I am a currant owner of a 99 gs400. I have had it for 6 or so years with 120,000 miles and so far no problems at all. I am first in line for the gs450h in my city but am more looking to get the 460. Today as I was driving around I noticed the new range rover sport, I thought it look great. So I drove to the dealer to test drive one. I think the car drives great and looks great. I have never liked SUV’s before but this car really grabbed my attention. Now I am having a lot of trouble deciding on a new GS or this range rover sport that I could order right now. Our family has had about 8 different Lexus’s since 1991 we love the service and we love the reliability, but I am wondering if maybe its time for a change. I heard range rovers are one of the most unreliable cars made, which makes me feel I should forget about this right away but once again I just fell in love with this car. Now I know these are two completely different types of cars, but what do you guys think of getting a range rover sport over the GS450h or GS460? Basicly there is probably no reason for me to post this here but I need some opinions I just can't decide.

 

In my opinion, coming from a family that owned 5 lexus so far, I believe that you should try out the Range Rover Sports. I have bought an Infiniti FX35 revently, and I tell you, its a blast with great torque and power. The Range Rover Sports is a fabulous looking car and its a terrific handler. GET IT! The dependability of the upper Range Rover is perfect now, its just the lower end LR3 and the Freelander that gets all the problem. The Range Rover sports has plenty of power, and I am sure the supercharger will blow the GS460 away.


Dave

 

Well, practically, it depends on what better suits your needs/wants. The new GS is a slightly larger, slightly more luxurious, slightly quieter version of what you have now. I personally t think the new GS is too bland and the trunk opening impractically small so I won't be getting one. I quite like the front of the new GS but that's it.

The Range Rover Sport would certainly be distinctive, fun to drive, and more practical than the GS (more storage space).

I don't know how expensive it is, but sure, why not?

My next vehicle will be smaller or bigger than the GS - I too will be looking for a change at some point.

 

Ehh.. be careful... Land Rover vehicles are notorious for reliability issues and it's going to be a MAJOR wakeup call going from the most reliable vehicles in the world to some of the least.

Comparing a midsize sport sedan to an SUV isn't really the easiest thing to do... there are so many differences between the classes that it's difficult to find similarities and differences. If you need a lot of cargo space, then go for an SUV. The GS's trunk isn't really the biggest. Plus, the fuel economy is going to be incomparable. The Land Rover's highway mileage is lower than the GS430's CITY mileage, and that's not even the hybrid, but this goes for a lot of other SUV's as well.

Edit: the base price on the RR Sport is $57,000ish

 

Before ending up with the GS430, I was highly interested in the RR Sport. I think the exterior is great. But the interior is just so-so. Compared to the RR HSE interior, the Sport interior is definitely a step down.

And I was also concerned about the power of the Sport. 300 HP sounds good, but the Sport is heavy. Spending about $8k more for the supercharged version brings it into $70k territory.

This months Motor Trend has a good comparison test between the RR Sport and the new ML. May be worth a read.

In any event, maybe a change would be good. Worst case scenario, you find after a few years that you miss Lexus and come back. But hopefully, you'll enjoy the RR experience. Hey, variety is the spice of life. Good luck with your decision.

 

Stick with the GS. My friend has a Range Roger HSE (not Sport) and has had everything and anything you could emagine go wrong/break on it. It's a good looking, overpriced P.O.S. in my opinion. On the otherhand, I think the GS (in my case 430) is a great car but still overpriced and overrated, but I am sure that it will be just as reliable as your 99 GS.

 

wait for the GS460 or LS460

 

i owned a discovery before my gs and i will attest to the fact that they have to be the most unreliable vehicles ever. with that being said i loved the vehicle and i would love to have a new rr sport. just make sure that you have no silly ideas about them being much more reliable now than their predecessor...faster/yes...better looking/yes...more expensive/yes...more reliable/highly doubt it. they are owned by ford now but last i checked ford's track record hasn't been any better than the days of bmw ownership. if that rrsport is what you really want than get it. you will definately stand out whereas that vehicle looks stunning, but it really sucks when it's always in the shop. and it will be. tough choice to make.

it's funny because i have been discussing my next vehicle and my choices have been between the same two vehicles as you. only difference is that i currently own the new gs300. and i'm kicking myself for not paying a little extra for the 430.

 

huh? Supercharger will blow GS460 way?

In what world? Range Rover Sport is rather large tank. It weights almost 500kg more than RX400h. And it is based of Discovery, not Range Rover. It goes 0-62 in 7.6 secs. It should get 12mpg on the road.

It comes down to what you preffer as an vehicle, but if you are into performance sedans and are waiting for GS460/450h because of that, then getting an 2,600kg car is absolute opposite of that.

Obviously, the best thing you can do is go an test drive one and see if it fits your needs. Spend some time in it since you will need to adjust to completly different car.

 

0-60 in 7.6 with 390 hp? That's really not impressive AT ALL, especially considering C&D clocked the RX330's 0-60 in 7.8, and the RX400h at 6.9 (holy crap!), and the X5 4.4 gets there in 7.1. And then there's the Cayenne Turbo, which is just sickeningly fast at 5.0 .

Edit: found the 400h numbers

 

i have not seen the range rover sport up close yet but i like the way it looks,,,, but i am gonna go with the hse,, gonna be the same price if you pick the supercharged version,,,,, i hope your talking about the supercharged version cause if your not get the lexus.. shouldnt even be a comparison, i want the hse cause i want the bmw engine.......... ill buy the extended warranty.......

 

Yeah I am looking at the supercharged version. But that still isn't much of a comparison to the lexus. I am really giving up a lot of power and speed, but I beleive an SUV would be great for me for a few years. A dealer in Dallas is saying he has a fully loaded supercharged sport in the colors i want for 75k, though i havn't started negotiating yet. I know I could get the hybrid gs or the gs460 for much less then that, especially because we are in such good contact with the dealer here in Austin. I really don't think I want to go about the 70k mark, never spent that much on a car and was never planning to. My goal is to get that same car for 65k or less, i need to start trying to find some range rover connections. Basicly that is what its going to come down to if i can get the fully loaded supercharged ranger rover sport for 65k or less i would buy that over the GS.

 

you cant really compare an suv to a luxury sports sedan........ but if you were to buy an suv and if you see yourself needing one,,,, a range rover is the way to go imho,,,,, there is no other suv out there that i would even consider buying,,, this includes the lexus,,, looks too boring to me...... just to let u know, i sold my m3 to purchase the range rover, when i test drove the hse,,,,, i loved the way it handled.. loved it enough to sellmy baby for one....... didnt get it yet, but in the near near future it will happen

 

I saw 2 yesterday broke down in the middle lane, maybe because it's 108 here?
The design looks good, but my Cayenne is much more fun to drive. IMO