What’s up everyone? All right, so you guys know obviously I’m a car guy, day trading in the morning, car stuff in the afternoon. So what I want to do today is compare the Range Rover with the brand new G550. Lot of you guys knew that I just got this new car, and you’re asking “Well, which you like better?A Range Rover or G550?” I like them both, and today we’re going to break it down. What’s the pros and cons of each one? All right, so let’s get into it.

So the Range Rover was the first really nice car that I got. I got this three years ago, it was $116,000 when I got it, and I’ve had it now for three years. Got about 45,000 miles on it. It’s a turbo diesel, which is awesome. It gets about, well it gets about 30 miles per gallon on the highway, believe it or not for car this big, and it has 450 plus pounds feet of torque. So it’s quick off the line, it feels like more than enough power. It doesn’t have a super burly sound. It’s got a little bit of the rattle of a diesel. But genuinely, it’s a great car, to solid engine, and it’s been really terrific. What I loved about it when I got it, was just the styling. This era of Range Rover to me, just looks really good. I love how it looks from the front, the back, the side. All around, it’s a solid car from the exterior. It looks really good.

Now, the G550, this one, I’d always loved G classes. In fact, a 300GD was one of my all time favorite cars, one of the ones I wanted to get when I was in high school. That’s also a turbo diesel. Now they don’t import turbo diesel to the US. So this is a twin turbo V8. It also has about 450 pounds feet of torque, but the horsepower is closer to 425. Of course, being that it’s V8 gasoline engine. So realistically, they’re both pretty equally power. They both feel very adequate. I would say this one feels like it’s got more power across the whole band. But the gas mileage is like 12 miles per gallon. So if you’re trying to be economical, this one’s got better gas mileage, almost as much power, feels really strong. This one, maybe just not quite as economical in that way.

But to me, this new series, the 2019 of the G class is so much more refined. It’s about five inches wider, it got a wider wheelbase. It’s got a better stance, handles better on the road versus the older versions. So it’s really like bring this car into the next generation. For that reason, I thought they would compare really well, and I was at a point where I was like, “Okay, I want to get a second SUV. Do I want to get a second Range Rover or do I want to get something different?” It was either this, or a Bentley Bentayga. I didn’t want to get basically a $250,000 Audi Q7. So I got this one, and we’re going to jump in and drive around this one first. I’m going to give you a little sense of what I really liked about it, and what I think it could use a little bit more.

So the first impressions that I had when driving this car was that sound of the lock. This feels like a tank. This to me compared to the Range Rover, feels more like a truck. The seating position is great. I like being really kind of a pie, the window view is awesome. I can see right out. I like driving a car where I can see all the way down the hood to the front of the car. I don’t like driving cars, even for instance, a Porsche 911 where the hood just goes like this. You really can’t see the front of the car. Now with the Range Rover and with this car, you can very easily see the whole hood. You’ve got this really great position, and I remember when I bought the Range Rover, I traded in a Jeep Grand Cherokee.

When I first drove the Range Rover, I was like, “Wow, this car is huge.” And then when I first drove this car, I was like, “Wow, this car is big.” I mean, the Range Rover is big, and this car feels even bigger. To me it’s handling feels more like a truck, compared to the Range Rover. The Range Rover feels much more refined. This is a huge improvement over the 2018 and previous model, G class. This is actually five inches wider, it’s got much less top roll, body roll. It’s more refined. For me, when I’m driving it, 99% of the time I’m driving around town. I don’t take it on the highway on a regular basis. So for around town, it feels really good. It feels really comfortable, it feels very safe. I would say that the second thing I noticed about it, the first thing being that it’s a really big car.

