We test drove one last week. We had wanted a Corolla (separate thread) but the Volvo PHEV deal was far too good to pass up. It was AMAZING! Dream car in fact, by far the best car we’ve ever driven, and I’ve driven some nice cars (that weren’t on Motability)
So, we’ve gone for the Corolla. What the heck?
Well, we are high milers, we live on the motorway, and the XV40 PHEV economy over long journeys is beyond abysmal – the salesman was very honest with us
He has the XC40 PHEV as his daily commute. He can’t charge it at home but it does regenerate a little on his commute but even so his average since acquiring the vehicle was just 24 mpg. Let that sink in – 24 mpg! And on a 130 mile motorway jaunt? He said don’t expect it to exceed 30 mpg very often and then only if you’re lucky
For comparison, over the 1500 miles we put on our self charging hybrid while we had it as a courtesy car, we averaged over 60 mpg with the occasional 70+ mpg commute but that was rare, so our projected £250-300 monthly fuel bill in the Corolla could have been £500-600 in the Volvo!
I’m not negging on the Volvo – I’ve had two, one private and one on Motability – and they are my goto car, money no object I’d have one every single time even over far more expensive rivals, and the XC40 put such a massive smile on my face I was grinning like a fool for the whole test drive – especially in sport mode, it has a fruity tone that sounds like “half of a V6” as my mate puts it and takes off like a scolded cat
Just be very wary if you’re getting one as a high mileage user and expecting it to be cheap to run just because it’s a plug-in hybrid