Hi one and all.

I spent a bit of time before Xmas looking at an l494 5.0 autobiography. However, after a test drive, I decided that for our road system with cameras everywhere it was just too damn fast and would rack up more points than a game of pinball. So decided on a sdv6. However, two days ago I was lucky enough to sit in a friend of Friends sdv8 l405 and after a quick runaround the block, I immediately fell in love. And I’m now close to making the long treck to Colchester to look at a nearly new silver AB (surprisingly difficult to find a nearly new AB with options without the black pack). But one thing concerns me about both cars. Parking! Not so much Manoeuvring the car into the bay but the size of the bay itself.

How difficult is it to find somewhere to park and how often do you find you can’t get into the car because someone has parked close to the line?

I do a lot of miles 25k+ so sometimes it’s a case of dumping my car in any car park close to my destination.

I’m also slightly concerned about the theft problem. So Ghost II, disklock, moving the OBD port are on the cards in the first week of ownership. And disabling keyless entry within the first few seconds.

Can the “Park heat” be turned on with the land rover apps like the Tesla system to heat the car before departure or can you only use the remote?

And finally at a steady 70mph what sort of MPG are you getting on a run and more importantly how many miles are you getting to a tank


Thanks in advance

Steve

Edit; furthermore, how long can you sit in the car with the television running with engine off with a full battery? The car I’m
Looking at has the option installed and it may be useful when waiting for SWMBO.

Easy to park but the the gearbox and engine combo does not have much "creep" on no throttle so takes a it of getting used to but the cameras are excellent . 3.0d gets around 550 miles per tank in winter to 650 absolute max in summer on a long run but wind the speed up on the autobahn then 400 !! The v8 won't be far behind these figures.

A full tank of Adblue can show on the service menu 19500 miles to empty but obviously it will empty much faster if you drive hard or tow etc .

Park heat works from the remote app but check as I hear that only works for the older cars and the new ones actually start the engine to warm things up -- horrible idea .

TV , radio runs for just a short time before shutting down and then you need to switch it back on and that's as long as you do not unbuckle your seatbelt .

Enjoy !

Not yet had an issue parking, but in London I have to pick spots wisely. The L494 is the same size, practically speaking. You’ll survive. And yes, cameras are great, I use them all the time. Not used the park assist yet. Close vehicle/pedestrian sensing is reassuring.

You don’t say which model year. But it must be 2018+. The security is much improved. I don’t both with a steering lock or anything because if someone wants this they won’t be an opportunist it’ll be a professional gang who’ll overcome that in seconds. If you’re 2019+ hopefully it was specced with Secure Tracker Pro, a £200 upgrade to give Thatcham S5 for your peace of mind. I bought a four year gap insurance return to invoice policy for £500 ish, well worth it.

The AB has park heat key fob and it’s fantastic. Just point and shoot and it’ll fire up the fuel burning heater. note, P400e drivers, you have to enable the petrol heater else its electric by default. Don’t bother with the app for this preheat function, personally I found it unreliable.

I put a ton of options on my AB, but honestly none are must-haves (albeit still lovely!), a standard AB is a very sweet thing (unlike L494 ABs which are disappointingly specced in my opinion).

BUY IT!  L405 P400e Autobiography (MY2020)... Silicon Silver / Espresso

Thanks both.

The one I’m currently looking at is a 69 plate. It does state it has “secure tracking” but doesn’t state which one. However I do plan to use Ghost II as previously mentioned, as well as another tracker that isn’t located in a set place within the car that a thief will know. Until we move in April, we are not in the nicest of areas so I do want to ensure my pride and joy is where it’s supposed to be when I wake up in the morning.

Yes I must admit one of the reasons I didn’t immediately go out and buy a Sport AB was the poor availability of decent spec in the cars available. Especially as I’m not a fan of the black pack and black wheels etc. They do look nice but it’s just not me. I love how regal this car looks in silver or the pale blue. I was amazed how many sports didn’t have adaptive cruise and astonished that hardly any came with Lane Keep assist. I know I most will turn it off but after borrowing a friends Nissan Leaf a few months back whilst my current euro rep box was in for some warranty work, I was amazed how much more relaxed I was at the end of a journey if I used it.

