I have just recently driven the Sport Supercharged as part of looking for a replacement for my 'lemon' 4.8

First thing I noticed in the drive was that you need constant little corrections to keep driving in a straight line, and that the steering was very vague in the 'straight ahead' position to slightly offline. The sales rep recommended I go for the upgraded 'airmatic?' suspension but the car had already lost me.

The vehicle is more suited to heavier off roading than I do (occasional dirt track/gravel driveway) so some of the features were superfluous, however the information available through the touch screen was impressive.

I liked the touch screen layout but not the screen itself.

The driving position was the best I have driven so far for me (vs Cayenne, ML350, ML500, ML63, E350, E500,Q7 and my 4.8) and I really liked the internal armrest. The controls are laid out very well and easy to get to, without some of the useless gimmicks now being used by BMW and Mercedes.

Performance was pretty poor compared to the 4.8, and I felt like it was a lot of noise for little result.

Style wise I think both the ext and Int are great, although it will be left behind pretty quick compared to the ML, BMW and Porsche new products.

If I had driven it when looking at a 3.0 or 4.4 X5 I would have seriously considered it. In comparison to a 4.8..... it gets left behind.

Overall I rate the 4.8 way ahead..... IMHO you should keep looking for the 4.8 you want.

Cheers

John

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