The second thing I noticed was that, it feels bumpy. I was looking at the G63, and the G63 has even tighter suspension than this. But this feels bumpy to me, and it feels like a short wheelbase. It feels almost like a Jeep Wrangler. This just tight wheelbase where you feel the bumps like boom, boom, boom, boom. You can really feel every little bump in the road, which is very different from the Range Rover. So the Range Rover, you could have people sleeping in the back, and they’re just like, “Relax, you hitting bumps.” Super smooth like that boat feeling. Whereas this, you just feel the bumps a bit more.

Now, when I do get this on the highway, which isn’t all the time. But when I do get it on the highway, the thing that I also noticed about this is that, if you’ve got a cross breeze, you feel it a lot more in this car. The couple of times where I going on along Highway trip now actually check the weather, and I’m like, “Is it going to be windy?” Because if it is, I’d rather drive the Range Rover than drive this. Because the Range Rover is planted lower. One of the nice things about the Range Rover is that, you’ve got the adjustable suspension. So if you are for whatever reason, going off road, going into the mud, boom, boom. You can jack up the suspension, and you’ve got a lot more ground clearance. But then for the 99% of the time, where you’re driving on a road like this, you’re driving on the highway, going 85 miles an hour. You can come back down to the lower ride height, which probably gives you both better gas mileage, but definitely better handling.

One of the other things that the Range Rover has that this doesn’t have, the Range Rover right down here in this center console area, you can press a button, and you can choose whether you want to … What your driving conditions are. Whether it’s snowy, or gravel or sand. With this, you don’t have that. What you have instead are these three buttons in the center console that give you the option to lock the differential, the rear, lock the front or lock all four. Which is cool, but I haven’t used or felt the need to use any of those. I really don’t think that I would, even on a snowy day, feel that it was necessary to lock the differentials. I think the only time I would use it, as if I was maybe thinking I could potentially be getting stuck in deep mud. Mud season, being the time of year that we have now. That’s I guess a possibility.

The other things about this car that I will say is that, when I got my first Mercedes, compared to Range Rover, I was like, “The technology is so much better.” I mean, I’ve got the Apple iPhone integration. Stuff like that though, and it’s like such perfect timing. So that guy was just turning, and gave me this warning. I mean, yeah obviously, he was turning. So at that moment, he was pulled halfway off, and I was coming up on him a little bit. I’ve had a couple times where it slams on the brakes, and I’m like, “Oh, come on.” I’m not a student driver here, give me a break. What are we doing? I’ve got this. But this car likes to take control.

One of the things that I wish I was able to do, is turn some of that stuff off. If my kid was driving this car, if I had a 15 year old, 16 year old kid and brand new to the road. Okay, let’s maybe crank some of those things up. But for me where I’m at, I really don’t find that it’s necessary. I in fact find it is distracting, and at times even dangerous to have the car taking over control away from me. That’s one of the things about this car that I love the technology. I love the dash panel, the menus. The way you can control, all these things from this console. But what I don’t like is the level that it takes control, and that you can’t turn those off in this car.

Now what’s interesting on my 2018 E63 Mercedes, the sedan. I was able to turn off all that stuff, and it stayed off. So I didn’t have to deal with, just turned it off one time, and that was it. I never had to deal with it again. That’s something that I actually like more on the Range Rovers, that it don’t have those things interfering with my driving. However, on the 2019 Range Rovers, some of that stuff is coming out. So a lot of cars are making these lane departure and auto breaking and stuff default, or standard features on the car. Which I understand from a safety perspective, but I still think that you would really be nice to turn it off.

So in terms of power, this cars got the sports exhaust. Not that sporty to me. Honestly, it’s sort of sporty, it’s only sort of sporty. Got about 450 horsepower. Actually, I think it’s 423 horsepower, 450 pound feet of torque. I’ll double check that, but it’s right around there, twin turbo V8. A solid engine averaging about 12 miles per gallon. Now in contrast, the Range Rover has, I want to say, the Range Rover that I got, and it’s the same engine that’s available in the 2019 Range Rover. It’s I believe 254 horsepower, but 453 pounds feet of torque. So it’s a V6, it’s a TDI, it’s a diesel.

