[MichelR]

Today I was called by Volvo Netherlands to make a appointment to test drive the new V40.
You register you're self as interested in all about the V40
And if you did you could be one of the first to drive the V40

So even before the V40 is in the showrooms (next month) I can drive it..
Could choose between petrol or diesel. Choose diesel off course since I ordered the D2.

But they could not say which V40 diesel would come so that is a surprise hope for the D2 of course.

So next Wednesday I'm going to drive the new V40 for 1 hour..

Will post my thoughts and remarks after that.:thumbup:

 

[GusGecko]

Sounds good! I only got to drive it for 15mins... :-(

 

[London_2012]

Hey all!
Borrowed a V40 D2 SE Lux in Sapphire Black metallic... very nice colour but doesn't show off the rear glass as much as the other colours, and looked a little dusty by this morning when I gave it back (had it for 24hrs). Overall I'm extremely impressed, it was very refined, it had the Std SE Lux 17" Mannan wheels and was very quiet with little road/wind/engine noise, I would say similar to my 2007 BMW 5 series, much less noise than my current BMW 1 Series, and significantly less engine noise than the Audi A1 1.6Tdi I drove a few weeks ago. There was plenty of power, as much as my current car, it did need a few more revs than the 1 series when pulling away.

Handling was very good too, I took it round the local country lanes, it certainly didn't feel like a step down from my car.

Inside of the V40 is gorgeous, makes my last 4 German cars look plain boring, thankfully it's changed my wife's mind about Volvos, as she wasn't that keen when I was mulling over placing the order.

The version I borrowed had pretty much all the toys, I've estimated list was almost £28k, everything was brilliant and it's all pretty intuitive to use, even the park assist pilot. I'm guessing after 2-3 days you would have found your way around everything.

Trip computer said I'd averaged 49mpg for the mainly urban 70miles driving I'd done, which I thought was ok for a car that had not been run in.

I'd noticed some of the reviews had pointed out the size of the boot being smaller than the 1 series, in reality they are pretty much the same to look at, I didn't see much of a difference when carrying stuff in the boot last night.

The only criticisms I have are:
It's going to take a while to get used to the handbrake position!
The centre console screen would have been better as a touch screen esp when using the Sat Nav which was a little clunky to select a destination

Apart from that it's brilliant, I noticed a few heads turning to look as I was out and about as people were trying to work out what the car was.

 

[GusGecko]

Niiice... Was the car offered to you for 24hrs as you asked for a test drive? I'd like to try it out in the 'real world'

 

[jens-peter]

Sounds good. My dealer called me a few weeks ago, and i got a 30 min testdrive - it was a lot of fun. But having it for 24 hours does sound pretty cool.

 

[London_2012]

Hi GusGecko and jens-peter
The 24hr test drive was offered to me. I work for a big spirits company in London, my car when it arrives will be the first V40 on the fleet. I'm guessing they offered 24hrs to try to influence me to order. I told them I'd already placed the order too.

I think everyone should be offered 24hrs! Audi did the same for me a few weeks back with an A1 1.6tdi but it wasn't very nice. cramped inside, tiny boot and noisy engine.

 

[mrlazy]

Sounds like you had an enjoyable 24 hours London _2012
40 mpg sounds prettry good for urban driving.

Any gadgets fitted that you wish you had orderd on yours ?

 

[London_2012]

@mrlazy

Er... I think if money wasn't a problem I would have all of it, it was all quiet useful!

I particularly liked the Active Bending headlights, very useful on my local unlit national speed limit country lanes, although my wife tired quickly of me saying 'that's awesome, watch as we go round this next bend...'

The winter pack is good too, I noticed the elements in the heated windscreen are much smaller than I've seen before. If you've got one of these already, you probably notice the glare from oncoming car headlights at night is worse than an ordinary screen, but on the V40 this didn't seem to be a problem.

Something that wasn't on the demonstrator that I would have added to the spec if I could justify the cost would have been the sunroof.

Not so worried about the Sat Nav or the Parking Pilot, although there are times when they would be very useful.

Problem is additions like these are expensive on my company car scheme, as the company give me back any unspent allowance, roughly each additional £1000 of extras on the car = £180 a year out of my pocket in additional lease cost and bik.