[stumblingtrout]

I live in Rural Cambridgeshire in England and think that Softroaders as they are known are absolutely relevant. They offer better traction on often damp roads, a better view of the road ahead because of higher ride height and crucially vastly improved fuel economy over their larger siblings - and when diesel costs £1.389 per LITRE, this makes their existance all the more relevant. We had a Land Rover Discovery 3 TDV6 HSE - it did 27mpg. We couldn't afford to run that - so swapped it for an XC60 which does 40mpg on a good day. The Discovery was fantastic, but as we werent traversing mountains and towing 3.5 tonnes daily, it was wasted on us. The softroader offers the most desirable benefits of both the 4x4 and normal car sectors, in my opinion.

The naysayers will argue that they don't handle as well as the cars on which they are based and that they attract premium pricing yet poor off road performance.

The statistics speak differently - when I originally enquired, there was an 8-10 month wait on a new X3 and the Audi Q5 2.0TDI retains 72% of its value after 3 years.

I had a 530d which all the reviews said was the one to go for. The reviews didn't favour the X3 so much. What did I end up doing? Ditching the 530d and getting an X335d which is a much better overall package for where I live.

The moral of the above? Reviews are only someone elses opinion. Just televised or published.