Getting closer to choosing the RRS as my next car. Spent 3 days last week in a SDV6 HSE and 2 days in a P400e AB. Loved them both!

Our usage is urban/suburban day-to-day, obvious win for the PHEV. 100 mile motorway runs approximately once a month.

The PHEV was outstanding, I gave it a full charge overnight and spent all of Sunday running mainly on battery. What an oasis of calm!

For those that own them - how are you getting on? Do you manage to avoid the thrashiness of the four cylinder engine (I only noticed it when briefly pushing on with no charge)? How is the long run MPG once the electric is gone?

I know that urban is good, I saw 150mpg plus on 5-10 mile runs several times.

Tell me more

Hi Equilibrium,

I've posted before about my experience with my 400e, but it was back in the early days.....now I've have it about 3 months and 1600 miles, I can give you feedback.

My commute is short, and like you I do the odd longer trip at weekends so I guess I'm the ideal customer. On the whole I love it. It's quiet and very refined, but also powerful when you want it to be. Even when the electric runs out, it's only when you really push it that you notice the sound of the petrol engine. Even that is a matter of taste - I quite like a petrol 'rasp' as opposed to a diesel clatter so for me it's a win win. The gearing is lower, so without electric it responds differently, i.e. more revvy and less torque but it's still strong. Do we need more than 300BHP in daily life? I've a sports car to chuck around, so for the most part I have the family in the RR so I don't agree with the claim of 'under power'. There's also something intangibly great about knowing that you are not chucking out soot. I'm not an environmentalist; I love engines and the noise and smell of petrol so for many years, I've scorned the likes of Prius (shoot me now) or Tesla (shoot me again, just in case) but in a RR it makes sense. I don't know why but it does.

On average, I've noticed that the mpg is about 30 on petrol alone over a long run and over the last 800 miles or so, 47 mpg averaged out with electric. It's a bit of a misnomer using mpg for a PHEV because if I were commuting all the time on electric it would be an infinite mpg but huge miles per Kw, but I'll leave that to the boffins to work out how they describe efficiency in the new PHEV world. But all in, it's more economical than the SDV, way more refined, faster when the electric is charged up, and just more COOL because its a RR that makes sense and can't be scorned by all the tree huggers.....Oh and the car tax is significantly lower, and residuals probably higher when all diesel drivers have been outlawed for evil pollution.

It's a faff getting the charger installed, but now I have it, it's fine and overall motoring costs are lower. I think I've only filled up with petrol 3 times.

Aside from it having to suit your driving, downsides are minimal. I'm a bit nervous that I'm a guinea pig user and I've had a recall for a fuel sensor issue already. The infotainment can be a little flakey at times but so much better than the old set up, but that's across the range I guess.

My view is that the 400e is the future and the SDV the past.

Hope this helps

Thanks EssexRRS, that's just the sort of feedback I was looking for.

I agree on the power being plenty. In a busy city/on busy city major arteries, it's rare to get the chance to open up. I currently drive a BMW 440i (turbo petrol six) and spend most of the time tootling around enjoying the refined engine. On the subject of which, it didn't feel so oily smooth after spending two days on mainly electric power! I'm pretty much sold on the PHEV I think, but always great to hear what people with more experience think.

Like you, I've scorned the Prius - my Dad has had a couple and I've not been impressed. PHEVs are much better with a decent range to at least allow a day's urban use. I've also driven a Tesla Model X - was reasonably impressed with some aspects of the electric drive, but the overall quality, NVH and build made my (much much cheaper) BMW feel like a Rolls-Royce afterwards.

The beauty of the RRS PHEV is that the car itself has the ability to make the most of the quiet electric drive - because the RRS is so very refined already. At times, the loudest noise I could hear in electric mode was the cooling fans in the seats - simply a WOW moment.

The intangibles of knowing you are not overly harming the environment are quite nice too.

I guess in summary - before my drive I thought the PHEV was about saving money and tolerating 4-cylinder rough edges. After the drive, I see a fantastic car in it's own right with the 4-cylinder thing being totally hidden most of the time.

Thanks again for taking the time, your thoughts definitely helped!

