This has been covered a bunch of times already, but what the heck - what's one more time.
Which is best *for you* depends on a lot of different things, not the least of which is whether you plan to order or are hoping to get one off the lot. If the latter, you might be best just going with an Overland because finding one optioned the way you want may be difficult.
Since I, like many others, went through this quandary already, I'll give you my $0.02 and my decision-making process.
For me, I was already sold on the diesel, the advanced tech and the ORA-2. So my decision was basically a fully-loaded Limited or an Overland. At some point I wrote down all of the differences between the two, but at the moment I can't find that so this is just off the top of my head:
- Overland has puddle lamps
- Overland has power folding mirrors
- Overland has "ambient lighting" (basically led lighting around various cup holders, pockets, etc.)
- Overland has painted lower trim pieces (limited has black)
- Overland has some wood on the steering wheel
- Overland has better wood trim
- Overland has leather dash
- Overland has piping around the seats
- Overland has different front grill
- Overland has chrome tow hooks (I'm not 100% on this one, but my recollection was that while the Limited with ORA-2 had tow hooks, they weren't chrome)
- Color options. Overland has more, and the Light Frost of the Limited has black carpeting whereas the Overland has Light Frost carpeting.
So functionally, the only real differences are the power folding mirrors, the puddle lamps and the ambient lighting. The rest is basically cosmetic. Of course if you're not getting the ORA-2 and/or Advanced Tech and/or Towing package on the Limited, that changes things.
At the time when I was researching this, the fully loaded limited was $3,300 cheaper (dealer invoice) than the Overland which weighed heavily in the Limited's favor. Additionally, I actually preferred the black trim because I thought it would hold up to abuse better. For similar reasons, I was leaning toward the slightly "lower class" Limited interior and especially the black carpeting (I was getting the Light Frost interior). For me an SUV is more of a workhorse and I didn't want to feel *too* bad about it getting beat up.
The dealer, as well as folks on this board, used the argument that the Overland would have better resale value because most people don't include option prices when looking at used vehicles - they'll just see "Limited" and value it less than an Overland even though the fully loaded limited is virtually identical. To me, I don't really care about resale value because I drive vehicles until they have to be towed to the scrap yard.
So I was pretty much set on the loaded limited instead of the Overland.
But at the very last minute I actually flipped and went with the Overland. There were a couple reasons for this. The primary reason, as small as it may seem, was the power folding mirrors. After re-measuring my very tight garage space, I realized the only viable way to get in there is to fold the mirrors. Plus parking around San Francisco and some surrounding areas can be pretty tight and folding the mirrors is nice. The second reason was that, while I preferred the slightly "lower class" interior of the Limited, the Significant Other much preferred the Overland. And the final reason, which turned out to be wrong, was that initial "insider reports" indicated they were only providing allocation for Overland diesels in the beginning and I *really* needed my vehicle ASAP.
Now that I've had the Overland for a while, I'd definitely do it again. For me, the power folding mirrors really are essential. It seems pretty crazy to effectively be paying $3.3K for power folding mirrors, and maybe I could've retrofitted that somehow. But the other little things
are kind of nice. The puddle lamps are nice and the extra ambient lighting is also nice. The leather dash, wood wheel and upgraded trim do give it a classier feel. So it'll probably "hurt" more when it starts to get beat up, but for now I'll just enjoy having "something pretty".
If you're on the fence about the air suspension, my *personal* recommendation is a definite thumbs-up. It's the perfect compromise for me and my SO. I need a suspension that can handle some heavy duty stuff (heavy loads) as well as go offroad, which usually means a pretty rough ride, which my SO (and her kids) really hate. The air suspension rides more like a car suspension which pleases my SO and the kids, but can still do all the heavy-duty hauling and offroad stuff that I need. Total win-win. And I've tried hustling it through twisty mountain roads quite quickly and I was not disappointed at all. Like you, I worry a little about the longevity issue, but all I could do was get the 8/120 service contract and hope for the best.
And if you're on the fence with the advanced tech ... DO IT! That adaptive cruise works soooo well. Love it, love it, love it! Blind spot monitoring is nice too. And both the ACC and blind spot seem to do a good job picking up motorcycles, which is important to me.
Anyway, best advice is just to look at the pros/cons of each, and just do what feels right to you. I don't think you can really go too far wrong either way. If you like the classier look of the Overland and either don't plan on beating it up too much or can stomach it getting beat up, then go for it. If you prefer the slightly less classy Limited and want to save some money, the loaded Limited is a good choice. If you want to buy something off the lot - you're probably going to be "stuck" with picking the Overland.