Before my current car I was very hostile to privacy glass and would not have bought a car with it. This did restrict choice on second hand, but I almost always bought new. The current car was a pre-reg and the only 5.0SC I had seen that was remotely acceptable. The saving against a 2018MY was about £15,000, I did not want to order a car and wait for months, and there are various style changes in MY18 that I don't like anyway. So I accepted it and have now got used to it, actually it was jolly useful in keeping the car a bit cooler last summer, and in restricting what can be seen on the back seat. With Corris grey and a black roof I think it looks OK too. And one can see out better than in, so reversing is not as adversely affected as I had feared.

So you might not dislike it so much after a while. Only Range Rovers since 1988

I used to think Trommel and I were in the distinct minority in disliking drug-dealer glazing on cars (generally, not just Land Rover product) - good to see another voice or two, it may lead to some softening of car-maker fascism on the subject (whatever happened to choice - for too many manufacturers, there's now no longer a choice, at least in the UK).

The half-cut tinted look just looks so awful from the outside, utterly ruinous to the designer's work. Have been engaged recently in protracted dialogue (begging) with Mercedes as to whether the new-model G (no longer a Gelandewagen) 63 can be ordered with clear glass. In the dark green without privacy glass, I think it would be glorious - the rest of the car is, actually, such a hoot, a riotous guilty pleasure. They DO distribute it in some territories without dark glass, so, at least the parts are available.

The black-painted, half-blacked windows, black-wheeled, black-upholstered full-size Rangie - Lord, spare us.

...if buying 2nd-hand, it is possible to have the offending tints replaced by clear glass, but on the 405 model the costs seems to have rocketed. Admittedly a few years ago, now, an L322 we bought for the family was de-privacy'd for around £1,500, which opened a much wider selection. Found myself recently teetering on the edge of buying a late-model 322 in green with clear glass as a gun bus... indecision meant it went, nothing similar out there, alas.

Granted, this is all personal taste, but it just smacks of McGovern's 'we know best...' attitude'. So, let's not transmogrify the debate into availability of Aintree Green...just as other makers start to make green a main palette colour (have a go at the Merc configurator with green on an S63 convertible, oof).

Green, plain, no privacy.....

Looks good, doesn't it?!

Doesn’t it just?

I went down the clear glass route eventually when buying, but it wasn’t a straightforward choice.

The more I thought about this in the context of looking at loads of photos on the LR approved site, the more I think that the privacy glass works better on cars with a lighter paint colour and worse on those with a dark colour.

Just my personal viewpoint - I’m sure many will think differently. 2016 SDV8 AB

I used to hate privacy glass as I always thought that it looked “Sharkey”

Several years down the line I don’t think that I would now own a car without it.......

Jim

Interesting inputs from all.

As pants as they look, was privacy a cost option on early 405's or std? Did you pay extra to have clear? 405 AB exec seats Baltic and Cirrus
93 RR Classic efi

Remember it's easier to get forgiveness than permission!

Gone in order:
4.4 TDV8 SE - gone to a good home
93 Classic hard dash Plymouth Blue
03 L322 Oslo Blue
2000 Disco TD5 ES Epsom Green
98 P38 Rioja Red
89 Classic Cairngorm Brown

From memory it was £350 extra, clear being the standard spec. Only Range Rovers since 1988

As mentioned above. If you find the 'perfect' car but it happens to have factory fitted privacy glass then you might be best getting a quote to have clear glass fitted from the likes of autoglass etc. I should imagine having it replaced at a main dealer would be extortionate.

I know people who have gone the other way and bought factory tinted glass as they didn't want aftermarket film.

Flugplatz wrote:

Looks good, doesn't it?!

Fugly IMHO

Get it wrapped in black and some pimp tints

The trouble without tints on a 405 is that the boot rear side windows look deformed due to the extremely large black border which doesn’t match the form of the other side windows. Therefore tints on a 405 look better imho 2021 L405 Vogue SE 4.4 V8 DIESEL ~ #17

The thicker window surround is nothing to the vertical split in the glasshouse between front and rear.