Got our 2017 HSE with driver's tech, convenience, black pkg and navigation just about a month ago and 1,000km just rolled over. I thought this would be a good time to start detailing some initial impressions.
Just to set the stage a little bit, our previous car was a 2002 Mazda Protege5 that we owned since new. Loved it, but it was getting a little rusty in some critical spots (strut towers), and with the kids getting bigger (7-year old twins) we needed more space. Having had an economy car for so long, we figured it was time to treat ourselves, so we wanted something a little more upscale. Before getting the DS we thought long and hard about the Volvo XC90, the BMW X3 and X5, the Mercedes GLE and GLC, the Lexus RX (kill me now!) and the Audi Q7 and Q5. We test drove most of them and actually went pretty far in negotiating on both the X5 40E and the XC90 T8. By fluke one Saturday morning, when we yet again set out to visit various dealerships, we dropped by Land Rover. We had seen the DS at the auto show a couple of years earlier, and had liked it, but it had dropped off our radar. We were offered an extensive test drive (on our own!) and we loved it. The following Tuesday we signed the papers and a week later we picked it up.
Now, just to set the stage further, over the years with Protege5 ownership we have test driven and rented a large variety of cars both here in Canada and on our travels in Europe and the US, so I feel I have some good reference points as to what is good handling, what is a comfortable ride and what are good interior ergonomics.
So, let's get into some specifics about the DS:
First of all the negatives so far (and some this is nitpicking):
Infotainment:
And btw, so far we have no squeaks or rattles - absolutely nothing. Just hope it stays that way as it seems that is the main concern for other more unfortunate DS owners. Now, if you want to read about REAL problems spend some time on SwedeSpeed and read about the XC90...
Just to set the stage a little bit, our previous car was a 2002 Mazda Protege5 that we owned since new. Loved it, but it was getting a little rusty in some critical spots (strut towers), and with the kids getting bigger (7-year old twins) we needed more space. Having had an economy car for so long, we figured it was time to treat ourselves, so we wanted something a little more upscale. Before getting the DS we thought long and hard about the Volvo XC90, the BMW X3 and X5, the Mercedes GLE and GLC, the Lexus RX (kill me now!) and the Audi Q7 and Q5. We test drove most of them and actually went pretty far in negotiating on both the X5 40E and the XC90 T8. By fluke one Saturday morning, when we yet again set out to visit various dealerships, we dropped by Land Rover. We had seen the DS at the auto show a couple of years earlier, and had liked it, but it had dropped off our radar. We were offered an extensive test drive (on our own!) and we loved it. The following Tuesday we signed the papers and a week later we picked it up.
Now, just to set the stage further, over the years with Protege5 ownership we have test driven and rented a large variety of cars both here in Canada and on our travels in Europe and the US, so I feel I have some good reference points as to what is good handling, what is a comfortable ride and what are good interior ergonomics.
So, let's get into some specifics about the DS:
First of all the negatives so far (and some this is nitpicking):
Infotainment:
- This has been covered before, but why we can't cycle through radio presets using the steering wheel buttons is a grand mystery. Every single car that I have ever driven with steering wheel buttons can cycle the presets, so I have no idea what LR was thinking.
- The touchscreen is set a little bit far from the driver, so I often find it to be a reach to get to the top right hand corner of the screen. That is of course where they put the cacncel button for whatever screen you are in (red x). This makes sense on MS Windows on your computer, but it makes no sense to mimic that on a touchscreen in a car. Put all touch controls closer to the driver.
- Scrolling through the sets of radio presets on the touchscreen is annoying. Only 6 presets show up at a time, and you can't go back to page 1 when you're on page 3. Just stupid design and such a simple fix.
- The FM tuner is downright awful. I was so disappointed in the sound from the standard stereo when I was first listening to radio that I thought I had made a terrible mistake in nit getting the Meridian upgrade. However, listening to music from other sources lets the system redeem itself. It will never be mistaken for a high end stereo, but it is more than adequate for a base system. It's just the FM that is annoying.
- There is no up/down adjustment for the lumbar support. The button is there - you can feel the plastic notches that were clearly designed for this to be a feature, but it is not there. Very disappointing.
- There's definitely some cheap plastics in the interior. Even my old Pro5 had better quality plastics than this. Just brings down the quality feel of an otherwise very nice looking interior.
- The Button for lane keeping assist is way down to the left of the driver - very inconvenient, and just means this feature won't be used much.
- The heated steering wheel is great, but my hand always brushes against the very cold plastic trim around the buttons and this is annoying. It's such a contrast of temperature that it makes me hold the steering wheel differently when it's cold.
- The auto mirror fold feature can only be changed by the dealership. This is stupid. It should be driver configurable. I want to turn this off in the winter since there can sometimes be snow and ice jammed in beside the mirror and I don't want to break anything, while in the summer I want to turn this feature back on again. I'm not going to go into the dealership just for this, so I'm planning to go there to get them to turn it off, and then I'll just control it manually by pressing the left and right mirror buttons simultaneously.
