3Dr Si4 Dynamic - Firenze Red/Black

That sounds brilliant - really pleased you've got the damn thing and you are enjoying it as only those who part with £30-£50k should feel able to! Also interesting to hear about the handover experience - I had a 30 mins, here are the keys, its outside in the rain with a quarter tank of diesel - slight let-down!

Combination of ride, handling and comfort is impressive I agree. Add the Firenze Red and it is unbeatable!

Glad you eventually got your car and am looking forward to your future posts over the coming days/weeks on how things go.

Congrats! Keep us posted.

(07-12-2011 02:29pm)mark_n Wrote:  So, lots to appeal to this driver enthusiast. The whole form factor is wonderful and the execution very good. I can't imagine anyone being seriously disappointed with this car and I come from a quite critical starting point. Overall, I'm absolutely delighted. This car and I are going to become best chums and go lots of interesting places together.

For those of you who face a long wait, believe me, it is worth it.

Room for improvement? I'm hoping the 23.2 MPG on the 39 mile trip home is going to get better.

Wonderful! Quoting your conclusion again Mark because it shows that despite all the aggravation of your pre-delivery the end product has come up trumps. And how
Also good to see you are using the "spirited" run in method. Enjoy your awesome RRE!!!

Thank you Diana and, like you, I think the Puddle Lamps are a wondrous thing.

I'm pleased for you Mark.

I owe you something of an apology too as I was minded to think that there was a touch of the "Simon Cowell's fiancé" about the whole thing at one stage !

RSK

Glad you finally got your car......

It's been a while since I conjured up a reason to drive a new car when I didn't need to but that's how it was yesterday evening. This car (and it's a completely new form factor for me) is great to drive and I'm enjoying the responsiveness of the petrol engine and adaptive dynamics. The cabin is a great place to be, the stereo is fine, even in basic spec, and I enjoyed the extra vision from the surround cameras when exiting a blind junction. Haven't dared squeeze it into its alloted garage space yet though.

Had a "How is it?" call from the salesman, slightly premature but nevertheless welcome, obviously sensing he might be able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat when it comes to the LR evaluation form. As I said, they did a good handover though were firmly put in their place when they tried to sell me 4 different types of insurance. They won't be celebrating with the commission, that's for sure.

Tried the individual rear seats - which I will never do for real and thought they were fine. I can see the attraction of the bench and arm-rest, especially in the 5 door but for me - who very rarely carries rear-seat passengers - the individual seats add to the coupe look and feel.

Very much like the ability to set up 3 buttons on the home screen to your own preferences. I've gone for Cameras, iPod and Take Me Home. Love the Evoque logo displayed when you press the screen-off button.

One slight negative - I'd settled on white for the ambient lighting but now find that changes to red along with the instrument dials when you select Dynamic chassis mode. That will clearly be my default setting and I'd prefer white instrument dials to red.

Had a bit of a shock when I looked up the cost of the tyres - Cross Conti 245/45 R20 - something like £275 - £300, though I didn't trawl for the best price. Much more than, say, the rears on my 911 turbo.

Certainly hoping to see better fuel economy as things settle (including the driver) - 20.1 mpg at the latest count compared to 21 mpg on my 5 litre supercharged SL55 and 24.5 mpg on my 911 turbo. Still better than my F355 though which normally returns 13 mpg.

Now on the accessories hunt, keen to protect the boot and especially the rear bumper when I go off walking.

It's been mentioned before but the u-shaped hoops on the underside of the bonnet used to secure it are painted and the paint wears off where it engages the latches. Not a problem.

So far, so good. No niggles, no creaks, rattles, bodges or anything. Just a great new car which is worth waiting for. Just wonder how I will feel when I see them everywhere...

(08-12-2011 01:23pm)rsk21 Wrote:  I owe you something of an apology too as I was minded to think that there was a touch of the "Simon Cowell's fiancé" about the whole thing at one stage !

I don't know who Simon Cowell is, still less his fiancé but I'll take that as a compliment.

I know that Simon Cowell is more likley to have a fiancée than a fiancé - but the comment is lost on me too.