Hi Simon,
Speak as I find, the Range Rover was a big comfy cruiser, but even with a 4.4 V8 and more Torque than you can shake a stick at, I just found the combination of Weight/momentum and Auto gearbox just made it cumbersome once you left the Motorway (i.e. my usual daily 40 mile commute)
For example, I live in a village in a valley, and the road out is all uphill, with a particular left-hand junction that I use regularly - approach it in the RR and the weight slows you down for the corner, then as you take the bend into another uphill, weight overcomes momentum and the auto shunted about between it's 8 gears before hitting the Torque "Wave" and giving the shove needed (from experience, I learned to use the flappy-paddle manual override to get around this!)
Threading it through some Yorkshire country lanes last week (following a colleague in a Ford S-Max) it wallowed like a ship - and fast cornering in 2.5 Tons of dead-weight wasn't enjoyable - Air suspension or not!
I suffer with a lower back complaint, and again, the RR's big chairs were nice (especially when heated and cooled) but didn't hold you in place particularly well, so I wasn't as comfortable as I'd liked - maybe because it was too roomy?
Don't get me wrong, in so many ways it was a great wagon - it commands total respect from other road users, had amazing visibility and carried all of my holiday luggage without a problem. I even managed to get an (indicated) 36.4 mpg at one point - which is amazing... Plus the kids loved the Freeview TV, and I loved the sunroof!
... But then my Q3 cost less than 50% of the RR, costs 75% less in Road Tax, fits into one standard parking space, and has carried me through 23,000 miles in 9 months, without back pain.
Getting back into the "old girl" today, it was the right size, nimble in traffic (had stop-start too!), and the Sat Nav was vastly superior - and then I drove down to Milton Keynes (all Motorway):
The Q3 is right for me, Will I miss the RR? No... I've got my memories to look back on.