- The 2l turbo engine and the 9-speed transmission are just not very good friends. They seem to have no idea what each of them want at any one time, so throttle response sometimes seems lighting fast and other times it's glacial. I know this has been discussed up and down here and in the automotive press, but I find it to be really annoying. My wife and I are different types of drivers, so the learning transmission will always be confused, so I have no confidence that this will sort itself out. Never had this kind of problem in any other car I have driven. It's how unpredictable it is that really gets me. Trying to drop a few gears to quickly get through a yellow light yields no response and by the time I've decided to brake instead the surge is suddenly there. I'm just hoping for a diesel engine in the future that will give more linear and predictable response.
- It definitely handles a bit like a truck. It rolls a bit in the corners, it bounces on the bumps, it dips when you come to a stop - obviously very different from our old Pro5. This is also a contrast to the X3/X5 and even the XC90. I'm not asking them to make it like the F-Pace, but tightening the handling up a little bit would be nice.
- Only 1,000km on it and mostly city driving, so I know this may change, but the fuels consumption is really bad. Measuring at the pump we have yet to see below 13.5l/100km (~21mpg). I know I shouldn't really complain about this as it is actually in line with the EPA rating. However, it is a bit of a shock coming from a smaller car, and it is massively different from the X3 diesel we almost got. It's also a lot thirstier than the Nissan Murano we rented a couple of months ago which has a V6. Again, hoping for a diesel in the North American DS in the future.
- It's a looker. I feel there really isn't any SUV out there currently that comes close to the looks of the DS. Makes me feel good every time I drive it - makes me turn around for a look every time I park it. Yes, it's superficial, but darnit - it matters!
- Love that the mirrors dip when reversing. I'm sure other cars have this feature, but even with a reverse camera I find it extremely useful to follow the curb or the line in the mirrors.
- One button turns off everything. This is like having a master light switch for your house. When you stop the car, you just hit that ignition button and the car puts itself in park, engages the parking brake, turns off the lights, turns off the wipers - you just have to open the door and go - fabulous!
- The kids love the back seat that slides and reclines and they love gazing out of that enormous pano roof! The centre tunnel hump is also very small which is a bonus for back seat space. The centre tunnel in the X3 is massive.
- It's so spacious inside. I'm 6'4" and I often have trouble fitting into cars - even SUVs. No trouble here - lots of headroom. Lots of room in the backseat too where even I can sit without being hunched over. The trunk is a decent size with the added bonus of the sliding back seats which can make it even bigger. It's definitely bigger than the X3, and probably bigger than the X5 as well in turns of usable space.
- Can't comment on the seat comfort yet as we haven't done a long trip yet (although I must say the Murano seats will be a hard act to follow), but I love that the driver and passenger seats have the exact same adjustments, including memory. Often they will skimp on the adjustments for the passenger, but not on the DS. Great for me and my wife who often switch and are very different size.
- Really like some of the storage solutions. There's rubber lining on the cubby at the front of the centre console and on the shelf above the glove compartment - this is a nice touch so that phones and other items put there don't slide around. Also really like the little compartment under the front cupholder.
- Two 2.1v USB outlets for the back seat is fantastic. I don't think any competitors have this standard.
- The glove compartment closes with a satisfying click - just feels really solid. This is a litmus test we do with all cars we try. The glove compartment lid on our old Pro5 is dead solid, so we figure this is a good indicator.
- The touchscreen is a little slow to respond to touches, but overall we really like the combination of buttons and touchscreen. Really, really hope Land Rover will not change this on future iterations. We couldn't stand the touchscreen only controls in the XC90 - just makes things unnecessarily complicated. Good old buttons and dials and a clean layout is a recipe for success and the DS has gotten this just right (except that lane keeping assist button as mentioned above). Everything is easy to operate and all controls are intuitive.
- This last one might come as a surprise. I actually really like the auto start/stop feature! I have driven many other cars with this feature and they are generally way too aggressive. They will often shut off the engine before it has even come to a full stop. In the DS you have to come to a complete stop before it kicks in and this makes it so easy to control. I'm always watching conditions ahead and if I see that the line I'm coming up to will be moving shortly I just feather the brakes and crawl forward cm by cm to prevent the engine from stopping. However, if I see that we will be stopped for a little longer (e.g., red light) I just press the brake all the way and the engine stops. It's perfectly executed and so easy to control, I just hope they never change it.
And btw, so far we have no squeaks or rattles - absolutely nothing. Just hope it stays that way as it seems that is the main concern for other more unfortunate DS owners. Now, if you want to read about REAL problems spend some time on SwedeSpeed and read about the XC90...