So it’s got really great torque, and they have this really to me, very similar levels of pickup. I’m not driving this car 120 miles an hour. So the times that I need it to pick up quickly, is if I’m passing someone in a scenario like this where, we’ve got just the oncoming traffic, and you want to quickly get around someone. I can do that equally well in the Range Rover as I can in this car. But the Range Rover on the highway, gets 30 miles per gallon. 30 miles per gallon, it’s just sipping the diesel. Whereas, this stuff just burn through the gas. This of course requires premium, which is basically the same price as diesel. Some people are like, “Well, diesel is more expensive.” Yeah, well now when you’re looking at the cost of premium, premium and diesel are usually pretty similar in price. Sometimes diesel is a little bit more. But they’re pretty similar.

Again, my recap on this is that, if I was going to go back and look between this car and the Range Rover. What I would choose would really probably depend on the type of driving I did most frequently. If I was mostly doing highway driving, the Range Rover is more comfortable on the highway, and I feel more comfortable going faster. I noticed when I drive this on the highway, especially on tight windy kind of highways. I end up being in the slow lane, because I’m just like, the combination of the cross breeze and just how biggest this is, really don’t feel comfortable going 85 miles an hour. Which is what a lot of times traffic is doing on the highway.

So if you’ve got places to go, and you like to be on the highway. I think the Range Rover is a better car. If you’re routinely driving on bad country roads, bumpy roads, muddy roads. This car would suit you pretty well. It’s ride height is always the same, it’s always high. So if you’re coming up, and you guys stick in the middle of the road, you can go around it real quick or let it go underneath you. It’s not going to catch on anything, most likely. Things like that, this car is good for. No doubt, this car has probably more road presence than the Range Rover. You see a lot of Range Rovers around, you don’t see a lot of G classes around. Now in terms of having something that stands out a little bit more and a little bit more exclusive, you’ll definitely get it with this car. But I think it does come with a sacrifice.

I guess the last thing I would say is that, the seats although comfortable, in the Range Rover are more comfortable. The backseat in the Range Rover is definitely more comfortable. This actually has significantly more leg room for the rear passengers than the 2018. The outgoing model, I believe six more inches. But at the same time, it doesn’t compete with a Range Rover. Range Rover seats recline, and they’re more comfortable, and that’s what the standard models. If you’ve got teenagers or adults routinely riding in the backseat, they’re also going to be more comfortable in the Range Rover, and it’s so much easier to get in and out of. Because of the access height that it drops down to. This car is high up, to get in and out of it. You got to use the handles, and if you’re trying to get grandma on the backseat, it’s going to be a project. Some people say, I’ve said on my YouTube comments, “Hey Ross, it’s a really sweet Jeep you got there.” It is a glorified Jeep. But it’s got some power. I mean it does.

Iwould say that takes off, it’s faster, it feels faster there and a little throatier, a little meaner than the Range Rover. I could put an exhaust on this, that would be the louder exhaust. That would sound pretty mean, I don’t think I’m going to get that on the TDI. I’m not going to get a mean exhaust on that car. I will go jump in the range rover, will drive that around a little bit. They’re both great cars. Just depends on what you’re looking for.

All right, so back in the Range Rover. Tried and true, the seats comfortable. I went to look at the 2019 Range Rover, and I felt like those seats were so firm. Tthe salesman very generously, he offered to drive the car for a year to really wear in those front seats, get it nice and soft. And then of course from there, let me drive it. But right from the factory, I felt like they were a little firm. This type of car, it feels like a boat. You’re up high, you’re really like at the back of the car, how it tapers in a little bit. Almost like those old Chris craft motor boats. You want nice soft seats. With this car, I can drive 600 miles on a single tank, I want to be comfortable. It’s not sports car. I don’t know, the new ones, the seat seemed a little firmer to me. I remember feeling like I was sitting on a piece of plywood, just … I don’t know, sort of funny.

