I've been given what could be my favourite piece of work, yet. I've been asked to buy an executive, four wheel drive, 7 seat vehicle for work.

It has to be 4x4 as we will use it off-road on our construction site, nothing too serious, mostly fields and a few tracks. It will also be used to transport potential investors and the senior exectutives to and from the airport/train station so it should have good road manners.

I think it will have to be brand new to comply with company policy but I will check on this and I have a budget of of about £55,000.

My first thought was a Discovery 4 but I'm also considering a Toyota Land Cruiser, a Merc GL but this is slightly over budget at £60k and a Audi Q7.

Have I missed anything and has anyone any experience of the cars above?

Thanks,

Owain

Disco is the British brand, so from a business perspective, this would be enough for me. Who are your likely investors?

Much as I am not keen on BMWs, a friend has had two BMW X5s in a row for company cars and loves them. They have 7 seats, and are more road biased than the usual 4x4 trucks.

The diesel engines are awesome too.

Audi Q7 or Volvo XC90?

Volvo or Disco - X5's / Q7's come with very silly wheels and tyres and don't work so well off road.

If you're ferrying potential investors, image will count for a lot.

The Discovery is both classy and class-less at the same time - it will impress without being shouty

Its the obvious choice

Several delivery-mileage Disco 4's on Auto Trader within your budget - look good in black

I have a 2007 Disco 3 and love it. It's far more capable in off road environments than the others.

Plus the latest 4's are very very refined. The interior is lovely if you go with a leather spec. Plus the 3.0 diesel lump is a joy to drive. It won't look out of place on a construction site and you can get the fitted rubber matts so you don't ruin your carpets.

Check out Disco3.co.uk - it's a hugely active forum with massive of knowledge.

Im with Nigel on this one - it is also quite true about the others as mentioned that they normally come with big alloys and summer tyres - as an example I watched some 'Rodneys' trying to drive a top of the range Range Rover on wet grass and could only move it about a foot forward and about 4 feet side ways - one because they didnt know how to drive on slippery surfaces but also that the tyres were just wrong - we were in an old Golf Mk 2 GTI and got off the field no dramas.

The discovery's are the only 'Exec' type 4X4 straght out fo the show room that I have been able to nearly submerge, throw into deep mud (just over the wheels) but still keep going and the cabin is as per Nigels post above, even more with the latest version.

I also have some experience with the BMW X5 - how ever if I remember correctly the 3rd row of seats is an extra and were not standard - plus they come out of the show room with pure summer road tyres so may present an issue for offroad.

Having said the above 80% of offroad driving is down to the driver and knoledge

By the way L/R (company known as 'Jaguar Land Rover')has been owned by TATA Motors since 2008, before that it was owned by Ford who sold the company to TATA - So L/R is not technically British

True, but large chunk of the Engineering an build done by us Brits :-)

Agree and with a good cash injection from TATA they are able to now get a decent design going hence the latest version is very plush and seems to be far better than previous versions.

A large chunk doesn't even cover it. The JLR effect in the West Midlands is

Lost me there??

Range Rover Sport - the news ones can have 7 seats and are a new platform compared to the Disco. Once the bottom range ones come out they will be within budget

The West Midlands is really benefiting because a lot of the JLR supply chain work is Midlands based.

I'd say Disco. I work in a rural market town and they're the drive of choice for so many - agricultural types, school run mums and solicitors.

As someone else said, classy yet classless.

From what I've seen I think the only reason people opt for the Range Rover over these is to show they can afford it.

Thanks for the replies, I'd fogotten about the XC90. I'll have a look into these.

I agree with Nigel, the Discovery is classy and class-less at the same time and that counts for a lot when working with investors. We need to show them hospitality, make them feel comfortable and looked after but not be ostentatious. They are likely to be from the China, Japan or sovereign investment funds and the senior executives of our parent company are Japanese.

Gripped, what are the back row of seats like in the X5? I thought they were only 5 seaters and they don't seem that long.

Nyssa7, I looked at the Range Rover Sport while in the Land Rover show room, although very nice its really a 5 seater with 2 kids seats in the back so not suitable if you're trying to impress everyone.

The criteria might have changed a little as its been indicated we may have to go for a lease hire and its likely we'll get 2 vehicles. I'll have to wait and find out what the montly budget is and hope that it still stretches to Discovery level.

Hi

Re: X5, the friend I know uses the two rear seats for his kids, so depends on the size of the adults. More info here.

This website also reviews other 7 seaters which might be useful.

X5 with 7 seats

Not sure if they still offer them but a left field suggest could be a VW Caravelle 4motion. They can be made to look suitably smart and have plenty of proper seats with no one relegated to the boot.

They do have business versions which are very plush but I think they are only 6 seaters.

Agreed - properly impressive - Parkers review

But - £65 grand

Agreed VW vans are v expensive due to the all important VW brand. Overpriced in my view.

Audi Q7, fantastic cars

In usual work style, its taken slightly longer than planned but we are now waiting for a Discovery 4 HSE on lease hire to arrive.

It'll be supplemented next year by another vehicle and we'll decide at the time what that will be based on what we use or need most; work horse (another Ford Ranger), a second Discovery or a luxury mini bus.