Volvo

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Sunday – Comfortable Cruiser

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Jeremy With the safety car out at Silverstone, the British Grand Prix has been running at ‘road car’ speeds. Not sure I’d want to be out there in the V40 though – mainly because even in R-Design trim, the Volvo lacks a little precision going hard into a corner.

Unfortunately, as much as I like the look of the Volvo, the BMW 1 Series and Audi A3 are both much better drivers cars. That’s a situation confirmed by the V40’s rather soggy clutch that doesn’t really encourage you to push the V40 along on a twisty A-road.

The ride itself is on the soft side – which makes the V40 a more comfortable long distance cruiser than a spirited drive. If you are buying a V40 to sit on the motorway all day, that is definitely the right call because it has a big car feel and a very quiet cabin.

 

 

 

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Saturday – Start Me Up

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Jeremy I’ve got no idea what car Mick Jagger drives but it probably isn’t a Volvo. I know he stuffed his DB6 in a well-publicised accident in London in 1966 but even a quick tweak of the internet hasn’t come up with any more recent answers.

I should ask Jessica because she had a dance with him a few years back – I can see him in an S-Class, an Aston or one of the very latest Range Rovers that ooze quality from every rivet. You’re right – he probably has all three.

If he didn’t want to get spotted leaving a gig then the V40 would do the job. It’s fairly anonymous if he doesn’t want to get seen and, if he does, well it also rather cool in a kind of ‘man of the people’ something different type way.

Driving the V40 around this weekend, it’s turned plenty of heads. The profile looks long, low and very slippery, while sitting in the driver’s seat, it’s a very well thought out cockpit. I’m feeling less than anonymous.

Right, I’m off to watch the Stones do Glastonbury. The great unwashed will be passing my door tomorrow night and Monday on their way back home. If you are one of them and see Mick climbing into something interesting, do let us know…

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Friday – Sweden vs Germany

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Jeremy There’s something endearing, likeable and rather ‘safe’ about the V40. Stepping into the cabin this morning was like getting reacquainted with an old friend. The last Volvo I owned was an 340, back in the 1980s. It was my father’s choice – he was paying – as the one car even I couldn’t get hurt in.

I traded the 340 in for an Alfa Romeo as quickly as possible and quickly regretted it. My student grant didn’t extend to major rust treatment on a monthly basis… Had that first flirtation with Volvo been a secondhand V40, I would probably still be driving it now.

V40 is the replacement model for the S40 and V50 and it needs to be good to beat the best of German. Well, it certainly has a more distinct look than a VW Golf, or the exceptional Audi A3. It probably holds it own about the BMW 1 Series too, although I have to say, I think the new Mercedes A-class might be the winner for best design.

From the rear, the V40 in R-Design trim looks amazing. The twin tailpipes and small rear screen tick lots of boxes. Nose on, it’s on a par with the German competition. Which begs the question, is the V40 good enough to tempt Audi/BMW/VW drivers away from their normal car purchase?

That could well come down to the driving experience and I shall give my verdict on that tomorrow…

 

 

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Thursday – Super-Safe Hatch

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Jeremy Our V40 is going to require some serious understanding if we are going to get the maximum out of it over the next seven days. Why? Well, underneath that long, lean profile is a car packed with the very latest in safety equipment.

I’ve just spent half an hour in the car swotting up on everything – and I don’t think I’ve even scratched the surface. However, the key feature I can’t wait to try is Park Assist Pilot, which will parallel park the car for me without any need to touch the steering wheel! I’m sure every car will have this feature in the future but I still can’t believe it will park better, or more safely than me.

One standard feature on V40 I hope I don’t get to try is the under bonnet pedestrian airbag. As part of the Driver Support Pack, there’s also full-speed collision warning, which alerts the driver to a potential impact,  plus blind spot monitoring, road sign information and much more!

This has to be the safest car I’ve ever driven. I’m sure it’s going to shout something nasty if I spill my coffee or listen to crap music on the radio. It’s that sophisticated I’m just wondering where the next warning signal is going to come from…

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ad735055-bbce-4079-865f-e838ca5df924Jeremy It’s the last day for our Volvo XC60 . With snow forecast for tomorrow I’m going to regret handing over the keys for all sorts of reasons. This is the model that buries the myth that all Volvos are boxy estates driven by conservative types. The flowing lines of the bodywork and beautifully crafted dashboard are light years ahead of Volvos of old – a pretty SUV estate that manages to put a smile on your face every morning. I think it looks sensational from most angles – apart from head on, which is about to be rectified with a new, re-nosed version due out this summer. Solid, robust and capable of 4X4-type forays into the semi-rough stuff, the XC60 is a thoroughly modern estate car that will tick a lot of boxes for most families. Arriving tomorrow at Car Couture is the new Jaguar XJ 3.0 Supercharged V6. Find out how we get on with the luxury saloon every day next week.

 

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Friday – Team Volvo On Ice

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Jeremy Our XC60 is returning 44mpg and the company’s new V60 diesel hybrid can up that to 150+mpg but there’s one Volvo that goes even better than that. The Team Volvo bobsleigh needs no fuel and is emission free – provided you are heading downhill on ice that is.

