Quote:
Originally Posted by ltec
It has to be automatic as its not suitable for manual which increases fuel consumption.
Mine is sore on fuel at about 27 mpg. You would think the mpg would have improved from the early one to the 185 but its actually worse..
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Sorry, I have owned all 3 flavours simultaneously and my first hand experience over more than 150,000 miles in each of them would suggest that, is simply incorrect. The economy improves with each generation, and the 200 is markedly better than the 163, which one would expect from an engine with greater volumetric efficiency and an extra cog in the box.
27 is not good. Either you have an issue, or you're driving it about town all the time. My 185 returns 34 to 36 average in mixed motoring, and at legal speeds on a long journey easily gives 42. The 200 was a fraction better still, but the 163 managed 32-33 under my supervision, driven over exactly the same journeys on the same roads.
Of course, as I mentioned previously, it's all relative. If economy is of great concern then a 2.2 tonne SUV is not an appropriate type of vehicle to select in the first place. In any event, I have previously owned an X5 3.0 and a Lexus RX300h and the XC's drink less than both of those, so we can't really grumble.
And finally, the 200 only came with the auto box.
The parking brake is an interesting point. None of mine suffered, and all would hold the car properly on any incline. However, all have been serviced properly over the years, and all regularly have the parking brake used so they do not start to seize up and lose efficiency. When my Dad had his Mk1 he never used the brake, only ever left the car in P, and he too started to have problems later in his cars life.
Subframe rotting seems confined to the 163, and with a budget like the OPs hes not be going there - he'll get the nicest, newest, lowest mileage example he can find, and he'll be well into 200 territory.
Something to consider...the chaps above mentioned towing. If thats important to you then stay away from the R Design model, as the 'sporty'exhaust arrangement makes fitting a towbar impossible, as I discovered to my cost after I'd bought mine! That is how I ended up with multiple XC's as instead of selling on the 163 I ended up having to keep it to tow the horse box. In the end my Daughter sold her car and started using the 163 as her own so we didn't have a surplus car knocking about. 13 years later and she's still driving it, and neither of us are sure what it should be replaced with.