Yes and no. The PHEV Recharge, yes. The all-electric Recharge, no.
True, I guess, Rene, but to be honest, in mid 2020 it was the plug in hybrid we were talking/asking about. I don’t think anyone would have queried about the full electric. I would have definitely held off if I’d know that the plug in hybrid was coming but it was a categorical ’No’ from every corner. The B4 engine that I ended up with is only slightly more economical than my old V6’s. The ‘Mild Hybrid’ is truly a commercial gaff. Not that I expected any different, mind, but I didn’t think it would be this thirsty. And your comment highlights another issue for me. The fact that Volvo are confusing the market now by calling different engines the same name. Not good from Volvo. Thank you for the info on range. That’s really interesting. Hopefully in two years, I’ll be following that route.
We were – but if you have a “less savvy” lad/lass on the phone who just quickly checks for the “recharge”, that would’ve been the result. The EV Recharge is somewhere over £50.000 if i recall correctly, so that’s where the vehement denial would come from i suppose. Mild hybrids are somewhat of a joke, i agree. It’s usually an AA battery somewhere in the circuit to be able to call it “hybrid”, but the real world benefit is negligible (and on top of that, very dependant on your route). It’s FHEV or PHEV that actually do have real world benefits, with PHEVs obviously offering the most. On Volvo: they’re actually not. You have a Volvo XC40 B4, on the scheme is the Volvo XC40 Recharge T5, and the one we won’t get is the Volvo XC40 Recharge P8. “Recharge” is their electrified range – and i agree it’s confusing (probably deliberately so, too), but they’re not calling different engines the same name. Our next car in march is probably going to be a PHEV (the Golf GTE), but we did test drive the ID3 too and were set on that until we drove the GTE. I think that’s our only problem with the ID3, the fact that we drove a Golf the week after – and there it became obvious that while the ID3 is a proper good car, you can tell that it’s a “first generation” car. Getting then into an 8th generation Golf, you could tell that the ID3 was missing some of the “poise” or “refinement” that comes with generational changes. Hard to explain what i mean, it’s just “feeling” better. That said: they still can shove these stupid touch sensitive buttons up theirs. Just plain awful.
You cannot beat a good traditional button. I do wonder with some of the more radical cabin layouts, will they alienate a sector of the buying public? Then again we could end up with the equivalent of cream interiors to match our bland properties! Going to take another Kona out for a test drive this week and if nothing negative becomes of it will place an order when I am able. The car has some compromises which I am willing to live with.
I’m not against “radical” redesigns of interiors, i’m against unusable ones. Well.. It’s not unusable, but it’s inconvenient and nowhere near as easy to use as normal buttons. I can “feel” on my steering wheel which button i’m gonna press, not possible on the new steering wheels. At least for me.
We talked to our VW guy today and got our extended test drive, just waiting for a call back now. We drove our Ateca at 45mpg over that route, if the Golf is able to best that convincingly, i think we’ve found our new car. They also offered us their in-stock GTE again, i just don’t know if i want a car without reversing camera, gotta make my mind up on that one. Choice would be “no reversing camera but instant delivery” (it is “our” colour and has the correct/upgraded wheels), or “reversing camera but close to 1 year delivery time”.
Meh. 🙁
Prior: SEAT Ateca Xcellence Lux 1.5 TSI DSG MY19, VW Golf GTE PHEV DSG MY23
Current: Hyundai Ioniq 6 Ultimate
Next: we'll see what's available in 2028.