X5 4.4i vs. Range Rover Sport HSE vs. Base Cayenne vs. Touareg V8

def get the ML500, drove one this weekend... what a ride. That will be my next car.

glad i could help. we have an X5 4.4i and an ML500, and we're getting the NEW ML500 now that we've test driven all the new contenders. The new one is a huge improvement over the old ones and it'll be around for a while.

i drove RR sports, both supercharged and not, and either way... they just weren't doing it for me...
(i worked at a jaguar, range rover dealer)
i became very familiar with the CSI (customer satisfaction index) for all jaguars, range rovers, bmw's, bentley's, and audi's while working for this place>>>> Land Rover had some of the lowest numbers (bottom 5 of all car makers, within the first 3 months of ownership) while BMW held its place in the top 3 of all car manufacturers, within the first year of ownership.
We had a discovery 2 land rover a while back, and although it was awesome offroad, and drove great for the first ferw months, things began to fall apart, and we ended up trading it in for a Jeep cherokee (btw, you might want to check out the new Jeep SRT 8, that thing is a beast)

overall, if you could only choose between these vehicles, i would hands down choose the X5...
we have a 4.4i black on tan, and its awesome... we've had no complaints since we bought it over a year ago (other than the maintainence costs... but any of these vehicles will do that to ya)...
but at the end of the day, you should go with your gut and get what you guys think fits best

definitly go the X5, maybe wait for the redesign....

if you're looking to buy a brand new car (which i'm assuming you are), BMW has the best overall warranty coverage of all the companies we're talking about. For example, BMW, unlike Mercedes, will cover your brake pads/rotor changes FOR FREE while you're under warranty. They usually have excellent service.

Mercedes has a pretty comprehensive warranty program as well, minus the brake-wear. The old ML (especially the ML500) had serious brake pad-wear issues - but from what I hear that's pretty much all been taken care of with this new model.

ive driven all of the above mentioned vehicles because we were considering trading in our V8 touareg for something else. we purchased the touareg when they were first introduced and have had some issues with it but once all the bugs were fixed, its been a great vehicle. its really a joy to drive and the interior and exterior are great. after comparison shopping, we couldnt find another suv that could best the touareg. we really like the X5 but its being redesigned and the only other one we were really considering was the ml500 and we may still trade the touareg in for it since our vw is getting up there in miles. the porsche is an ugly touareg with a better badge.

Its not an SUV, but it has more cargo space than some of the options you've mentioned, plus its more bang for the buck. Yes, I'm talking about the bad@ss and upretentious... Magnum SRT8!!! I own a lightly modded Magnum R/T, which is quick and cool in its own right, but I drool over the SRT8 lineup.

Originally Posted by 2001BMW330xi

if you're looking to buy a brand new car (which i'm assuming you are), BMW has the best overall warranty coverage of all the companies we're talking about. For example, BMW, unlike Mercedes, will cover your brake pads/rotor changes FOR FREE while you're under warranty. They usually have excellent service.

Mercedes has a pretty comprehensive warranty program as well, minus the brake-wear. The old ML (especially the ML500) had serious brake pad-wear issues - but from what I hear that's pretty much all been taken care of with this new model.

My dad is basically planning on leasing the car, the problem is that he wants to stay around 1400 monthly payments CAD....the main problem is that he does 125k kms in 3 years so reliability is a big issue. The warranty of BMW is very appealing to my dad, but the new ML is really starting to grow on him.