Been looking at a new car for my wife. Despite only having one 2 year old and a half cooked daughter on the way, for some reason she has it in her head that she needs a 7 seater. Tried my hardest to try and get her to consider a station wagon so that I could add a B8 RS4 to the garage, but she sat in it once and declared the back seats too small. In the end, got the short list down to:
1) 2012+ Prado VX.
2) 2012+ Land Rover Discovery 3.0 diesel
3) 2012+ Audi Q7 3.0tdi (180kw)
4) 2012+ Audi Q7 4.2tdi.
Test drove back to back the 3.0tdi and 4.2tdi Q7 today, got to say...3.0tdi felt a little bit more responsive than the 4.2 tdi. Admittedly, the 3.0 was a 2014 and the 4.2 was a 2012, but got to say that the 3.0 with the 8 stage box would be my choice between the two! I really thought that the 4.2tdi would feel "gruntier" than it did. Got the short list down to the 180kw Q7 and the new Prado.
Funnily enough, if it was me, I would not be giving up the old 1996 Prado. The thing is an absolute tank and just gets on with the job. I genuinely enjoy taking it out for a cruise - whether on the road, or a dirt track (or on no track at all!). I have put that truck into some awkward/dodgy situations and it has excelled every time. However, as it is now the family wagon that precious cargo gets carted around in, time for it to be replaced with something safer with newer tech.