pjgraham86 wrote:

starting to think about replacing our D4 which is approaching its seventh birthday.
Wife has announced she hates the look of the D5 and has even looked at the dimensions and told me that the D5 is 11cm lower in height than the D4 and ergo the driving position won't be as high.

pjgraham86 wrote:

starting to think about replacing our D4 which is approaching its seventh birthday.
Wife has announced she hates the look of the D5 and has even looked at the dimensions and told me that the D5 is 11cm lower in height than the D4 and ergo the driving position won't be as high.....which is a major "like" on the D4 for her....
Anybody able to confirm if there is a difference in height behind the wheel as well as on the exterior ?

Quote:

I have a feeling the new Defender will be a mix of Noddy car meets Tonka toy.

110CSW wrote:

My wife is the same, can't get over it's looks and it's not just the back end, so many of the proportions are just wrong. I have tried to talk myself into the D5 but just cannot.

Go and look at the XC90, I have and it is a very interesting car. My D4 is newer than your's so I am going to wait a couple of years and see if other products come out. The new Defender might work but otherwise it's the Volvo as it's the only other proper seven seat option unless you look at the Merc GLS but that is off the scale ££ wise.

Due to the terrible time that I was having with my Full Fat in sick bay recently, I went and looked at a XC90.

There are typically brilliant Volvo seats, it's handsome (by current standards), the interior is light and airy and there's a good view out. The space and practicality of the back is a big improvement on the D5, although not as good as the '4. Though they've ditched their own split tailgate, at least there's no gimmicky electric plank bang in the way

It makes a brilliant MPV in an SUV style body. What turned me off was the lack of anything over 1969cc, the 450mm wading height, the lack of proper 4 wheel drive capability, the 60,000 mile only warranty and poor potential fuel consumption of the (realistic 25 mile range, FWD only when the electricity's gone, low to mid 20's on petrol only) "twin engine" 2.0 petrol variant. Although, at least under the current testing regime, it must be a brilliant at BiK tax avoidance

jeepmadmike wrote:

....Can’t beleave the tail gate doesn’t injure more owners!

And spoke to a D5 owner who hated it yesterday (he’d had several 3’s and 4’s) found the door depth to be a real pain on sites and had trimmed the corners or the tail gate!

Having just spent another five weeks (and 3,500 miles) driving various td6 D5's over the last 6 weeks, there have been lots of occasions where I've had to warn people, while standing at the back of the car, of the lethal corners and it's not been safe to leave the tailgate open and unattended for the dog's wellbeing. Hack sawing the corners of the tailgate is a radical long term solution, but probably essential to avoid highly inconvenient death and injury

Although it was pretty horrible to drive, I can't say that I've noticed any problem with the depth of the doors though