I see the XC40 Price and Specification for Model Year 2022 is out. Looks to me unchanged from late 2021 version.
In which case the theory that Volvo UK has decided to palm off ‘in stock’ 2021 MY versions onto Motability customers seems to hold water. If so, this is very unfortunate and I hope isn’t the sign of things to come. The only other example of this that I can recall was the Hyundai Kona Electric which was a bargain price for an obsolete model, which is fair enough. As mentioned earlier over the issue re charging for metallic paint, Volvo does seem to treat Motability customers as second class citizens, even more so than the other manufacturers.
I’ll be interested to hear your feedback following the test drive. Various road tests I have read or watched are generally positive, but the criticisms relate to so-so performance from the petrol engine, awkward braking (due to the regenerative function), real world electric only range being only around 20 miles and the ‘touch screen for everything’ approach which isn’t terribly user friendly. I haven’t driven one as I’m not taken with the looks of the XC40, but on paper it was our second choice after the X1 and if BMW doesn’t progress our order within the next few weeks I might decide to give it a look. We have a test drive in an X1 tomorrow but we haven’t paid any deposit so are free to walk away at any time.