I took one for a test drive on Monday. It’s a lovely car until you drive it and I’m not referring to the CVT gearbox. When I started it up there was various annoying bings and bongs. I was expecting silence after they stopped but there was a constant electronic buzz or hum which continued as I drive along. The buzz was eventually silenced as I hit speed as it was drowned out by the wind noise against the door mirrors. The drive itself was really smooth, it took those middle of the road speed bumps with hardly a bump, the CVT was still fine. The adaptive cruise worked a treat as did the steering assist even on some newly painted country roads. I assume the engine kicked in but it was really quiet, or at least I couldn’t hear it over the wind noise and the now faint buzz. So, the CVT gearbox, not a problem it drives like any other automatic and better than a lot…… until you floor it, you get a lovely noise, you feel the acceleration a bit, but then that lovely noise doesn’t change note so it feels like you’re always waiting for the gear change which never happens. Oh, another annoying thing is the centre display screen, it could do with being turned slightly towards the driver, it’s too flat and from my driving position I had to lean over to see it properly. I wanted to like this as I like the look of the RAV4 and since I would like a hybrid/plug in and since the BMW 225e Active Tourer or X1 aren’t on the list this was one of my top choices. So it looks like if nothing else appears in Q3 I’ll be ordering the Skoda Superb iV estate.
I was looking at Skoda Superb iV estate but could not justify the high £3749 AP plus over a £1000 for a towbar as against £1699 for the Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV and £438 for a towbar, at the end of the day it is only a lease car.
Unfortunately I have suffered a brain injury and occasionally I get confused and often say the wrong thing.