Ok so just back from today’s spin. Today was the second drive in the XC40, first being a D3 R Design Pro auto, and todays being a petrol R Design Pro auto, albeit a T5.
Oddly we felt the car looked small in metallic white, but it isn’t. The lava carpets in today’s demo were, for us, an assault on the eyes ?, but hey we all like different things eh?
A key thing today was to see what we made of the half nubuck seats on a 2 hour run. Very surprisingly they were ok, much more ok than the black leather in ours which had sat in the sun while we were out, and then scorched Mrs Mac’s legs when she got back in it … ?
The sensus system is a little overwhelming to begin with but I consider no more than any new system. I expect that mastering voice command would make the whole thing much easier.
There is so much adjustment on the drivers seat, at 6’2″ I was easily able to get comfortable, but I reckon someone of say 6’8″ easily could too.
I really liked the R Design steering wheel. Feels a good size with quality perforated leather, and the polished metalwork to match the inner door handles is very nice.
I liked that the windscreen washer nozzles are on the wipers as opposed to mounted in the bonnet. Much more direct wash.
One thing that did peck at me was that there is a shape on the top of the dash that reflects in the windscreen ‘very well’ and can be a bit annoying if you pay attention to it.
Taking the T5 AWD out was for no other reason than that was the dealers petrol R Design auto demo. I’m quite a casual driver but did give it the odd blip just to satisfy the curiosity. Yes its nippy but I certainly wouldn’t say rapid. The car’s weight with the AWD system has no doubt got a hand in that. For the ‘perfomance engine’ of the offerings, I wouldn’t say it really justified the 24 to 28 mpg we were getting in it. That said, we weren’t thinking of that engine so its efficiency was irrelevant.
The car was silky smooth, and whilst the R Design is slightly stiffer with bigger wheels we certainly didn’t think it was jarring. After 90 minutes I asked my wife how she felt, and she felt no worse than in our current car. Yes she had some back and hip pain, but she always will as she has musculoskeletal problems. Importantly, the seat didn’t aggrivate the problems as some cars do.
Others have commented on the glossy back interior finishes, and yes I agree, smudge city.
I loved the black headlining, and the fact that it was so sunny today really showed the benefit for me with light sensitive eyes. The dark lining and dark visors help to make it feel cosy, …. even if lava carpets do not ?.
The aircon was superb, if a little noisy on anything above 1.
Audio sounds fine, I don’t know why you would upgrade it.
I did struggle with the cruise at first but I think that was more me than the car. It’s on the left which is less intuitive for a right hander, or in my opinion at least. The good thing is the cruise reset buttons will either add or subtract 5 mph from the cruising speed with each press of the button. Quite neat that.
From a styling perspective I really like the hind quarters. The size of the windscreen and visibility of the bonnet feels good. And as I’ve said before, its party trick is to make you feel like you’re driving a bigger car than you are. Just very good design.
So on the whole we felt it was time very well spent, and the test run to Buxton from Stoke was a great drive.
It’s a ’10 from Len’ ?