SUV Options (Q7, X5 etc) - Page 1 - Car Buying

ecksjay

Original Poster

360 posts

181 months

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Thursday 9th April 2020

Evening gents. Boring one this, sorry in advance...

Looking to get a large SUV for the family soon. Currently have a Skoda Karoq on lease thats a day to day, but a little bit too small for us when we go anywhere with the boy and the dog. Will keep it as a spare and run the least out.

Currently have an aging nissan xtrail GT that I'll likely sell. Love the size (its huge) and power which is circa 280bhp given it's a GT import, however it's getting on a bit and I reckon it's time to get something newer.

Have considered an estate (3series touring or something of that nature) but I think the wife and I both want something large and barge-like.

Will likely be a cash purchase, thinking around £20-25k. Ideally as low mileage as possible. Less than 5years old ideally. Have been looking at X5s, Q7 and XC90. Not interested much in a range rover as the unreliability frightens me, although if any are better than others then wouldnt ignore them completely. Might be some other options that I'm not considering so very much open to suggestions along with anything to look out for with the above motors particularly. Any recommendations, owner reviews, comparisons or other pertinent info would be greatly appreciated.

Still have a few mx5s and motorbikes so wont all be boring and bargey forever fortunately...

Thanks in advance

Jazzer77

1,533 posts

223 months

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Friday 10th April 2020

If its a pure utility vehicle : Shoguns are quite cheap. Will last forever and don't worry about putting a muddy dog in the back.
If not , £25k buys a decent Porsche Cayenne.

I'd have the Cayenne over a RRS every day.
Middle ground would be a Touareg.

neil-c

488 posts

210 months

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Friday 10th April 2020

Have you had a look at the Skoda superb estate. It’s as much of a barge as anything out there. Good choice of engines (albeit 4cylinder), great spec, well put together. Hard to beat at the price range you’re looking at.

Cold

16,635 posts

119 months

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Friday 10th April 2020

Sounds like you need a Disco 4.

ecksjay

Original Poster

360 posts

181 months

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Friday 10th April 2020

Shogun would be much of a muchness to the xtrail. Dont need anything agricultural - this will be for the family and for me to drive to sites for work, albeit I may have clients in from time to time so some lumpy old mitsi wouldnt work. Want something more fancy than that. Yeah we have the dog but hes fairly well kept for a big lad and gets more showers than I do, so we dont do many dirty walks (thats what the dog walker has a van for).

Skoda superb, again we already have a skoda so dont want another. Would prefer something more upmarket and larger/taller. If I was going estate it would probably be a bmw touring of some variety, or maybe a volvo. But I think we want a large SUV in this instance as I do like the driving position of the Nissan.

Cayenne is an idea. What are they like for the £20-30k mark? Assume they'd be ropey but if not then that's worth considering. Anyone have one circa 5yrs old that can advise?

Have heard horror stories about JLR reliability, so a disco scares me. Friends that have owned RR's and Evoque's have had nothing but problems, so I probably would only have a JLR product if it was on lease. If someone knows something I dont on JLR products though, would happily consider them but I am just a little apprehensive about reliability.

Edited by ecksjay on Friday 10th April 18:19

Greggymagic

48 posts

80 months

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Friday 10th April 2020

I went through all this just before the lockdown and finally settled on the Xc90 (but would get any of the 3 the right one came up) but didn't buy one before the lockdown (thank goodness). There's nothing between them.

I went and had a look at all 3 and for 25k you can get (or rather could get) a 66 plate Xc90 powerpulse momentum or Audi s line Q7 or a 17 plate S line Q5 all under 50k mileage.

Q7 is the best but has the highest running costs.

Q5 was brilliant but we too wanted a big boy cruiser with plenty of space.

Xc90 was brilliant and much lower servicing, insurance and overall running costs than the Q7.

All 3 would do a banging good job to be honest but if you go for either of the Audis make sure you get the tech pack as well as it has the amazingly good virtual cockpit.

