Now look who's got a Volvo...

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Bailes1992
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Now look who's got a Volvo...

Post by Bailes1992 »

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I sat down one evening and worked out quite how much my company car was costing me. Ultimatly the company car was costing me over £6,000 a year if you included the allowance I'm missing out on.

£6,040 a year to drive around in a poverty spec Focus. Now, I liked my Focus. In 14 months I did over 30,000miles, drank 2800 litres of diesel and took me the length and breast of the UK multiple times without fail. I always wanted higher spec cars, I still do but was I was surprised with the company Focus how much lighter the lower trim makes the car and how much better it makes them handle. But, I thought it best to opt out.

The opt-out car had to meet certain criteria and has to be approved by the company. It must do more than 60mpg on the combined cycle, C02 emmisions of less of 125g/km, must be less than 12 months old when purchased and must be replaced before its 5 years old.

I spent hours on Autotrader and the only two cars that made financial sense were a 2018 Seat Leon FR 2.0TDi 184ps DSG or this, a 2018 Volvo V40 D3 Geartronic Inscription.

I was quite keen on the Volvo because I'd loved the MK3 Focus chassis in the 3 MK3 Focuses I had and the Volvo was based on the same platform.

I looked at some other trims. There two 'normal' trims which were momentum and inscription and two R-Design trims. The basic R-Design is a momentum with some sport bumpers, wheels and a fancy interior trim and the R-Design Pro which is Inscription based with some sporty bumpers, wheels and a fancy interior trim. The R-Design Pro was out of my price range so I decided on the Inscription.

I picked up an ex-Avis Hire rental car. It was 8 months old with 8,500miles on the clock and had received it's first service early by the supplying Volvo dealer I purchased it from. The bodywork was immaculate, it drove nice, performed well and had enough technology to keep me amused. I paid a smidge over £16,000. The brand new OTR price of this car in this spec is around £32,000. :shock:

Anyway, some more pictures after I got it home...
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And my company car cleaned before it went back..
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Unfortunatley the day after I bought the Volvo I managed to kerb one of the back wheels...
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A local company refurbed the wheel for a reasonable £115.
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Re: Now look who's got a Volvo...

Post by PeterN »

Looks very comfortable. Due to the lack of 406's at a sensible price I've bought a c220 cdi estate, very similar to the 406 in simplicity, no DPF or DMF goes well and returns better mpg than the 406 and it has a timing chain. Before you delete me we still have a 406, the wife's car - and mine a lot of the time.

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Re: Now look who's got a Volvo...

Post by GingerMagic »

I've always liked the Volvo's, especially the older ones ( showing my age now ) and the new ones are much more suited to the average driver, rather than Antique Dealers that need a cavernous boot....
How does it 'feel' compared to the Focus?

Peter, most of us here no longer own a 406 - so no need to be booted out... :cheesy:
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Re: Now look who's got a Volvo...

Post by steve_earwig »

Would it have held on to its value more in Ford guise?

My nephew has a Volvo at the moment too, he went out to his van last week (BT van, it's a family curse I tell thee) to find the passenger footwell swimming. Took it to his local MTW to be told the heater matrix had gone (in my day you were lucky to have a working heater :roll: ), no reserve van so they'd have to hire one. He requested a small van, a Coarser or Fester maybe. Turns out the hire co was out of vans too, so what turned up? An almost new Ovlov V60 R-line auto. As a van. Still, I'll bet it's not a patch on his daily, a hoops-of-doom A5 V6 :roll:
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Re: Now look who's got a Volvo...

Post by Doggy »

My bro's been expressing some interest in Volvo estates, (my neighbour has one of those V70 4wd jobs).
Don't hold your breath though, he'll ponder this for a year or two before deciding Pugs are cheaper.
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Re: Now look who's got a Volvo...

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GingerMagic wrote: Fri Dec 07, 2018 12:38 pm I've always liked the Volvo's, especially the older ones ( showing my age now ) and the new ones are much more suited to the average driver, rather than Antique Dealers that need a cavernous boot....
How does it 'feel' compared to the Focus?
I was always disappointed by my Fathers V50 R-Design T5. Ultimately, it had the same platform as a MK2 Focus ST but you could tell they had tried to mature it.

