I don’t know the answer but it’s worth asking. I guess it will depend on whether Motability still have active order numbers for the old shape. They may be concerned about residual values versus the facelift version. I doubt that there are many old shape cars left so you’d have to act quickly. I agree that the new R-Line seems a big step back from the old one with an awful lot of desirable kit removed and not just the two things you mention. To get a new R-Line up to the spec of the Elegance you need to add iQ lights (£415) / Electric Tailgate (£320) / Panoramic Sunroof (£945) and Rear View Camera (£370) – total £2,050. To be fair, whereas the old R-Liine was a few grand more than the SEL, with the price premium just paying for styling tweaks and 1” bigger alloys, the new one is virtually the same price as the Elegance, so you choose between looks or luxury (although I don’t like the new alloys or interior of the new R-Line as much as I did the old one). Of course, that doesn’t work well with the Motability option where you have to pay the full cost of extras, unlike other lease companies where they just adjust the monthly least cost and you don’t pay the full cost of extras. I know that it’s futile on this site trying to explain to many people that it can work out cheaper to opt out of Motability and do your own thing, but if your heart is set on the old R-Line it might be worth considering. I bought a new R-Line privately around 6 years ago and got 18% off. I suspect that with an obsolete model you’d get at least 25% off. Also, the other day I worked out the whole life costs (depreciation, insurance, tax, maintenance etc) of a BMW 5 Series that I bought new and ran privately for 4 years versus the Motability Tiguan that we currently have and the private 5 Series was cheaper to run.
I know the R-Line v’s Elegance debate is style v’s substance and most contributors to the debate seem to choose Elegance. I have the Tiguan as my back up car should the Kuga choice not be to my liking but obviously can’t get to view or test drive at the moment. I was wondering therefore just how much these extra options that the Elegance has over the R-Line really would affect the Tiguan experience in reality, bearing in mind I would be driving a Tiguan for the 1st time so have no preconceptions.
IQ lights – I do very little night time driving since retiring so would all these fancy lights really be of any use to me. I assume the LED “plus” lights on the R-line are plenty capable.
Electric tailgate – is this just the handsfree gimmick that is extra on the Elegance? Is the R-Line completely manual or electric from fob?
Panoramic sunroof – essential/take or leave? – had a few cars with sunroofs that were hardly ever opened.
Rear view camera – essential/take or leave? – never had before so no idea how useful. Surely rear parking sensors will do a job.
Would be interested to hear any views on this as I think I would really prefer the R-Line myself for the street presence (although I do like my toys too). Have watched loads of R-Line videos but they all seem to have these options fitted so wanted a clearer picture of a standard R-Line.
Thanks.