So anyways, this year, this is a 2016. So it’s a couple years old. But if you got the 2019, you’d be able to get the same exact V6 turbo diesel engine. So that just told me normal height has been selected. So we came off of being up high, we’re going up on the logging roads to coming back down. So with the TDI engine, on the highway, I get 30 miles per gallon, which is ridiculous. I mean, truly for a car this big. That’s awesome. It’s very economical from that standpoint, very comfortable for long trips. Like I said, it feels … It handles a bit more like a car, granted a big car. But it handles in a way that’s a little bit easier. It’s lowers itself to the ground when you get up to speed, and you feel comfortable going faster. I’m going 50 miles an hour here. I think being a little lower to the ground makes you feel just a little more secure.

One of the things that I did notice when we were taking up, taking it up on the logging roads was that the wheels were spinning. Maybe these tires are a little older, maybe that’s why we were getting a little bit of spin there. But the G class made it up that logging road. I don’t think that the wheels slipped a bit. I mean, it was just straight up, no problem. Again, 99% of the people driving Range Rovers and G550s, are not taking them off road anyways. So it probably doesn’t matter. But when you have chance that you do take the car off road, probably want to pop some nicer tires on there. But it’s nice to know that you can do it if you want to.

So there we’re hitting a couple bumps, but just feels softer. Doesn’t feel bumpy, doesn’t feel like I’m hitting them multiple times. So what you do with a traditional suspension, this with the air suspension, it really is a soft ride. It’s very comfortable, especially on a windy road like this. This car doesn’t have lane departure. I can tap that yellow line as much as I want, it’s not going to steer me back in. It’s not going to try to take control of the car. There’s no automatic breaking, and this was in 2016 pretty much top of the line British car. But just not features that were standard, and I’m okay with that. That’s one thing that I’ve now learned from the new Mercedes, the G550. To really double check when I’m looking at a brand new car to make sure, I’m able to turn those things off. Because they start to get a little annoying.

Now this car does have the auto on off. So when you come to a stoplight, the car will turn off. For me, if I’ve been driving for two hours, I come to a stop light, and the car turns off and then turns on a minute later. I don’t really feel like that’s good for the engine. So I like to just turn this off for the most part. Unless I really am in stop and go traffic. One of the things that I would definitely say about this engine is that, it’s not going to impress anyone. It’s got that diesel rattle, put the pedal to the metal here. Pretty quiet, it’s quick. I mean, it’s quick, no doubt about it. It’s got some pickup, but it’s quiet, it’s subdued. It doesn’t roar. You’re not going to put an exhaust on this turbo diesel and hear much.

I’ve never really found Range Rovers to be the type of cars to really put a loud exhaust on. Even the G classes. I mean, these are SUVs. I know some people like to do it. To me, I like the loud exhausts on more like sports cars. But if you wanted to do that, it really wouldn’t be a super. This wouldn’t be the right car for, I don’t think. Not, definitely not with the turbo diesel. The back seats, lots of room, the back seats recline a little bit. That’s really nice, you’ve got a lot more space back there. Now this car comes in the autobiography edition, which is the extended wheelbase. So then you’ve got a lot of room back there, which it’s very comfortable. That’s if you’re getting driven around, it’s a great car.

You wouldn’t buy the G550 if you’re getting chauffeured. Because the back seats is just not comfortable enough. So if you’re going for looking for someone to drive you around, there the Range Rover is definitely the top. Then of course you have the Bentley Bentayga, which is not a car. There we go. It’s nice being in a small town, dropped by people.

The Bentley Bentayga, which is another car that I looked at, I was oscillating between that and the G550. Beautiful on the inside, I haven’t driven it. But beautiful on the inside. Everything I’ve read about it is that, it’s very quick, super quick, nice sounding exhaust, a pretty sporty car. It’s the exterior styling that I’m not crazy about on that. It is not distinctive. You park it next to an Audi Q7, and they look so similar. One’s 50-60,000, the others $250,000. At that price point, you just hate to be mistaken for a peasant’s car. Not that a Q7 is that. But it just doesn’t feel right to me. So, I don’t know. I’d like to drive one at some point and see what it feels like. But I don’t think that I would go for it.

