1.5 T3 156hp R-Design FWD 5dr

Don’t believe the hype

Firstly the 1.5 T3 petrol engine is under powered it rasps and thrums away but isn’t quick, nor is it particularly economical either I’m running it on Shell V Power and it is firmly delivering 34mpg around town, locally. I’d personally go for a 2 litre petrol or diesel (my last car an XC60 D4 had plenty of power and torque).

The car also does stupid things - drive over a drain cover and it thinks your skidding so applies the brakes / handbrake clearly not setup for the UK’s shoddy road surfaces that constantly gets worse.

Getting in and out of the rear isn’t clever as the doors are on top of the wheel arches. The manual gearbox results in a shallow and even shallower cup holder so bottles have to go in the door bins, cans are okay but don’t get a large coffee, beverage as you’ll end up juggling whilst driving the auto car doesn’t have this issue.

The glove box is pitifully small unlike the old XC60 which could swallow a laptop length ways - I kid you not.
Overall it doesn’t feel like a £32k car and perhaps that’s the problem whereby I’ve downgraded from an XC60 which is now a £40k+ car list.

XC60’s, V90’s, S90’s and S60’s represent better value especially as deals can be had that undercut the cost of XC40’s - clearly Volvo make lots of money on perception as Audi has done for years with this model.

I personally enjoyed driving a Nissan Qashquai as a hire car. As I’ve leased this car I’m stuck with it for the next 4 years, after 6 months of ownership I can only hope the next 3.5 years go quick.

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