Others I looked at were Cayenne - could only get a 14 plate at this price point and the running costs were quite steep.

And also the Macan but you'd need to got to about 27k for that. Beautiful and amazing but quite small.

After this is over I may go for Kodiaq as that was also awesome but had lower costs than the Xc90 but who knows - hopefully they'll be some good bargains out the re but kiting at the moment.

But each to their own.

ecksjay

Original Poster

360 posts

181 months

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Friday 10th April 2020

Greggymagic said:

I went through all this just before the lockdown and finally settled on the Xc90 (but would get any of the 3 the right one came up) but didn't buy one before the lockdown (thank goodness). There's nothing between them.

I went and had a look at all 3 and for 25k you can get (or rather could get) a 66 plate Xc90 powerpulse momentum or Audi s line Q7 or a 17 plate S line Q5 all under 50k mileage.

Q7 is the best but has the highest running costs.

Q5 was brilliant but we too wanted a big boy cruiser with plenty of space.

Xc90 was brilliant and much lower servicing, insurance and overall running costs than the Q7.

All 3 would do a banging good job to be honest but if you go for either of the Audis make sure you get the tech pack as well as it has the amazingly good virtual cockpit.

Others I looked at were Cayenne - could only get a 14 plate at this price point and the running costs were quite steep.

And also the Macan but you'd need to got to about 27k for that. Beautiful and amazing but quite small.

After this is over I may go for Kodiaq as that was also awesome but had lower costs than the Xc90 but who knows - hopefully they'll be some good bargains out the re but kiting at the moment.

But each to their own.

Thanks mate. Great help. Yeah I reckon the q5/macan is a bit small for us in this instance. The karoq is broadly similar size wise and it's far too small, so we would want the larger platform to give us what we have with the Nissan (its cavernous).

Kodiaq is an option but would want the big daddy model with all the trinkets, at that price point I reckon I would rather one of the more premium brands. I've had a Cupra 300 and this skoda and am more than happy with the build quality, comfort, running costs etc but think we want to go more premium if we are dumping that sort of money on a big family truck.

That being said, if the tax incentives work through the business, I may well end up with a top spec Amarok, but we will see how the figures work off the back of the lockdown 😄

Greggymagic

48 posts

80 months

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Friday 10th April 2020

Yeah top Kodiaq (Vrs) you're looking at 30k plus. One below that is Sport line which looks and goes great but is still gonna set you back 27kish. That's an awful lot of cash for a non premium marque even if the rest of the sums add up.

Happy hunting - I'm waiting for this situation to blow over before committing to buy as my 12 year old Audi still drives like business.

Been monitoring prices but there's been no real movement from pre corona prices.

ZX10R NIN

30,517 posts

154 months

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Friday 10th April 2020

Walter Sobchak

5,739 posts

253 months

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Saturday 11th April 2020

Not really too up on prices but if you could get the newer shape XC90 in budget I think they look great, Cayennes are nice, I've only had an older one but it didn't cause me any trouble.
If you need the ability a Landcruiser wouldn't be a bad shout, not sure if you'd get a Euro 6 2.8 D4D for £25k yet though, and would be a bit more agricultural than an XC90,X5 etc.

ecksjay

Original Poster

360 posts

181 months

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Saturday 11th April 2020

ZX10R NIN said:

Beautiful options there chap.

The Jeep I dont think I fully understand. Are they any good? Is it just something else under the skin, I.e last gen Mercedes or something like that? Looks pretty trick spec wise but the looks are, well, american. If they were cheap enough that would be considered but looks like they're on par.

Touareg was something I considered as I liked the last gen, didnt realise they were in budget for the latest shape. will definitely check them out. Thanks for the link. I think they're basically a q7 in a different frock so that would work nicely.

Merc - again not something I had even considered. Are their build quality issues resolved from 10yrs ago or so? Those you've linked look superb, definitely worth considering as that looks the part and seems to be pretty big. Might need to see one up close.