I found the pedals seemed to have no 'feel' to them, it was like a driving game on the PlayStation or X-Box. The driving position was just wrong and the steering wheel was huge. The suspension was soft but somehow had all the grace and finesse of a drunk horse galloping over a pete bog. Potholes were met usually with a hiss as you sucked air through your teeth, an almighty crash into the pot hole followed by an A&E visit because you broke your back.

It never encouraged me to drive it hard. It didn't want it. I do wonder how much of this was down to the 225/45/R18 Pirelli P-Zero Rosso tyres that the lease company insisted on fitting. I know Dai Rees didn't have anything good to say about them.

I'm sure if I replaced the suspension bushes, fitted thicker anti roll bars, different shocks & springs and some decent tyres it could have been a reasonably good handling car.

My other issue with it was the engine. Ford managed to make the 5 pot really progressive where it built power as the revs rose coupled with the 5 pot howl it made the engine really exciting. Volvo got a few more horsepower and a few more size 10's of torque out of the engine but managed to make it the most boring 2.5 litre turbocharged, 7000rpm 5 pot ever. It seemed to make peak torque at 3,000-4,000rpm and then just felt like it flat-lined up the rest of the rev range. Felt like an old diesel. The speedo would fly up at a rate of knots but it never felt like you were going half as fast. The engine was also far too, it quiet made a little rumble about 3000rpm then would go dead silent.

Now that rant is over...

After my experiences with the V50, I'm happy to say the V40 was a bit of a shock. The driving position feels much the same as the MK3 Focus, it even has the same pedals and they seem to have left the suspension alone too! It's without a doubt heavier than my last MK3 Focus Style 1.5TDCi but it has all the came characteristics, even down to way it reacts over bumps and cattle grids. It's been a while since I sold my 2015 Focus Titanium but I suspect if I drove them back to back they would feel almost identical.

My only gripe with the chassis is tyre noise but it seems to be something that's repeated quite a lot between owners of models with wider low-profile tyres. There's Michellin Primacy 3's on it at the moment, I'm unsure if there's many tyres around that would be quieter. Again, I can't quite remember how bad the tyre noise was on the Focus Titanium I had.
steve_earwig wrote: Sat Dec 08, 2018 8:29 am Would it have held on to its value more in Ford guise?
I only have my 2015 Titanium 1.5TDCi to compare it to. In which case I paid £17,500 for it brand new and at 30 months old with ~60k on the clock I got £7,500 for it from CarShop who sold it for £8,500. :shock:

Volvo being a 'premium' brand, I hope the V40 holds onto it's value a bit better. I want to buy it at the end of the PCP, my Wife can have it and then I will part-ex her Duster for my next car.
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Re: Now look who's got a Volvo...

Post by Welly »

I think that's a good choice Sam, can't believe the price, what a bargain!

Does anyone else find it very difficult figuring out what the model types actually mean on moderns these days? you could easily end up with an undesirable spec if you didn't do your homework.

Whatever happened to L, LX and GLX :lol: I guess that's consumerism coming into play and 'choice' we all love endless choices of course we do :?

I agree that the S40/V50 as standard has a strange suspension they somehow managed to take a Focus platform and make it all slow and squidgy :? I have 17" wheels, an IPD rear bar, OE strut brace and Bilstein B4 dampers and I'd say it handles well now. The rear bar made the most difference.

Peter - you bought a Merc, I like them myself! check for black gunge around the injector seats I know this can be a thing at higher mileages.
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Re: Now look who's got a Volvo...

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Welly wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 8:37 am I think that's a good choice Sam, can't believe the price, what a bargain!

Does anyone else find it very difficult figuring out what the model types actually mean on moderns these days? you could easily end up with an undesirable spec if you didn't do your homework.

Whatever happened to L, LX and GLX :lol: I guess that's consumerism coming into play and 'choice' we all love endless choices of course we do :?
I'm not sure it's 'endless choices. There was always an SE, SE Lux, R-Design and R-Design SE Lux.

The SE has just become a 'Momentum', the SE Lux has become an Inscription, the R-Design has stayed the same and the R-Design SE Lux has become R-Design Pro.

I prefer the old way, I must admit!
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Re: Now look who's got a Volvo...

Post by Welly »

Mine's an SE, think it stands for Suspension Expires :lol:

Sam, you said back there that your Co. gives you a car allowance but you must buy a car less than 12 months old and keep it until 5 years max? forgive me if I'm out of touch with these things but that sounds like an interference with your free choice, there's 'control' over your use of the allowance - is this normal?
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Re: Now look who's got a Volvo...