Autocar has a review of the P400e on its website. It's the 2018 model which, of course, is soon to be replaced. They did make mention that if run on pure petrol engine only once the battery is flat, the mpg is poor. But then, that's not really how you should drive a hybrid. 2012 SDV6 - it's missing a couple of cylinders
2008 TDV8 - it was a labour of love and is much missed

Despite my PHEV not being a P400E RRS and mine diesn’t Need a wall charger as it charges in 3 hours on a 13amp plug, my findings are 100% in agreement with EssexRRS’s - only in my case the savings have been much more as I did 10 charges in a 3 week period mid June to early July at £1.10p for 26 miles of KWH’s I recharge on my 4Kwh domestic solar array on the house roof and even doing all that charging I still earned £245 in the spring quarter that pays for a lot of winter time electric miles for free! Living in Scotland too pays off for EV owner’s as we have a network of “free” public charging points all over the country - free in exchange for the £20 annual fee for the contactless ID card needed to liberate the electricity on thevcharge points. Agree 100% EVs are the way to go and I will probably only keep the Countryman 18 months to 2 years and change to an Ipace once the bugs in JLR’s electronics in the car have been sorted out by the people who buy the first year’s production.
I should add that I also don’t commute or live in a city, I live in a small village out in the sticks, 16 miles drivevfrom the nearest town and so far my longest trip has been 120 down the motorway to Edinburgh and back and one thing my car will do on the motorway (i’m Sure RRS is the same) is it will regenerate electricity on light engine loads eg when you have a trailing throttle in petrol mode or take your foot off the throttle all together. On the trip from home to Edinburgh (60 miles one way) I completely recharged the nearly empty battery on the motorway to have enough stored energy to drive across the city and back out on the way home in electric only mode! 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

RRSTDV8 wrote:

Autocar has a review of the P400e on its website. It's the 2018 model which, of course, is soon to be replaced. They did make mention that if run on pure petrol engine only once the battery is flat, the mpg is poor. But then, that's not really how you should drive a hybrid.

Tim in Scotland wrote:

Agree 100% EVs are the way to go and I will probably only keep the Countryman 18 months to 2 years and change to an Ipace once the bugs in JLR’s electronics in the car have been sorted out by the people who buy the first year’s production.

Thanks Tim for all of your comments. Sounds like you are loving the PHEV experience so far. Interesting plan to have the Countryman and then change up. The iPace looks great and streets ahead of the Tesla.

We really are in for a period of massive change I think. The charging network is rapidly spreading and every manufacturer is making leaps forward (or will be). I've found that my local Asda/retail park has a free charger on the Chargemaster network, so there is some free electricity out there for me. Also lots of local chargers at 9p/kwh, which means a full charge for £1.17 I think.

This is looking good

After owning my P400e for more than one week, I am still very happy.
The car itself is great, and the powertrain is very good. There is no way back to diesels for me.

I really like the smooth and quiet ride, not only in Electric, also in hybrid mode or full on the running engine.

Only once driven really hard sporty in the comfort mode, the engine Sound and vibrations for me a bit too assymetric, even for a 4 cyl and especially in a RRS. In our VW TSI from 2010 it is much more refined and quiet.

In Dynamic mode, the Sound is more logic, more present, but matching to the car.

I don´t understand why they dosen´t capsueld it proper, thats minimal more production Costs, and the car would be just perfect allover…

I am happy for now and looking forward to a full Electric RRS with range extender from a fuel-cell or Petrol engine in 4-6 Years…

Best
René

René 2012 RRS HSE SDV6, BOURNVILLE 12/12-10/14
2015 RRS DYNAMIC HYBRID, CAUSEWAY GREY 1/15-7/18
2018 RRS DYNAMIC P400e, BRITISH RACING GREEN 8/18-8/19
2019 RRS DYNAMIC P525, SILICON SILVER 8/19-

Thanks Renaco, great to have your opinion. I've now seen your thread in the Orders sub-forum. I have to say your car looks stunning, a very classic look in BRG & tan.

If you do have time for some more pics of the tan interior, I would love to see them.

Looking forward to hearing more about your car as the weeks pass.

Hi there.....I got my PHEV in the middle of August and have just clocked up 5,500 miles. It’s been a busy month or two, with a euro road trip driving back over the Alps from Verona, several trips to Yorkshire, 100 mile weekends, 20 mile round trip commutes in central London most days and some rocky but unchallenging off-roading.

Basically, I agree with what’s been written here: it’s a pretty awesome bit of kit and haven’t really noticed it was lacking in finesse or ooomph when just running on petrol. The only major gripe I have is that the screens, ICE, sat nav etc are still very poor for a car of this cost and let down a car when the mechanical elements are so good.

