petet
Member Since: 02 Dec 2007
Location: nottingham
Posts: 35
 
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| my 'new' 2012 D4 hse replaced XS |
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After several years happy ownership of an 06 D3 hse, a year ago I 'upgraded' to an 11 plate D4 XS. The relatively short on road demo was fine with the 3 litre engine and firmer suspension giving good account of itself. I use my disco, fill it up with heavy toys, tow a trailer, caravan and sometimes use the 7 seats with the grandsons. Never opened to the sunroof on the D3, other than to look for cracks and leaks so thought we could do without that and others have suggested the lights on the XS were not too bad. Did not think I needed electric seats (so long as I could persuade the guy at the garage not to interfere with them!).
For me the XS was however quite a disappointment. The engine was fine, quite an improvement in performance and economy compared to the D3, although why the D4 seems to have so much smaller fuel tank capacity I can't understand. We quickly realised the seats of the XS are nowhere near as comfortable as those of the hse, and on country lanes I really missed my xenons and cornering lights. TMC on the sat nav not a real issue as usually the problems reported clear by the time I get there, but nice to have. The availability of rear cameras on the hse sounded as though it might be even more convenient with the caravan, etc. Incidentally did find the D4 XS to be a very capable vehicle in the mud, last october pulling a whole group of caravans and cars out of a muddy field, even with naff pirelli tyres.
So a month ago, we succombed and traded the XS for a less than one year old 2012 hse with most of the toys. Wanted the hse seats, the adaptive xenon lamps and rear camera, but ended up with surround cameras, keyless entry, locking diff and all sorts of other things which I didn't know I needed. Didn't realise how useful keyless entry could be when you have armfuls of junk to put in the back and you don't need to fumble for a key. A month of driving the hse has convinced me the extra toys are well worht having, comfort ought really to be there across the range, so was surprised at how different the seats are - not bothered about the electrics, the softer feel of the seat base and the way the seat rear supports is something both my wife and I appreciate. The car is ex LR VIP fleet, so no idea what that really means, but fortunately having managed to transfer my unused extended warranty from the XS, I have over four years warranty when I should not have to worry about big problems.
My only gripe with the 2012 hse at the minute is how incredibly slow data entry is for the sat nav.
Pete
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 25th May 2013 9:18 pm |
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