17" wheels feel fine until you drive a FL2 with 18" wheels.You can tell at the first corner that the car feels stiffer and corners slightly better, with only a slightly harder ride. Stornaway grey SE auto with 18" alloys

that 1" does make a massive difference. I see it on my merc. The old man has 16" wheels on his E and it is noticably sloppier than mine, which is fitted with 17" wheels. As LR2 tyres already start witha bigger sidewall than 'cars', the difference is likely to be even more noticable. That plus the different make and model of tyre must make a difference too.
That said, I believe with merc, the bigger wheels also come with some suspension tweaks so it is possible that the HSE hass a slightly different, more road focussed setup too.
I'm happy with the SE handling which is a million miles better than the Jeep we had before. That wallowed just under acceleration, never mind in a corner and you could never fully trust it. The fl2 felt like a gti in comparison. 07 Freelander 2 TD4SE Tambora Flame, side steps, privacy glass, mud flaps, boot liner and a tow bar. Ok it's the Wifes but she lets me drive it occasionally - if I've been good!

jules1967 wrote:

that 1" does make a massive difference.

We'll not go there shall we  Once you've tasted GREY you'll never go back!