LR4 Replacments...

[iconoclast]

Same here. I regret selling both of mine. I will never find another B6 S4 Avant or B7 S4 Avant with those options or low mileage ever again but live and learn. On a optimistic an almost unrealistic note Scott Keogh state there is one more "secret" RS heading to the US and the only hint that "it is the most popular Audi RS in the EU" which leaves many speculating that it may very well be the RS6 Avant. If so I will be one of the first to purchase.

 

[PaulLR3]

Same here. I regret selling both of mine. I will never find another B6 S4 Avant or B7 S4 Avant with those options or low mileage ever again but live and learn. On a optimistic an almost unrealistic note Scott Keogh state there is one more "secret" RS heading to the US and the only hint that "it is the most popular Audi RS in the EU" which leaves many speculating that it may very well be the RS6 Avant. If so I will be one of the first to purchase.

That would be fantastic. I'll be the second one on that order list. That would help me recover from missing my B7 S4 avant and 2002 allroad.

 

[iconoclast]

I will remain hopelessly optimistic but we've been burned before by AOA.

 

[gsxr]

About the G-wag: I'm an MB guy and the LR4 is my only non-MB in the fleet. The G-wag didn't make the cut for 2 reasons: First, it's only a 5-seater, not 7. And second, the price of used ones is in-sane. New ones? I could buy another house for that kinda dough. Hmm, depreciating asset or appreciating, let me think. Also, the G-wag was designed in the 1970's as a military vehicle, and although it cleans up amazingly nice with enough lipstick on the pig, it's still a pig underneath. Much more of an off-road tank than an urban utility vehicle.

Required reading for anyone seriously considering a G-class. Coincidentally, this was also the thread that turned me on to the LR3 and resulted in our LR4 purchase:
https://www.500eboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=10759


The closest MB equivalent to the LR4 is the GL450/GL550 of the same era, 2010-2013. (The current equivalent model is GLS, in the MB alphabet soup of model designations). Again, the GL commands a price premium over hte LR4 even in the used market, particularly for the GL550 with larger engine (more comparable to the LR4). This comparison review from 2010 is what pushed us over to trying the LR4:

http://www.motortrend.com/cars/merc...4-2010-lexus-gx-460-2010-mercedes-benz-gl450/

If you need 7 seats, the new VW Atlas looks interesting, at a more tolerable pricetag. Definitely a notch down on the luxury relative to the LR or MB of course.

 

[ryanjl]

The price on the G-Wagons is steep, but you might want to recheck the "depreciating asset" part. If I had bought a 2004 or 05 G-Wagon when I bought my Jeep back in 2013, I would likely be able to sell it at a profit now. I recall at some point in the late oughts the '02 and '03 models were selling in the low $20k range, but now they are up in the $30s. Yeah, not like a house (my house has nearly doubled in value since I bought in '12), but damn good for a car.

It seems they have plateaued over the last few years, though. I looked at them again when I bought my LR4 in 2016. While my LR4 has suffered the standard Land Rover depreciation, the G-500's have maintained their price without any depreciation at all. A good '04-'05 was in the low $40s then, as it is now.

Time will tell if the subtle redesign will have the older ones undergo a more standard depreciation. I think a lot of their price hinged on the fact that they looked identical to a $130k vehicle to an untrained eye. Now that the newer ones are slightly different, the older ones may look dated and lose their cachet to some people.

To be honest, though, my only reservation with them is their height, which I believe is even taller than an LR4 when stock. As it is, I have to lower my LR4 to just barely fit into my parking garage at work. If I got something taller, I'd have to park in a different garage and walk.

The off-road tank part is what's so appealing to me. If I didn't care about off-road ability, I'd buy an E-Class.

 

[cperez]

If you need 7 seats, the new VW Atlas looks interesting, at a more tolerable pricetag. Definitely a notch down on the luxury relative to the LR or MB of course.

I was impressed with the lines of the Atlas the very first time I saw it. This was in a review by WSJ's Dan Neil. Maybe because it has similar lines to the 2011+ refresh of the Jeep Grand Cherokee which I liked and drove for a year when it first came out. I've seen a few of them on the road around here and I think it's a handsome vehicle.

 

[Davidinseattle]

For those of you who are not marrying these things until death do you part... Which vehicles are you considering as a replacement?

G wagon

 

[catman]

I drove an Atlas V6 (they did not have the 2.0 turbo) back in Janurary and it is not in the same league as the LR3/LR4. But, it was decent for the price point. I did not find the drive to be particularly engaging and none of the drive "modes" they have felt any different to me dispite the sales guy telling me otherwise. Still, it checks all the basic boxes and seemed like it would "work" as a LR3 replacement.

Our biggest issue when considering a replacement is having enough height at the opening of the rear for one of our dogs to safely jump in without bumping his head. The Atlas was better than most newer vehicles, but still right on the line. My wife did not like it that much, so we will probably never go down that path....

 

[TCM75]

Just got caught up on this thread. Probably my most favorite car owned was my B6 S4 wagon. 6-speed in Dolphin Grey. I sold it in 2010 after realizing it was a tad too small for my growing family. Of course now I keep saying, "We could have made it work"...lol. It did everything I wanted really well and, besides the ground clearance, had SUV-like practicality.

Anyway, I entered a 4-year lease through my company with the LR4 in April 2015 so I have a year left. Our recent plan was to personally buy the LR4 for my wife (she loves it too) and then I would lease a new D5. I don't dislike it as much as when it came out but I still don't feel the same way about it as I do towards the LR4. However, the fact that I can get it with a diesel engine and still have a good amount of space. Would it meet my needs? Yes. Do I feel any sort of emotion or connection towards it? No.

That plan changed over the weekend when I found a great 2016 Cayenne diesel for my wife...for about the same price as the VW Atlas we were going to look at. The Cayenne has an impressive build quality and features for the money (somebody else took that hit). The clincher was that since it is a diesel, it gets the benefit of the extended CPO from the VW diesel settlement with an unlimited mileage warranty through Sep 2021. If you don't need the third row, it may be worth checking out something similar.

 

[ktm525]

Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland. Air suspension and the 5.7L V8.