If you are thinking of trying something very different, such as a French car, do make sure that you get a long test drive. Whilst France might be next door to Germany, they build very different cars. One wag on this forum made me laugh a year or so ago when they said “French cars – style over substance, except Citroen which has neither” 😂
Oh Glos Guy, I’m going to have to step in here 😆 While Rosie is looking for opinions, she’s not looking for bias. You’ve clearly never had a good look at a DS4 or 7 or indeed a new Scenic. Not that these are of much interest to her, but to make a sweeping statement about French cars is just way out of date. The Austral and Rafael are very nice cars indeed. With regards to the XC40 I agree that it’s become dated, but that would be to ignore it’s finest strengths, namely seat comfort, beautifully supple suspension and lack of road, wind and engine noise. I drove one back to back with a BMW X1 in 2020 before we chose our Volvo and I can tell you that I found the X1 noisy and uncomfortable with far too much road noise and patter over poor surfaces (an X Line not even an M Sport) As said, the XC40s with T4/T3 engines were known to be thirsty. Our T4 averaged 33MPG over 4 years (mainly shorter journeys) but could easily get over 40 on a run. The B3/B4 mild hybrid models are now better, but the PHEV would be the one to go for. When giving advice, I think it would be wisest to stick to what we have direct experience of, and not general opinions which are largely out of date 🙂 Speaking as a BMW fan who loves his i4 😆
Good morning @72dudes Just to clarify, my comment about French cars was a little tongue in cheek, hence the emoji, and the comment I quoted wasn’t mine but one from another member last year that had made me laugh. I had a Peugeot 405 for a few months whilst waiting for a new company BMW many years ago and it was a really nice drive with probably the most comfortable seat that I’ve had in a car. French cars don’t seem to have the reputation for quality that the Germans do, but on the flip side their styling and imaginative colours leave the Germans standing.
My comment about having a long test drive applies to any car from any manufacturer. It never ceases to amaze me how people make a decision on a car that they will be stuck with for 3 years based on a 30 minute drive. Buy in haste, repent at leisure!
I agree with your comments about the X1 road noise, which was noticeable on certain types of road surface. We are noticing the (positive) difference in that respect with the Tucson. I also agree that the standard xLine seats were poor, hence why we paid extra for BMW Sport seats, a decision that we never regretted. It’s interesting what you say about the seats in the XC40. Volvo have always been known as having the best seats in the business, but I recall several XC40 owners on this forum, when the car first came on to the scheme, complaining about poor seat comfort on one particular model. However, it was the infotainment system and small boot that finally knocked it off our shortlist in both 2021 and 2024. Your T4 averaged 9 mpg less than our X1 over our respective terms of ownership.
I hope that’s clarified things. I’m delighted to hear that you are loving your i4. I’m very envious as I think it’s been the best looking and most desirable car to come on to the scheme for some years. We didn’t want an EV, but I might have been tempted with the i4 had it not been too cramped and impractical for us given our needs. If we never carried rear seat passengers and didn’t have a wheelchair to contend with it could have been different!