[3LOU5]

Originally Posted by equ

Drove it home, about 30 miles in a dark, icy/rainy night.

It's going to be a big adjustment. I have had only german cars (audi, porsche & bmw) since 2000.

Steering is decent. It is a very tall truck from the inside, Q5's and other crossovers look like cars. It was a very smooth ride home on the air suspension, especially on the highway. Less great on broken city streets with the 20" wheels. Not terrible.

There is definitely float & lean. The "on stilts" feeling is there as it is with most every SUV.

The engine & transmission are the best part. I got 29.4 mpg without trying. The 8-speed auto is very good, much better than the 6-speed in the older RR's that I was looking at. Like the TDI, you hear the diesel clatter at low speeds and from the outside, but not when cruising on the highway. Maybe on a ramp or an overtake. Enough power and twice the mileage of comparably torquey v8's.

The Overland is rather posh. Leather dash, 500W stereo, so lots of goodies that I've never had, even in expensive german machinery.

Some nitpicks:

- It's not pleasant to keep the vehicle at a stop in D. Not bad enough to shift to P, but definitely some vibes. I guess this is an autotragic thing. I hope buried in there is an auto-hold feature, but I'm not holding my breath. It won't matter on long trips.

- seats are a bit firm and a bit flat. prefer cushier and more bolstered. Lumbar support was sufficient. I don't think I have found the perfect driving position just yet but didn't try too hard.

- seems to have no auto wipers, crazy on such a loaded spec

That's about it. I have lowered dynamic expectations and it meets them just fine. Hopefully, it'll grow on me.

The beauty of driving a such a pig is that when you immediately hop in your Audi/BMW/whatever, it’ll drive and handle like a Ferrari, lol.