 

Today we took our first look at the daunting Igls bobsleigh track in Innsbruck – 1217 metres, 14 bends and a lot of testosterone. The British Bobsleigh Championships start on Saturday and Team Volvo clocked up a decent 56.04 seconds on the second of two runs. It means we qualify for the main event tomorrow with seven or eight other entries.

 

Hurtling down a tube of ice at 78mph is obviously an assault on the senses. Sitting back in my hotel room, I’m aching in places I didn’t know I had. Tomorrow it will be hard to crawl out of bed for the main event but the camaraderie in this sport is incredible. Jessica will be disappointed to be missing all that Lycra but at least the spiked running shoes are uber cool…

 

 

 

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Thursday – Swapping the XC60 For A Bobsleigh

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Jeremy This isn’t some new dealer incentive but a chance to go very fast down an icy tube with my eyes shut. Volvo has invited Car Couture to take part in the British Bobsleigh Championships in Innsbruck this weekend. Jessica was suddenly ‘otherwise engaged’ and so I’m scribbling this from Gatwick Airport. Hopefully, I won’t do a John Noakes flip the thing over – but I’m pretty sure I will have my eyes shut. Volvo sponsors British bobsleighing and, at the moment, the UK No. 1 team is fifth in the world.

The XC60 has just averaged 47mpg on the run down from Wiltshire, which I think is more than respectable for an SUV. And those blind spot warning lights on the doors are proving very useful – especially with kamikaze courier motorcyclists on the M25. Now Saab is no more, I’m also give my ‘Most Comfortable Seat’ award to the R-Design set in our XC60. Let’s hope the bobsleigh is equally as relaxing…

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Monday – First Impressions

Jeremy I’ve just driven the XC60 across the Cotswolds on what could possibly be the first day of Spring. SItting in the office, there’s a glorious sunset sinking over the bonnet and my log fire seems strangely out of place, for the first time in months.

My first time behind the wheel and I’m still getting used to all safety kit in the XC60. This is a car just bristling with technology which I have yet to get my head around. I’m not sure it’s as pretty as a Range Rover Evoque but on first impressions, the Volvo is bolted together just as well and has a more practical interior.

Around these parts, every other car is a 4×4 and the XC60 certainly doesn’t look out of place in the supermarket car park. It may not be as big as a BMW X5, Audi Q7 or the new Range Rover but less is more these days, isn’t it?

So far, so good in the XC60 anyway. Looking forward to getting back behind the wheel tomorrow..

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Tuesday – It’s no dummy

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Jeremy I have just driven our XC60 to London-based Rootstein, who are  the Rolls-Royce of mannequin makers in the fashion world that Jessica frequents. It’s a bright, sunny day and the doors of their Kensington fashion studios are highly polished and squeaky clean. Fortunately, the mirror image is sparkling enough to reflect the XC60, as it rolled driverless down the road behind me…

TheXC60’s  multi-function key has six options but not one of them can ‘apply handbrake’ remotely from where I watched gaping. The irony is that the XC60 is otherwise so incredibly safe it almost dispenses with the need for birth control. However, for some strange reason, is equipped with one of those push button handbrakes that screams ‘accident’ every time I don’t apply it.

W14 is fairly flat so I was able to out-sprint Usain Bolt before any damage was done. Then I used the front blind spot camera to squeeze into a parking space, with rear sensors on standby and the pedestrian airbag ready to bounce anybody who is unfortunate enough to get in my way.

For the drive home, I was able to relax in the knowledge that blind spot indicators would alert me if somebody overtook, lights at the foot of the windscreen would flash if the computer decided I was too close to the car in front. If XC60 doesn’t like my iPod playlist, I’m certain it would have probably switched to a more middle-of-the road David Grey too.

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Monday – Aversion to family cars…

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Jessica  I have an aversion to family cars that can bring me out in a rash – so it’s no wonder I spent my youth dragging babies and child seats in and out of a coupe. Unlike the estate cars I avoided at all costs, the Volvo XC60 has evolved from a typical family car into a visually pleasing machine.

Twenty years ago I would have cringed at the prospect of owning a Volvo – now I can truly appreciate what it has to offer. Imagine retro-futuristic dials on the dashboard, safely uncluttered by extra lights or symbols, and a gentle lighting system that extends across the information display too. It doesn’t sound very Volvo but the XC60 is full of surprises…

The buttons and dials for all the usual heating, radio and sat-nav controls were clear, with a silver finish that compliments the futuristic aesthetic. As there are buttons to support a range of safety features, there are plenty of benefits to reading the manual.

I love the built-in booster seats for children – although I would choose a leather finish as is much easier to scrub down after a long journey of spilt drinks and inappropriate snacks. A DVD system in the back of the headrests would have made my life so much easier as a young mum.

It wasn’t all good news though, especially when I tried a hill start with the push button hand brake. How many ways are there to press a button – and how in the panic of rolling into the car behind you do you work out which type of button pushing you should be doing?

The fact that you can override the brake by accelerating, in my view, defeats the reasoning behind having a parking brake in the first place…