Of course the Rolls Royce SUV to me looks quite silly and is very, very expensive anyways. Between when you’re in the range of like 90,000 to 150, this car was $116,000. The 2019 base is about $98,000, and then with options it goes higher. The base G class is 125,000, and with options it goes higher. Mine was about 150. You’re in the same ballpark there. You go up to Bentley and Rolls Royce and you’re at another level in terms of cost, and certainly cost of ownership.

Speaking of cost of ownership. With this car, I have a six year warranty up 100,000 miles. I did that because I knew that Range Rovers have a reputation of not always being super reliable. But I’ve been fortunate, the only problems I’ve had been with the air suspension, and I’ve had some problems with the diesel. I don’t know, the blue death fluid and stuff like that, giving me error messages. Telling me if I don’t take it to the dealer within 100 miles, I think 500 miles, it won’t let me drive it anymore. A couple of messages like that, it’s a little bit of a pain nearest dealers in [inaudible 00:24:18] New York. So it’s an hour and a half away.

But overall the car has been really reliable. Of course the Mercedes at this point, it’s hard to really say unreliability, because it’s so new. But my last Mercedes was pretty solid, and the one I had before that, I had up to about 250,000 miles. I like to think Mercedes is a pretty good brand and makes a pretty good car.

So I did a separate video where I talked about the seven things I hate about the G550. There are a few things that are on there that really do drive me nuts. If I was going to do a similar video for the Range Rover, off the top my head. I really don’t have a lot of things that I would say driving me nuts about this car. When I test drove the 2019 Range Rover. What I didn’t like about it was that, they switch the center console from being buttons to being a lot more of just screen. I find that difficult when I’m driving, it’s very easy just to press a button and turn on the seat warmer or something like that. Having to look down, and find the button to me is hard to find where to touch the screen, is a little bit distracting.

So that for me, it’s not my favorite, but that’s on the 2019. That’s not an issue on this one. I’m going to be really nitpicky, this is a wooden steering wheel. I’ve got a steering wheel warmer right here. Well, the problem and this is very, very first world problem is that, it takes an awfully long time for the wood to heat up. So it’s quite cold to the touch, just you almost need a pair of leather gloves. The Mercedes also has a heated steering wheel, but it’s a leather steering wheel. I wanted to get the wooden steering wheel, but it was back order until like June, and six months, I was like, “Just for one steering wheel? Forget it.”

So without the wooden steering wheel, it heats up a lot faster. But again, these are very silly things. When I got this car, this was the first edition turbo diesel. It came in this color pattern of white with black accents, which I really like. I looked down I was like, “Wow, that’s a sharp looking car.” My wife drives this car mostly now, and whenever I see it coming up the driveway, I’m like, “That is a nice looking car.” There’s been a couple times where we’ve been both out randomly in town, and I’ll see this her car, her car parked at the grocery store, and I’m like, “Oh, look at that.” I’m like, “Yeah, that’s our car.” That’s a pretty cool thing, when you look at a car, and you’re like, “I really like it.” It’s three years old, and you’re still like that sharp.

I definitely feel that way with the G550. It looks really sharp. I love the red. I love the halo headlights on the G550. I think those are really cool statement. I didn’t like the brush bars, the black brush bar, so I took them off. That’s personal choice, I guess. I don’t really love the big red wheel cover on the back. The G550 has wheels that are really for a car, not truck wheels. So I think potentially putting on some a little bit of a smaller room with a bigger tire, and putting that same one mounted on the back would look a little tougher. Perhaps, but again, I’m not totally sure on that. But it’s always nice to look at a car and be like, “I really like this style.”

