(16-09-2011 10:42pm)RadioHam Wrote: Nice to see an eD4 order - dont think I've seen any on here yet!? An excellent company car choice and LR could have got this spot on in terms of generating fleet sales - something that previously was simply not their market.
On the road nobody will suspect its a 2WD (except us lot on here etc) - just don't take it out in the snow unless you have a thick skin! My neighbour bought a kuga last year which I assumed to be 4WD.... until last december when I stopped behind her and got out to push her up the hill in the snow! I got back into my Tiguan (same powerplant as your A4) and smugly followed her up the hill with hardly a trace of spin or slip. Fit some winter tyres and you'll be fine though!
You won't be disappointed although it obviously won't be as urgent as your A4 - but then again the Evoque is about different things. Bet you'll be the envy of the company car park at work!
Any idea of delivery time on the eD4 yet?
Landrover has hit the jackpot with the eD4 Evoque model in terms of fleet sales, poaching customers from the likes of Audi and BMW for the first time. I know the Landrover purists are turning their noses up at the fact its a 2WD and the company have sold their souls to the devil to make money etc etc etc, but surely it can only be a good thing that breaking into the company car market will bring in more profit for the company to spend on R+D for the future, not to mention securing thousands of jobs for people in the north west, which being honest, are few and far between at the moment.
I've not had a delivery date through yet, I only put the order in with the leasing company last week. I'll update when I hear something back...
The performance of the A4 in the dry is very good, but I was trying to race a dynamic evoque (Firenze red and 20" wheels - It looked amazing) a few weeks ago which must have been on a factory test. It was 6AM with empty roads. I have no idea what engine was in it or who was driving, but it was being flung around the roads and roundabouts round my house, and then shot off up the slip road and onto the motorway. I couldn't keep up with it. The speed and composure of the Evoque was phenomenal.
The A4 is an absolute joke in the snow. People joke about RWD BMW's, but I was out driving last year when the first snow started to fall, and as soon as it was about 1" deep the car would not move at all. Even on gritted slushy roads the wheels would spin when trying to start from standstill. There was zero traction at all. If the car was moving and had some momentum, then you could just about keep it going but when I had to stop it would refuse to move again. After 3 hours of getting stuck and blocking the roads, I ended up abandoning it for 4 days until I managed to get hold of a set of snow socks, and then I managed to limp it home. What made me laugh was the only other car I saw stuck on the first day of snow was a top of the range BMW X5 with 20 something inch drug dealer rims, with all 4 wheels just helplessly spinning on the slightest of inclines!
Its all about having he right tyres! Using cars with summer tyres in the snow is bordering on suicide. I ended up having to borrow a 2004 freelander 4WD commercial vehicle from work just to get around. It had normal factory fit M+S tyres, and that was absolutely fantastic in the snow, even the deep stuff. Not a hint of wheelspin. I would hope the tyres fited to an eD4 would cope slightly better on normal, gritted roads than the tyres on my A4. I'll probably invest in a set of snow chains just to throw in the back incase I get caught out, but as you say, the eD4 will probably be keeping a low profile when it snows, and i'll borrow the freelander again