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Dynamic 5D petrol is at home
martinPL
 

Posts: 82
Joined: Oct 2011
Location: Seattle
Post: #1
Dynamic 5D petrol is at home

I picked up my new RRE just a day before leaving for San Diego for a week. I only had a chance to look at it at the dealer (inspection) and drive it home for approximately 30 miles. First impressions (a bit unorganized but ...):

GOOD
the Ipanema Sand exterior color is awesome. With the black roof and darker style 7 wheels it looks super hot while steel stylish and unique
The Lunar perf with ivory contrast stitching interior color was the ideal choice for the selected exterior color. It is clean, has nice contrasts, makes the interior look very interesting rather than dull (as is often the case with a single interior color) and the shades of both lunar and ivory are so pleasant to the eye: attractive but not to aggressive
Ivory headliner was a great choice fir the above interior color- it simply works perfectly and I cannot imagine having the ebony headliner with the above color combo
The style 7 20" wheels are superb: not too busy, not to simple, great darker shade color, and very well manufactured. The darker (black) color bolts are not necessary at all (I bought them weeks ago and will be reselling them)
The craftsmanship of the vehicle is really good. Few leather seat imperfections but not everyone will even notice them and it would not be right to get picky about such small things. Panel spacing is even, paint evenly applied, ..... no visual issues at all
Panoramic roof is FANTASTIC. It makes the interior so much brighter and roomier without loosing the feeling of cosiness
The interior passenger volume is excellent. Both front seats and rear. Lots of room without feeling like being in an amphitheater
The engine is poppy and I felt no lack of power (considering my other car is the RRS and my previous car was the S5) even on steep hills. Driving 90 mph on these uphill freeway sections did not make me think I was driving a 4 pot engine.
The auto tranny is good and very similar to the one in my RRS; the California stop issue the RRS vehicles have had (at least the 2006/2007) is not present. Not as good as auto tranny in BMW but not much worse.
Dynamic Mode is a must have for anyone but a city driver. Driving at higher speeds is so so so much better with the Dynamic mode on. The car becomes tighter, stiffer, less wobbly, the steering is more more dialed, and the general feel is as driving rather than swimming
The lack of height adjustment of the front seats is not a problem. Both front seats have electric adjustments and are very comfy and provide good range of positions.
The Dynamic came with alu pedal covers!!! Will be selling ones I purchased a few weeks ago
The exhaust sound is actually really nice. Unlike any 4 pot engine I've heard.
The interior illumination is really nice - they create a great atmosphere while driving at night. I don't use too often map lights etc so I don't care they're not LED.

SO SO:
the car is not as tight as my 100K mile old RRS and my 55K mile S5. I am not sure if it has to do with the smaller weight but the car is not as planted and does not feel as solid at speeds above 45mph. Dynamic Mode helps a lot but even with this feature enabled the car is not super tight. And chances are that it's not supposed to be. This might be a personal preference
The nav system is a bit slow but is much better than in my 06 RRS. I can set the destination while driving (I have not been able to do it in RRS without entering the hack code every time the car was started)
The car does not seem super solid. The doors are on the lighter side. Closing them makes this "el cheapo" sound. And the whole thing seems almost a bit a toy. It's not like the Japanese smaller size SUVs but far from RRS, S5, BMW 3 series, .... It's more like Audi A3 and VW Golf.

NOT SO GOOD:
I manged to crash the sound system by changing the surround settings while playing via USB. Hopefully this is not an indication of frequent behavior
The nav/sound/... screen is cluttered. For example, why is the "valet" option on the main screen. It takes up real estate and is not used that frequently (at least not be my)
No armrest or extendible armrest between the front seats

Generally the car is more than I expected. Wife (she is its primary driver) gave it a 10 out of 10 so far. Both the look and the drive (she was concerned about not being able to drive fast and hard). And the car is a head turner too as many have already reported.

More comments and pictures will in a week +
08-02-2012 06:50am
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SebM
 

Posts: 606
Joined: Aug 2011
Location: Switzerland
Post: #2
RE: Dynamic 5D petrol is at home

Congrats !

Actually : '04 Lotus Elise Mk2 111 & '11 Land Rover Defender 90 SW RAW
09-02-2012 03:16pm
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