I feel like they really nailed on both of these cars, a lot of attention to detail. But on the G550, a couple oversights, this car does have the ambient lighting as well. I don’t have any areas where I see the LED bulbs. However, there aren’t as many LED strips on this car. I think one along here and then along the sides of the doors, going into the back. But still really cool, and for me right now I’m on the highway. One of the rare opportunity I’m getting on the highway and just feels comfortable as can be. You can settle into this for a long ways 600 miles, and you feel good. You’re up high, you see the road really well. The heated steering, the heated windshield is awesome. I love that when I’m driving in snow and sleet, heated windshield keeps ice from building up.

So this for me is a better road trip car, better long drive car. More space in the back, more comfortable for other people to be back here. But then at the same time, doesn’t have the same level of exclusivity. Lot more people buy Range Rovers and Mercedes G550s. They’re cheaper, and they’re more accessible. There’s more of them made, long wait list for G550s right now. It depends. I really liked both cars a lot, if I could only have one. I can only have one. I mean, it really you can’t go wrong with either car. It’s just a matter of which one’s a better fit for your lifestyle. If I could only have one, I probably keep the Range Rover. It’s more comfortable to drive, and it’s more comfortable to be in. I think it’s still looks really sharp, and it’s a little more economical. Which when you’re spending 150, 120 grand, it’s nice to have some portion of it that’s economical and that’s the fuel economy. It’s better for the environment, it really is. To each their own.

But when it comes time to trade this car in and trade up, I’ll probably get another Range Rover. I mean, that’s really pretty much my plan, so get another Range Rover. When it’s time to trade in the G550, that one, I don’t know. I don’t know what I’ll do. I’ll have to see, got to give it a little bit more time.

That’s what the pedal, almost all the way down up to 4000 rpm, up to 90, 92. I haven’t gone that fast in a G550. I don’t think I’d feel comfortable really going that fast. But this car it handles so well. So anyways, we’re going to keep driving here. Start to head back down to the house in a little bit, and we’re going to close up this video with a little recap of these two awesome cars.

Last thing I’ll say, for what it’s worth. This is a 2016, you could probably get into one of these for like 50, maybe $60,000. It’s pretty good deal. You’re not … I wouldn’t go for one of the older G classes, because the old body style has a lot more body roll. It’s a lot more tank, it’s doesn’t feel as smooth. If you were going to go for one of the two, and you’re on a budget, you get into one of these for a lot cheaper. Just make sure you get an extended warranty.

So between these two cars, the Range Rover, the G550. You really can’t go wrong with the year of them. They’re awesome. That’s why I have one of each. Having said that, if you could only choose one, the G550 with an aftermarket exhaust. That’s a pretty fun car. It’s a pretty mean car, and you don’t see a lot of them. Especially when you get a rare color combination like this red. The Range Rover, you’ve got a family, you’ve got kids in the back, people in the back. You want a better gas mileage, it’s a smoother car, it feels more refined on the road. In terms of daily driving, I think it’s a little more comfortable to drive both as a passenger and as the driver. But both cars are awesome.

You want to do off-roading, you’re probably going to want to get some off road tires on both of them. We struggled a little bit getting up the logging trail in the Range Rover. The G550 did great, but of course, it’s a newer car, the tires are newer. Between these two, I really love them both. I would love for Mercedes to make it so we could turn off some of those driver assist features that I find really hampering in the way I drive. With Range Rover, I just want their technology to come up a little bit, and maybe the reliability to come up a couple more notches. But between the two, as long as you’ve got a warranty, you should be in really good shape. So hope you guys have loved this video, will be having more to come. All right, give me comments and questions below. I’ll see you guys. of course day traders in the chat room tomorrow morning.

Hey, I didn’t see you there. While I was just working on the dream board for my next home run trade. Hopefully it comes soon. Until then, make sure you subscribe to get email alerts anytime I go live or upload new videos. Until then, happy surfing.