Highlights were driving on epically good roads in Austria, Italy and Southern Germany.....I would have preferred to have been in one of my previous 2-seaters.....but this RRS really doesn’t drive like a stodgy SUV. We did three big days of driving on way back from Italy and it was ridiculously comfortable and stress free. Blazing up the French motorways and unrestricted German roads: very stable and confidence inspiring driving at high speeds for long periods. Fuel consumption hit though....mid to high teens. But fuel consumption in Alps excellent; we were able to charge overnight on a few occasions and on one extreme day going up and down serious mountain passes, the regen system was amazing giving us an end of day MPG way higher than I was expecting. And my daily commute is super smooth; it picks up much more smoothly than the diesel and petrol RRSs I have owned.....nearly everyone who doesn’t have an electric car who has been in it expresses very positive sentiments about the experience.

Conclusion; great bit of kit, thirsty but not unamusing when just running on petrol, electronics inside dated and clunky.....and second screen has very little flexibility in terms of what it can show you. Apps are mostly a painful and not worth it experience. Comfort levels and driving dynamics quite superb. Slight worry that plastic door/cover in grill to expose charging point will break at some point in next 12-18 months....just doesn’t feel very solidly built.....we’ll see.

Been looking at maybe getting a PHEV sport, how long is the landrover warrenty the batteries? And how much are they to replace when dead?
Thanks Dave

8 year warranty.


The likelihood of you actually having to replace them is close to zero. I expect it would cost around £10k in today’s money. L405 P400e Autobiography (MY2020)... Silicon Silver / Espresso
RRS TDV6 HSE Lux (MY2011)... Nara Bronze / Arabica - now gone!

Salmon, Many thanks for the update - very interesting. How are you finding the daily commutes around London - are you able to do the full 20 miles on EV? Also I presume you have a dedicated charger at home etc, but how are easy are you finding it to charge using public points etc. Interested in views - mine is on order (still waiting for a build date!).

Having recently had the p400e it does a great job for short trips but the range isn’t good enough just yet in my opinion.

Even if you commute 5 miles each way you need to charge it daily. It would work for me to do that but only just.

It takes 8 hours to fully charge from 0% at 2.5kw I worked out it costs around 12p per mile to run on electric alone. If you have solar panels it would be even cheaper. Around half that cost I would guess.

I’m tempted but can’t commit at the moment something tells me to wait and see for a while longer.

Salmon&permit wrote:

Hi there.....I got my PHEV in the middle of August and have just clocked up 5,500 miles. It’s been a busy month or two, with a euro road trip driving back over the Alps from Verona, several trips to Yorkshire, 100 mile weekends, 20 mile round trip commutes in central London most days and some rocky but unchallenging off-roading.

Basically, I agree with what’s been written here: it’s a pretty awesome bit of kit and haven’t really noticed it was lacking in finesse or ooomph when just running on petrol. The only major gripe I have is that the screens, ICE, sat nav etc are still very poor for a car of this cost and let down a car when the mechanical elements are so good.

Highlights were driving on epically good roads in Austria, Italy and Southern Germany.....I would have preferred to have been in one of my previous 2-seaters.....but this RRS really doesn’t drive like a stodgy SUV. We did three big days of driving on way back from Italy and it was ridiculously comfortable and stress free. Blazing up the French motorways and unrestricted German roads: very stable and confidence inspiring driving at high speeds for long periods. Fuel consumption hit though....mid to high teens. But fuel consumption in Alps excellent; we were able to charge overnight on a few occasions and on one extreme day going up and down serious mountain passes, the regen system was amazing giving us an end of day MPG way higher than I was expecting. And my daily commute is super smooth; it picks up much more smoothly than the diesel and petrol RRSs I have owned.....nearly everyone who doesn’t have an electric car who has been in it expresses very positive sentiments about the experience.

Conclusion; great bit of kit, thirsty but not unamusing when just running on petrol, electronics inside dated and clunky.....and second screen has very little flexibility in terms of what it can show you. Apps are mostly a painful and not worth it experience. Comfort levels and driving dynamics quite superb. Slight worry that plastic door/cover in grill to expose charging point will break at some point in next 12-18 months....just doesn’t feel very solidly built.....we’ll see.