it does not sell well so it’s going to be even more difficult when it’s a time for you. X5 is a better vehicle but I won’t buy any BMW at full price which is the case at present on X5.

Better spend more time analyzing your needs, no car is completely perfect. The difference amount that you intend to pay on a new vehicle, invest at some place to take care of the inflated costs of a new car in future. If you had planned finance route, start saving in an RD.

But, if you have made up your mind and need something now, I will certainly pick an X5 over JLR. Go again for test drives and if possible speak to some existing customers of LR, who have kept the car for 3-4 years. As a repeat BMW customer, even though occasionally bothered by dealership, company has supported and these days at least here in North, even dealers have realized that they need to maintain service levels to win customers back. To give you an idea about BMW, I was having some strange noise from suspension on my old 7 and last week, they approved, change of rear air suspension, in goodwill warranty. With other companies, I am not sure this can happen.

[vinay_ss]

There are dealers who are selling MY 2017 Discovery's for 25 to 30 lac discounts. What are the aspects that I need to be wary about in picking up such cars ? They are willing to give 5 years extended warranty. Reasons for not selling for 2 years is essentially lack of discounts in the past (no point in debating the credibility of this).

Just purely on merits, is it truly possible that the car would have depreciated owing to non use, other than battery and tyres? These cars are kept in covered warehouses ( I have seen pictures of a number of fully covered cars). I do have an option of physically going to Mumbai to check the vehicle as well before making the purchase if I go down this route. They would of course be doing the PDI of the vehicle, once booked. What other reason not to buy such a car ? For reference, the landed cost in Chennai comes to anywhere between Rs 90 lacs to Rs 1.10 cr depending on the variant and specs (every car is differently spec'd since they come as CBU's and can be custom specified).


I just seem to be smitten by the Discovery and I am trying to see the most value for money car. The money saved can be put to use on fuel to drive the amazing car and any potential maintenance (that can crop up in any car).

Its a terrible dilemma to be in ! Started with the GLE, moved to the BMW and now in love with the Discovery (for sheer capabilities and space that the car offers)

[vinay_ss]

Originally Posted by BackInTheFold

Forgive me, but this sounds like the "impulse creep" phenomenon akin to the scope/requirement creep in other projects. Good luck with the search. Do keep us posted as to where you land!

You are bang on ! It has ended up as a scope creep.. 70 lacs to 110 lacs :( And now back to 80 and 90's with discussions on pre 2019 models

[sanchit.j]

As of today, getting 15 lacs off of GLE 350d ex-showroom in Delhi and waiver of logistics charges + the usual finance and insurance schemes etc.

And 4.80 off on E200 Exclusive, which looks normal and nothing extra ordinary considering the festive season / general slowdown.