I considered buying new but after playing with the configurator, I discovered I could get essentially the car I wanted (albeit with a black interior over white), For slightly less with one owner.

Mine's an L322 which I think is smaller all round than the 405 but I still have to be mindful of which car parks I use. I normally take Mrs Braders MINI into town so I can park anywhere but that wasn't available last Friday. I ended up climbing out of the passenger window in a multi-storey car park as the bloody car is so wide and the spaces so small....  Current: FF Westminster money pit

Gone:
RRS 4.2 SC
RRS 3.6 TDV8
FL2 TD4

car park space sizes havnt changed since the 1950's so even todays mini will fill the space.
the FF has the advantage of a reverse camera and park sensors and some even have 360 degree cameras and you will find that with all those parallel parking is fairly easy..
you need to be mind full of the older multi story carparks that are restricted in height but most modern ones are 2 metres ..
in retail parks carparks you might have a problem geting in/out if a larger vehicle parks next to you.. ... - .- -.




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Thanks for that.

It really does make me feel a lot better.

A strange question. Do any of you ever have concerns about leaving such a valuable car on town such as in station car parks e.g. vandalism etc.

It’s now literally the only thing holding me back. When wafting around the country I do sometimes have to leave my car in some less than ideal town car parks for the day.

Also does the adaptive cruise work in conjunction with the adaptive speed limiter and traffic sign recognition? Does the cruise drop it’s speed when the limits change automatically?

No cruise doesn't but ASL does. All LR cars from 1984
2021.5 Vogue SE D300 Carpathian Grey
2018 Vogue SE British Racing Green GONE

sbradleyrr wrote:

.....I do plan to use Ghost II as previously mentioned....

I thought I read on another thread that installing the ghost system invalidates the LR warranty....  2017 4.4 SDV8 Autobiography
2012 4.4 TDV8 Westminster - Gone, but not forgotten

You may be right. However, I am arrogant enough to take them to task if they try that!

I’m larger than the average bear and when combined with a large door, I choose my car-parking spaces from necessity and I always find a Bill spot... you just get used to it. Smaller people have less trouble.

I’m sure you will love the big beast , it’s just a fantastic car. The tank range is about 425, which I think is low for a car like this, but they had to make room for the adblue tank. I normally have 29/30mmpg , on a long fast run it’s 27/28, and motorways at 50/60mph it’s mid 30’s - but £ , speed and power is just such a pleasure.... The autopilot mpg is worse than my driving



For being nicked... take a gap insurance??? After a while you won’t worry quite so much....

Insist on some freebies.. eg a Spare tyre hoist and a full size spare , or anything eg bag, cup, dog bowl, you spot that’s Range Rover marked... just makes your day, when it’s a done deal except for....

As I will never tire of saying, the new euro 6 diesel engines (allegedly) spit out cleaner air than they take in...


Good luck

Bill

Ps in my neck of the woods the council has decreed all new car parking spaces must be larger to accommodate larger cars, so the world is moving in the right direction, Filters are in fact so good that in certain circumstances, when the ambient air is already polluted, a diesel car will tend to extract more particles from the air than it emits. Emissions Analytics worked with........etc etc

He who dies with the most toys wins...

Thanks Bill.

Pretty much sold it to me. I’m going to arrange to pop down on Monday to have a look.

I have driven the diesel and petrol. I went with petrol as diesel seemed underpowered and noisy.

Yes, theft is on my mind 24/7.

Very hard to park in sense that you will block someone if they are not parked perfectly in a bay. I heavely rely on the 360 camera and sensors to avoid kerbing.

I normally take 4 spaces

I try to park well away from other cars but for some people it seems like a magnet to park next to even with loads of empty spaces available. Biggest challenge is the spiral exit of certain multi storeys i.e getting out without catching 22 in. alloys on high kerbs.....now that really annoys me