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Welly wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 12:36 pm Mine's an SE, think it stands for Suspension Expires :lol:

Sam, you said back there that your Co. gives you a car allowance but you must buy a car less than 12 months old and keep it until 5 years max? forgive me if I'm out of touch with these things but that sounds like an interference with your free choice, there's 'control' over your use of the allowance - is this normal?

The company car must meet a certain criteria, it's completely understandable at the end of the day.

If you had a company car you'd have either an Astra or Insignia (my Focus was left over from before they changed to Vauxhalls), it would be brand new when you had it and changed at 3 years old.

At the end of the day you're out seeing clients and representatives of wholesalers and subcontractors. You have an image you must maintain.

If you choose to opt-out, your car must be less than 12 months old when purchased, must do 60mpg or more on the combined cycle, must emit less than 125g/km C02, must have 4 or more doors, must have 4 or more seats, must not be a sports car, commercial vehicle or a convertible and it has to be replaced before it hits 5 years old.

I think you have to remember not everyone is like us. If everyone was given free reign people would be driving around in old heaps.

Also, we maintain use of our fuel card once you opt out. With the company car you pay a flat rate on the fuel card, mine was about £85/month on the Focus. With your own car they put the fuel you purchase on your P11D as a whole, this then means you can claim tax relief on all business mileage.

Lets say for example I did 30,000miles in one year and at 45mpg used 3000litres of fuel.

3000litres at £1.00/litre pre-tax would make leave me with a £3,000 tax liability. At 20% I'd pay £600 in tax on that 3000litres.

Lets say out of that 30,000miles I did 15,000 business miles. I can claim tax relief at 45p for the first 10,000miles and 25p for anything after that.

(45p x 10000miles = £4,500)+(25p x 5000miles = £1,250) = £5,750 of tax relief. At 20% I would have a rebate/refund of £1150.

So the fuel card tax gets written off by the tax relief on the business mileage and should put some money back in my pocket.
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Re: Now look who's got a Volvo...

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Yeah I see what you mean, when I go to see our biggest customer (maybe 4 times a year) I park around the corner and walk :lol: it would look like something was going wrong with our business turning up in a 14 year old Volvo (I hate this kind of judgement by the way and don't support it) but I do it to keep the peace.

The other thing is not to have a car that's 'too fancy' as that can wind up your Customers :roll:

Anyway have you signed up to the friendly* Volvo Forum yet? :lol:
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Re: Now look who's got a Volvo...

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Welly wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 4:00 pm Yeah I see what you mean, when I go to see our biggest customer (maybe 4 times a year) I park around the corner and walk :lol: it would look like something was going wrong with our business turning up in a 14 year old Volvo (I hate this kind of judgement by the way and don't support it) but I do it to keep the peace.

The other thing is not to have a car that's 'too fancy' as that can wind up your Customers :roll:

Anyway have you signed up to the friendly* Volvo Forum yet? :lol:
I know a lot of other contractors don't have company car schemes or fuel card schemes so they're much more flexible when it comes to what car you have.

I did find a very cheap Astra lease deal. Basically a brand new Astra Elite 1.6 Turbo with a 20k/year allowance for £200/deposit and £200/month and I did put it in for approval but it was refused. I knew it would be, but if you don't ask you don't get!

I used to frequent VPCUK but haven't been on there for years. Is there any forums you'd recommend?
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Re: Now look who's got a Volvo...

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http://www.trucknetuk.com ?

Only kidding Sam.
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Re: Now look who's got a Volvo...

Post by Welly »

For a Forum there's volvoforums.org which most people use, even Dai and Teamy are on there.

Tread carefully though, don't be upsetting the regulars there :lol:
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Re: Now look who's got a Volvo...

Post by trufflehunt »

PeterN wrote: Fri Dec 07, 2018 11:11 am Looks very comfortable. Due to the lack of 406's at a sensible price I've bought a c220 cdi estate, very similar to the 406 in simplicity, no DPF or DMF goes well and returns better mpg than the 406 and it has a timing chain. Before you delete me we still have a 406, the wife's car - and mine a lot of the time.

Peter
Have you had it long, what year, have you had to do much to it..?

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