Oddly, I love the F-Pace. I dont know how they are for reliability but I like the look and concept behind it. Think that spec would be a OTT for us, I do a fair few miles plodding up the motorway so would probably need to be a diesel to make it work, albeit some of these are such big cars and large capacity diesels that the supercharged petrol in the F-Pace might not be too far away fuel economy wise. Lovely noise too by all accounts. Again might be worth going to view one.

Now the Infiniti is left field, but given I currently have (and love) a 20yr old jap import xtrail GT in pearl white... that QX pulls on my jdm heart strings. I'm not sure the misses would fall for it but it looks pretty upmarket even if it is quirky. I heard a rumour that Infiniti were pulling out of the UK well before CV19 however, so might not be a wise purchase as it's not a particularly massive saving over the others.

Some lovely ideas there chap. If anyones owned any of those and can advise on your thoughts it would be appreciated. I probably need to get something sorted before man maths take over and I double my budget for something sporty....

ZX10R NIN

30,517 posts

154 months

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Saturday 11th April 2020

ecksjay said:

Beautiful options there chap.

The Jeep I dont think I fully understand. Are they any good? Is it just something else under the skin, I.e last gen Mercedes or something like that? Looks pretty trick spec wise but the looks are, well, american. If they were cheap enough that would be considered but looks like they're on par.

Touareg was something I considered as I liked the last gen, didnt realise they were in budget for the latest shape. will definitely check them out. Thanks for the link. I think they're basically a q7 in a different frock so that would work nicely.

Merc - again not something I had even considered. Are their build quality issues resolved from 10yrs ago or so? Those you've linked look superb, definitely worth considering as that looks the part and seems to be pretty big. Might need to see one up close.

Oddly, I love the F-Pace. I dont know how they are for reliability but I like the look and concept behind it. Think that spec would be a OTT for us, I do a fair few miles plodding up the motorway so would probably need to be a diesel to make it work, albeit some of these are such big cars and large capacity diesels that the supercharged petrol in the F-Pace might not be too far away fuel economy wise. Lovely noise too by all accounts. Again might be worth going to view one.

Now the Infiniti is left field, but given I currently have (and love) a 20yr old jap import xtrail GT in pearl white... that QX pulls on my jdm heart strings. I'm not sure the misses would fall for it but it looks pretty upmarket even if it is quirky. I heard a rumour that Infiniti were pulling out of the UK well before CV19 however, so might not be a wise purchase as it's not a particularly massive saving over the others.

Some lovely ideas there chap. If anyones owned any of those and can advise on your thoughts it would be appreciated. I probably need to get something sorted before man maths take over and I double my budget for something sporty....

The Jeep's have their own chassis (They share it with the Maserati Levante) & are a very robust reliable car yes the interior is a bit plasticy in places but they're a very nice place to be & worth taking a look at in the flesh.

The Touareg is the same platform as the Q7 but you'll get a nicer Touareg.

The Mercedes are a very good car & like the Jeep I can personally recommend them as I've supplied these & the Infiniti to family & close friends.

The F Pace is a very good car I thought I'd linked to the diesel but the V6 S is also a very sweet unit, here's a diesel:

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

Infiniti have left the UK but Nissan have taken over servicing warranties etc so that's not an issue.

I'd suggest going to a car supermarket & jumping in all of them to get a feel or visit individual dealerships but when spending your budget I'd explore all options.

johnjamesjack

66 posts

118 months

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Friday 17th April 2020

Bit late to the party but I can’t recommend the Q7 enough - we’re on our third now. Started with a V8 diesel in 2008, did 100k miles in that before getting a lease on a 2016 model. That just went back, and our 55TFSI is currently gathering dust on the driveway!
We’ve never had a problem with any of them, other than expected maintenance - they’re great for long journeys, and so easy to drive.
We were thinking of going back to Volvo in 2016 (had 2 XC90s before), but a 2.0 engine in a car that size is just not pleasant. The infotainment system was also a lot less easy to use than the Q7, and the handling/suspension definitely wasn’t as nice imho.
In terms of options, Virtual cockpit is a must, head up display was also very nice. Also worth looking at the 272/286ps engine over the 218, the extra grunt is very noticeable and welcome!
On a side note, if you see OX16HBA come up anywhere - it was completely reliable and an absolute joy for 4 years!

