Cardiff tomorrow (Tues 16th)

(16-08-2011 08:42pm)ant Wrote:  The website won't let me post pics, because they are too large. I'll have to try and downsize them.
ANT

U can insert all the pics into a word doc and then 'compress all pics in document' and then post the document. This also helps those who view this forum on a smartphone.

(16-08-2011 08:16pm)MPK Wrote:  Diying to see pics of the Ipanema Sand for obvious reasons

Not sure if this helps I saw this a few weeks ago .... but because it was through a fence I didn't think it was worth posting as I thought we would see lots of good pictures coming through. Anyway here is a rather rubbish picture of an Ipanema Sand.

There was no sand colours at Cardiff I only saw White Red Black Silver & Orkney

Thanks Backseries.... one man's rubbish is another's treasure!

Ant
Thanks for trying to get Ipanema Sand pics. Shame LR has no taste!
And Berlin - thanks for posting
Regards

(16-08-2011 09:45pm)griff Wrote:  Ant
Thanks for trying to get Ipanema Sand pics. Shame LR has no taste!
And Berlin - thanks for posting
Regards

Would've been better without the park assist development car plastered all over it, but here's another one

   

And a dip in the dock.

   

I thought I was going to have to cancel my Evoque Unleashed day but fortunately the rearranged meeting got rearranged again.......phew!

So here are my observations.

First thing to say it was a great event staffed by a friendly motivated team. The hotel and food were nice but personally I would have held the event outside the city centre where there was a bit more room – it looked like they had cut the hotel car park in half and used one half for all the Evoque’s, terrapods etc which left half the carpark for us to park PLUS all the normal guests .... which meant there wasn’t a spare slot in the place and cars were really jammed in. I wasn’t the only person in there current P&J and to have to open the window to enable us to get out was not the best start of the day.

As I’ve ordered a car with AD and 20” wheels I was very keen to test the ride quality therefore I drove a UK spec Dynamic. All the cars were standard UK cars i.e. Dynamics had AD & 20” wheels and all Prestige’s had no AD and 19” wheels. I rather foolishly drove to the event in the TTS so any car would have felt smooth after that but I was relieved and pleasantly surprised by the magic carpet ride of the Dynamic in normal driving mode. I found myself using the Dynamic mode in the same way as the ABC sport button in the Mercedes (which has air suspension) i.e. not all of the time but when you wanted to throw it around a bit and wanted a little less body roll. I would imagine that in mainland European and America they will have it on most of the time as their motorway networks are smooth enough to reap the benefit .... ours unfortunately are not. There was one piece of road towards the end of the test circuit that did feel the road overwhelmed the AD’s ability to smooth out the ride. It was about 200m long and it had just about every inch of it dug up and re-laid – the surface was utterly appalling. I went over it at about 40-50 mph and as I got further in the suspension got firmer and firmer .... it never got as jiggly or as unpleasant as the Audi but compared to what I had experienced all the way round it was less serene. I can only assume 19” would have been smoother at that point.

The car feels solid and very well made and there is a feeling of loads of room up front.

I suppose not coming from a 4x4 the amount of body control was a bit lost on me but as someone coming from a car I felt perfectly at home the ride which was comfortable and very isolated.... as I say if you do get too enthusiastic it does roll but in no way disturbingly.

I’d prepared myself for not feeling too high up as the statistics say this isn’t a high car – but I felt much higher than I thought and certainly enough to feel above normal traffic – which I didn’t expect.

One thing that struck me driving around in the Dynamic is if people haven’t been able to see a Dynamic interior – its actually very like the one in the TT – its just in a soft material (the TT is hard) if that helps anybody.

Re the mirrors. I have taken some photos and TBH I rather liked having big mirrors – they didn’t seem too big to me the only thing that they could do is maybe make them less deep – I’m sure that’s possible. I’ve taken a photo from the same position from within a TT and to me there’s not much difference.

Things I loved:-

The sense of occasion getting in to the car (how Car Magazine can compare it to a Golf is utterly beyond me)- no VAG product makes you feel like this when to get in bar an R8, a Bentley... or maybe a Bugatti

The smell – the smell of leather is overwhelming – in a Prestige

Sense of space with the light interior and panoramic roof – in such a short car.

The ride – OK the SD4 is not blisteringly fast but I would say it has dignified rapid progress – and the ride matches that perfectly.

Feeling of solidity

Not so keen:-

No Passenger seat height adjuster is unforgivable on a car of this price (Pure & Dynamic). I’m 5’ 11” and I felt too low in the passenger’s seat – the sides of the car are high. How this got through is quite unbelievable.

When you put the car into Dynamic mode the instruments turn Red which is great (I thought) but it’s a bit bright I would like to have been able to turn it down a bit.

When you change the volume on the radio the whole screen goes blank and all you see the volume level until you have finished changing the volume. No Sat Nav / map etc – nothing else is displayed – I would prefer the volume icon super imposed on top of what I was looking at the time. Minor point.

Old chestnut – I would still have liked to have specced a Dynamic outside Prestige inside. To be spending £43k and feel you are compromising is a bit much. Especially as I now know I have to get a complete new exhaust system before I can change the rear bumper.

Conclusion:-

Very pleased with the day and the car ..... and very much looking forward to getting my go-anywhere compact (indulgent) luxury 4 seater Grand Tourer.

Good review blackseries! Cheers

(17-08-2011 09:45am)Blackseries Wrote:  The smell – the smell of leather is overwhelming

Why do you think the cleaning team were there - they had aerosols of Leather scented airfreshener!

Seriously, I purchased some Gliptone Leather cleaner and dressing cream for the FFRR's interior this year and wow did that boost the lovely smell of quality leather inside, the makers also supplied several "Magic Tree" type air fresheners too to keep the interior smelling like leather and not pine trees!

Blackseries

What did you think about the autobox? I've read some reviews that don't rate it very high, saying its sluggish and hunts up and down the box? Lot's of people are expecting LR to introduce the 8-speed from the Jag to solve this.

Personally, I think manufacturers are going too far in their hunt for better and better economy. I have an auto 6-speed 325d which is brilliant and never seems short of a gear, whereas I had a Cayenne for the day with the 8-speed PDK and all it seems to do is change gear all the time.

Have manufacturers forgotton that some of us want cars to drive not just to eek out every last MPG??

Having said that, if the Jag 8-speed is so much better and they change it relatively soon I'll be a bit miffed they didn't start with it. It's amazing that they can spend so much time developing the car only to sell it with what appears to be a inferior box, with its replacement already in the pipeline!!