From XC60 to Porsche Macan or BMW X3?

[NigelDay]

At 57k you are well into Macan (with options) money. Factor in the lower depreciation of the Macan and it becomes quite a challenge.
As for the 'user experiences', I think you just need to be very forensic with the whole car and use Cleland's goodwill to hammer out any issues which may arise.

[Kev78]

The new Maserati SUV is lovely. Well worth a look.

[Arianne]

Originally Posted by NigelDay

At 57k you are well into Macan (with options) money. Factor in the lower depreciation of the Macan and it becomes quite a challenge.
As for the 'user experiences', I think you just need to be very forensic with the whole car and use Cleland's goodwill to hammer out any issues which may arise.

Nigel, as you well know, we've been there and done that. Mrs A absolutely hates the look of the Porsche Macan and will never sanction £57k spend on a car that she says she will never look at on her drive with her gorgeous eyes! Even I am not keen but the badge redeems it somewhat. But compared to the F-Pace it's much smaller and more hard core. At this price point it's not about accountancy but the heart. Without doubt, the Macan makes more financial sense if you can actually get your hands on one!

TBH, if it were not for Clelands I don't think I would be buying a Jaguar. Instead I suspect we would have carried on with our current car as there is nothing else out there that takes our fancy and the XC60 is perfectly good enough in the absence of something that pulls at the heart.

Originally Posted by Kev78

The new Maserati SUV is lovely. Well worth a look.

Certainly prettier than the Macan although, in my eyes, not as pretty as the F-Pace. At first glance it's viable as we have a Maserati dealer next door to the Porsche dealer in Edinburgh. But, although the starting price is £54k,to get it anywhere near to the Jaguar in terms of looks or creature comforts the cost starts to touch £70k. The Jaguar S comes with lots of kit that one needs to add to the Maserati, although there can be no denying the very special look to the cabin trim of the Italian car.

Best wishes, Arianne

[K5 Gus]

Arianne,

Can you remind me ( 86 pages is an awful lot to read back through ) if you looked at, and dismissed Mercs ? The GLC Coupe has caught my eye recently, only available with 220d or 250d at the moment, but a 350d available from October ( and an AMG 43 version as well !! ).

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/...mg-line-review

I don't really like the look, from the rear, of the X4 which I do remember you looked at, but for me the rear of the GLC Coupe, although quite similar to the X4, seems to work a lot better in my eyes, but I'm sure others will disagree !

After moving from Edinburgh up to Killin, then feel my FWD V60 could do with replacing with a 4WD, for the winters up here. Did pop into the Jaguar garage in Perth to look at the F-Pace, but it looked huge, checking the figures then the GLC is a bit more compact which is more what I'm looking for.

Anyway, be good to hear if there are any major no-no's with it ( or Mercs in general ) from your most detailed review of the SUV market.

[GJB]

Originally Posted by Kev78

The new Maserati SUV is lovely. Well worth a look.

The owner of the new Maserati who was opposite my house the other day and was loaded onto a covered breakdown wagon was not very happy at all,bet he was not thinking it was worth it!!!!!

[Arianne]

Originally Posted by K5 Gus

Arianne,

Can you remind me ( 86 pages is an awful lot to read back through ) if you looked at, and dismissed Mercs ? The GLC Coupe has caught my eye recently, only available with 220d or 250d at the moment, but a 350d available from October ( and an AMG 43 version as well !! ).

http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/...mg-line-review

I don't really like the look, from the rear, of the X4 which I do remember you looked at, but for me the rear of the GLC Coupe, although quite similar to the X4, seems to work a lot better in my eyes, but I'm sure others will disagree !

After moving from Edinburgh up to Killin, then feel my FWD V60 could do with replacing with a 4WD, for the winters up here. Did pop into the Jaguar garage in Perth to look at the F-Pace, but it looked huge, checking the figures then the GLC is a bit more compact which is more what I'm looking for.

Anyway, be good to hear if there are any major no-no's with it ( or Mercs in general ) from your most detailed review of the SUV market.

Sorry K5 Gus, we didn't look at any of the Mercs. We dismissed the GLE because it's an old car with a new name. The GLC coupe is a better looking car than the BMW X4 and from the reviews it's clear to me that anyone up to 6ft tall can sit comfortably in the back without their legs being in an awkward position, which was the problem with the BMW as they had lowered the seat to counter the coupe roofline. The reviews are promising for the Merc, the interior fit & finish looks very good (although we are not fans of the tablet bolt-on look). The only issue I can see is that the rear cargo area seems very shallow because of that sloping tailgate. It's long but shallow.

I think all of the GLC coupe come with AWD which is one of the reasons for the price premium over the standard SUV GLC version.

But I am no expert on this model, not having tested it personally. Worth a look though? There is a whopping review from Autogefuhl on YouTube - over an hour long. You need to search within YouTube itself on Mercedes GLC coupe and it should appear on the first few listings.

Best wishes, Arianne

[NigelDay]

Originally Posted by Arianne

Nigel, as you well know, we've been there and done that. Mrs A absolutely hates the look of the Porsche Macan and will never sanction £57k spend on a car that she says she will never look at on her drive with her gorgeous eyes! Even I am not keen but the badge redeems it somewhat. But compared to the F-Pace it's much smaller and more hard core. At this price point it's not about accountancy but the heart. Without doubt, the Macan makes more financial sense if you can actually get your hands on one!

TBH, if it were not for Clelands I don't think I would be buying a Jaguar.

Yes, I do remember you looked at it, but had forgotten that Mrs A "did not like it". A very important factor in the process. I was just remembering the earlier post (somewhere) when the cost of the (essential) extras for the Macan was pushing the price up into serious territory. As you say, having Clelands nearby is a positive factor and the dealer can make such a difference to the driver experience. The other point to make about the Macan is that it is based on the (soon to be updated) Q5 platform, so in time will itself be refreshed. Might still be too ugly however.

[Arianne]

^ lead time on the Macan is horrendous, assuming that the dealers don't decide to snap them all up before the general public can get their hands on them.

As a performance SUV I think the Porsche Macan beats the F-Pace. But I am not that kind of 'on the edge' driver. I am not good enough for that! In the real world, the F-Pace is a better all rounder. It's got a bigger cabin, bigger boot and more forgiving ride than the Porsche Macan - even on 22" rims.

Some of the V6 diesel owners are almost achieving 40mpg with their F-Pace cars and, even with a heavy right foot, never below 30mpg. Looks like 35mpg is real-world while having some fun and that's amazing really.

Regards,

Arianne

[K5 Gus]

Thanks Arianne,

You're right all the GLC Coupe's come with AWD, and yes, the boot is shallow at the opening end due to sloping roof, but I don't often carry big loads so not a worry for me.

The big screen, I initially did not like the look of, but am coming around to it, need to see it in reality to decide.

Need to go to the nearest Merc garage and have a poke around and see what I think.

Watched the Autogefuhl review, wow that guy sure does go in to some level of detail, awesome !!

I'm looking for something with ideally a V6 3 litre diesel engine, and currently trying to narrow down between "higher cars" ( eg A4 allroad ) and compact SUVs, quite a narrow combination !!!

Gus

[Arianne]

All the best Gus. Enjoy it as we found this part of the buying process quite fun.

Arianne