flatso

1,364 posts

158 months

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Saturday 18th April 2020

johnjamesjack said:

Bit late to the party but I can’t recommend the Q7 enough - we’re on our third now. Started with a V8 diesel in 2008, did 100k miles in that before getting a lease on a 2016 model. That just went back, and our 55TFSI is currently gathering dust on the driveway!
We’ve never had a problem with any of them, other than expected maintenance - they’re great for long journeys, and so easy to drive.
We were thinking of going back to Volvo in 2016 (had 2 XC90s before), but a 2.0 engine in a car that size is just not pleasant. The infotainment system was also a lot less easy to use than the Q7, and the handling/suspension definitely wasn’t as nice imho.
In terms of options, Virtual cockpit is a must, head up display was also very nice. Also worth looking at the 272/286ps engine over the 218, the extra grunt is very noticeable and welcome!
On a side note, if you see OX16HBA come up anywhere - it was completely reliable and an absolute joy for 4 years!

The Q7 is really nice, I actually like the “tall estate” design as rime passes. It masks its size well and will age very discreetly.
The interiour is very nice.
How does the petrol engine cope with the size of the beast? Fuel consumption?

cerb4.5lee

44,239 posts

209 months

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Saturday 18th April 2020

johnjamesjack said:

We were thinking of going back to Volvo in 2016 (had 2 XC90s before), but a 2.0 engine in a car that size is just not pleasant.

I had a 2019 XC90 as a loan car with the 250bhp 2 litre petrol engine, I thought that it was going to feel gutless to be fair but it didn't. However the thirst of it was eye opening and the fuel computer said 24mpg but that seemed optimistic to me.

I really fell for the car overall but I'm not sure that a 2 litre engine(the same size engine I have in my Mini) suits such a big and heavy car. I think it would be better with a bigger engine doing a lot less work, because you don't really get much performance but you still pay a lot for the fuel. A lovely car but with the wrong engine for me.

Kawasicki

14,354 posts

264 months

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Saturday 18th April 2020

If you need space... the Q7.

journeymanpro

921 posts

106 months

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Saturday 18th April 2020

neil-c said:

Have you had a look at the Skoda superb estate. It’s as much of a barge as anything out there. Good choice of engines (albeit 4cylinder), great spec, well put together. Hard to beat at the price range you’re looking at.

Classic pistonheads, op wants an SUV. Gets random suggestions that are not an SUV

RSbandit

3,065 posts

161 months

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Saturday 18th April 2020

Have had my 2016 Q7 for 2 yrs now, cannot fault it really well made, interior is v nice place to be and tonnes of space ( I have three young boys). Defo get the virtual cockpit if possible Audi do ergonomics better than anyone and the 272bhp engine has just the right amount of power for a car of its size. Plan to keep it for another few yrs as its been great to own so far.

MorganP104

2,605 posts

159 months

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Saturday 18th April 2020

I know you said you weren't over-keen on Range Rovers, but come on, just look at it!

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

Feel free to ignore me, I'm obsessed with Range Rovers since owning an L322. I know, there's no hope for me.

Walter Sobchak

5,739 posts

253 months

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Sunday 19th April 2020

MorganP104 said:

I know you said you weren't over-keen on Range Rovers, but come on, just look at it!

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/202...

Feel free to ignore me, I'm obsessed with Range Rovers since owning an L322. I know, there's no hope for me.

I’ve been somewhat tempted by getting an early L405 as my next car, like you’ve I’d had L322s in the past and had a bit of a love/hate relationship with them. The inevitable costly problems and the 2013 ones not being Euro 6 emissions compliant have put me off them though frown

.