1.0 155 Active Automatic Estate

Brilliant all-rounder, comfortable, practical, economical and great to drive

Took over 13 months to arrive but well worth the wait.

Bought to replace lovely Volvo V60 to get a bigger boot for our large dog. Estate boot is brilliant and provides a space saver spare wheel and loads of space under the floor to store odds and ends. The wet storage area is a brilliant idea and easy to use.

Considerable drop in power and torque from the Volvo but the engine provides good performance and economy. The car is quiet until you have to floor it which results in a quite nice thrum from the 3 cylinder engine. Car is much lighter than the V60 and is great to drive on sweeping B roads. The relatively low torque could be an issue if you drive fully loaded with luggage and adults.

Interior quality is not the best but good enough for me. Much better than my earlier 2009 version which was horrible.

Not a major tech user but the SYNC 4 system is easy to use when stationary. Graphics colours are a bit washed out and satnav will route down stupidly narrow routes to save a few seconds. Live updates for fuel prices and traffic levels are useful. I try to limit use of the screen when driving as it distracts from the road ahead.

I chose the basic Active trim as I was not interested in bigger wheels, better stereo and fake leather trim on the X. Added BLIS and driving,winter and parking packs to mirror the useful features from my V60.

Ignore reviews which criticise the automatic gearbox box. I find it to be very smooth if you start off gently.

I bought via a broker who secured a big discount before prices rose a further £3.5 k. Current price is over £34k! I love the car but would not want to pay anywhere near the full price given that it will depreciate.

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