While I was trawling the interwebs, I didn't find much in the way of reviews for this variant, so this is my pitiful attempt to help others who may follow.
I guess that with the new Range Rover shape established now, the late MY L322 is increasing in value for largely similar comfort/looks/toys. As a comparison, my 2012 car is £36,500 less Wonga than an approved used 2013 (new shape) Vogue SE being offered by the same dealer.
I've had this car for a couple of weeks now, having traded in a FL2 HSE and Mercedes E350 CDI Estate. The reason for the change is pretty simple, to get two cars into one. As much as I loved the size, comfort and refinement of the Benz, I just enjoyed driving the FL2 more. Last year, I went on holiday with my partner + dog and found that the FL2 was just too small in terms of luggage - a lot of stuff had to be stuffed onto the back seat.
So, I had to find something that brought together the good part of both cars. I did have a look at the ML, but it just looks a bit too "footballer wife-ish". I discounted the RRS as being too small (and dare I say, just plain common).
Comfort Its very similar to the freelander with the seats being a bit softer and having twice as many options for adjustments. The "easy entry" feature is nice in that it moves the seat and steering wheel out of the way slightly so that your butler can more easily extract you from the car without needing to remind you to suck in one's belly. Heated and cooled seats give relief on cold mornings and for the times when curry back-fire is a little too fierce. It's nice to have the heated rear seats as well, it helps to mute the whinges of the backroom staff.
Interior sittage Personally, I prefer the L322 shape as it makes for great all around visibility, I felt a bit too enclosed in the new shape variant. For a large car, all the controls are within easy reach without being too cramped. However, the touch screen software is slow and cumbersome and just out of date - nowhere near as nice to use as the Mercedes.
Storage There's not a whole lot on offer. There's a double level glovebox where the top half is taken up mostly with the CD changer. With the Mercedes (and Freelander, come to think of it), you can feed CDs directly into the stereo itself. Not much on offer in the centre console either, there's cubby holes in there with differing levels, but because it's set far back, it's hard to access from the driver's seat - a bit distracting when you're driving.
The boot is huge. But under the floor pan, there's almost no room for emergency kit when there's a full size spare - a couple of cubby holes is all you get. Not too good when I need to stock a tow rope, high-viz jacket, tools, etc.
Performance It's a beast. The brochure mentions that it's like being in a 747 on takeoff, which is a great comparison. The acceleration is relentless. Mid range grunt is pretty good for overtaking. Also very nimble in traffic, as long as you're aware of how large it is. Parking in multi-story car parks can be a problem, it's best to go when it's quiet, or take your butler's car instead.
Updating here with a couple more photos and some more information. Note typical LR tide mark.
Ride As standard, it sits on 20" rims with 50 profile rubbers. The ride is quite firm and pretty bouncy over unmade roads where my Freelander would have floated over in a more sedate manner. It's responsive, however, and you can throw it around corners if you want to. Cruising is sublime.
For all of the foibles and niggles, it's still the best car I've ever owned (and I've gone through quite a few of them).
Centre console detail. Above is the heating controls, knobs either side of the clock are for the heated/cooled seats. Square buttons to the sides of those is for DSC off, toggle for the rear seat heaters (if you want your servants to freeze to save battery power), release for the boot, and parking sensor button (parking sensor will only turn on in reverse, so you need to turn it on manually when you're easing your nose into something). Barn doors cover the cup holders next to the rotary gear selector. Below that, you have the terrain response mode selector, air suspension ride height selector, HDC, and low/high gear. Right at the bottom is the parking brake. I don't normally bother with this as the car automatically puts the parking brake on when the engine stops.
TFT Screen. The dials to the left and right are fixed, the centre part displays information when it needs to, but most of the time is blank. There's no integration with the audio system or navigation, which is a bit of a let-down really as I'd like to be able to have a summary of the next navigation point right in front of me.
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