I think I start to loose my 'tunnelvision' looking at LR only. I was upset with the Evoque ; seats for persons under 1.80m only ?
Then came the DS : there's nothing "Discovery" about it at all, why not "Evogue XL", or "Boring Ugly" , at least that would be honest !
The seats are less restricted but the whole inside of the car looks like it was squashed from one extraction moulding step : plain ugly. Nothing that sets it apart from any Asian plastic rubbish SUV thingies, exept for the price. If you add the slightest amount of accessories to it, the price in NL easily surpasses 70K , a price level for which one could buy a basic D4 just 3 years ago !!!
So I searched for "green SUV" and stumbled upon a rather good looking Tiguan Allspace... It sounds like a chinese modelname, but it is just the Tiguan XL or VW version of the Seat Kodiak...
If you configure one you can opt for a package named "Advance" including a panorama roof, 14-fold ajustable seats with memory, you can adjust the seat length and backrest height (!) , electric lumbar adjustment, heated seats, massge function driver seat, heated window washers, to name some...
For a D5 in the option list you only get the panorama roof for that. If you want the other options - most are not even available - you would pay many thousands extra !
And VW deliver a 1.4L petrol engine with 150HP, more then sufficient to keep me rolling in the traffic jams here...
Bottomline : LR management resides on another planet, and has lost contact with "ground control" ...
Really absurd is that they raised prices with 4%. Then the cars are produced in the UK and the GBP went down about 15%... , so they effectively raised prises here with 20% ?!!! Why ?
I think they run into a brick wall quite soon. Buyers will realize its absurd and buy another make for 35% to 60% of the LR price.
For sure first buyers of the Evoque will. Slightly specked upt they reached 90K . These people will have a surprise when they decide to trade in. I will not be surprised if they loose 45K in 18 months, There just aren't enough people in the Netherlands earning salaries high enough to buy these car used at 50K.
Most high earners get lease cars anyway. Stock of expensive cars are piling up rapidly.
Basicly its a part of the chaos theory. Change something small [ no BRG..] and the whole ballgame may invert...