Hi, this is my first-ever post, but I just wanted to thank everyone on this forum for all the useful information. I traded in my '04 X5 4.4i because my car was getting older (served us well) and now that our kids are getting older, I really needed a functional 3rd row (for play dates and the occasional out-of-towners who come to visit).
I wanted a bigger car than my old X5, but not huge, so I pretty much had my mind set on getting the GX460. We were having the BMW dealer give us an estimate on our trade in, and were going to walk over to the Lexus dealer to test drive the GX. However, the Land Rover/Jaguar/Volvo dealer is sandwiched in between the BMW and Lexus dealerships, so we stopped in and my husband ended up test driving the LR4 before we headed over to Lexus to look at and test drive the GX. Anyway, to make a long story short, my husband test drove both cars (I stayed behind with our kids: ages 6 and 4), and he basically told me that I was going to like the LR4 and the GX, not so much.
Unfortunately, all the LR dealers have limited stock and while I'm somewhat picky about colors, I was flexible. What was most important to me was that the car had a black interior. With two young kids, it would be almost impossible to keep an almond interior clean. I wanted the HSE package, and the climate comfort package was a nice-to-have (we live in a warm area), and did not want black or white exterior. There are 3 dealers in our area, and here was what I had immediately available to me with a black interior:
- Indus Silver/Ebony HSE, no climate
- Sumatra Black/Ebony, HSE, yes climate
Because we live in such a warm area, I decided that not having a black exterior was more important than not having the heated seats. I would have preferred to stay away from the silver exterior as the past 3 cars I've owned were all silver, but I do acknowledge that silver stays pretty clean looking and doesn't show wear as much as a black car does. I saw the Orkney Grey and Ipanema Sand in person and liked them both, but those vehicles had almond interiors, so no-go. Buckingham Blue was nice, but once again, almond interior, and I really couldn't picture myself driving a blue car.
I had the dealer install running boards so my kids can get in and out of the car easier. I've had the car for 2 weeks now (almost) and am very pleased. Compared to my X5, I like that it's easier to drive (steering is not nearly as stiff, and turning radius for such a large car is amazing). I like being so high up and the visibility is great. The kids love their huge windows and the ride is much softer/quieter. Not to mention, my X5 was an '04 model, so I was missing bluetooth, and the touchscreen is a huge advancement to what I previously had. I know some people complain about the user-friendliness, but the new system is heads and tails above what I was used to...being able to stream music from my iPhone is really exciting for my daughter at the moment.
Furthermore, I have one large carseat (Britax Frontier 85) and one large booster (Britax Parkway SGL) in the 2nd row and am amazed at how much room is still left in the middle. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm pretty sure I can still fold the middle seat down without having to adjust either of my kids' seats. I took a few pictures and will post them (as soon as I figure out how to) so others can see how the carseats fit IRL.
Like I mentioned at the beginning, it was really useful reading people's posts on this forum and I hope that others will find this post useful as well. Thanks!
I wanted a bigger car than my old X5, but not huge, so I pretty much had my mind set on getting the GX460. We were having the BMW dealer give us an estimate on our trade in, and were going to walk over to the Lexus dealer to test drive the GX. However, the Land Rover/Jaguar/Volvo dealer is sandwiched in between the BMW and Lexus dealerships, so we stopped in and my husband ended up test driving the LR4 before we headed over to Lexus to look at and test drive the GX. Anyway, to make a long story short, my husband test drove both cars (I stayed behind with our kids: ages 6 and 4), and he basically told me that I was going to like the LR4 and the GX, not so much.
Unfortunately, all the LR dealers have limited stock and while I'm somewhat picky about colors, I was flexible. What was most important to me was that the car had a black interior. With two young kids, it would be almost impossible to keep an almond interior clean. I wanted the HSE package, and the climate comfort package was a nice-to-have (we live in a warm area), and did not want black or white exterior. There are 3 dealers in our area, and here was what I had immediately available to me with a black interior:
- Indus Silver/Ebony HSE, no climate
- Sumatra Black/Ebony, HSE, yes climate
Because we live in such a warm area, I decided that not having a black exterior was more important than not having the heated seats. I would have preferred to stay away from the silver exterior as the past 3 cars I've owned were all silver, but I do acknowledge that silver stays pretty clean looking and doesn't show wear as much as a black car does. I saw the Orkney Grey and Ipanema Sand in person and liked them both, but those vehicles had almond interiors, so no-go. Buckingham Blue was nice, but once again, almond interior, and I really couldn't picture myself driving a blue car.
I had the dealer install running boards so my kids can get in and out of the car easier. I've had the car for 2 weeks now (almost) and am very pleased. Compared to my X5, I like that it's easier to drive (steering is not nearly as stiff, and turning radius for such a large car is amazing). I like being so high up and the visibility is great. The kids love their huge windows and the ride is much softer/quieter. Not to mention, my X5 was an '04 model, so I was missing bluetooth, and the touchscreen is a huge advancement to what I previously had. I know some people complain about the user-friendliness, but the new system is heads and tails above what I was used to...being able to stream music from my iPhone is really exciting for my daughter at the moment.
Furthermore, I have one large carseat (Britax Frontier 85) and one large booster (Britax Parkway SGL) in the 2nd row and am amazed at how much room is still left in the middle. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm pretty sure I can still fold the middle seat down without having to adjust either of my kids' seats. I took a few pictures and will post them (as soon as I figure out how to) so others can see how the carseats fit IRL.
Like I mentioned at the beginning, it was really useful reading people's posts on this forum and I hope that others will find this post useful as well. Thanks!
