Should I also be concerned?

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XC404me
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Mar 23, 2018 5:59 pm

Post by XC404me »

My requirements for a soon to be purchased new car are small footprint, high riding premium vehicle. It will be petrol as it will be a cash purchase, and not too sure how much a diesel will be worth in 5 to 6 years down the road, already some diesels are being branded in certain circles dirty diesels, even with SCR/ Ad-blue etc. However, if I had a lease or PCP deal I would not have too much of a problem with a diesel, as in a couple of years I could move on to new emerging technologies.

Mercedes have nothing suitable at the moment, BMW have the X1, the new Audi Q3 quattro will only arrive in July. The Jaguar E Pace P250 when speced-up is £45k plus, so that rules that out, such a pity as it is a lovely car but unrealistically priced. The Evoque was also on my radar, but similar to the Jag pricewise, and a lot of extra off-road kit which would never be used.

So now enter the Volvo XC40 seems to be “fit for purpose” small footprint, and high riding premium car, my initial viewing at the dealership confirmed that Volvo still produce such beautiful, safe quality cars at such a reasonable price. Having seen the Inscription T4 AWD auto at £34k with the Pro version at not much more, although with the 19” wheels, not too sure how this will impact the comfort of the ride, the viewing car has made me want to progress to the test drive stage.

Ironically however having browsed thru’ this forum and in particular the Chinese contribution to this model, it made me think of the Land Wind and how it was cribbed from the JLR Evoque, with the differential price of £14k v £45K. These LW figures are so obvious that it can not be labour alone, hence the materials must surely be brought in to question. So, what is in the JLR Evoque for £45k and by the same token, what is not in the Chinese Land Wind https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/guan ... ich-better
Getting back to my article, just about everything in the manufacture of the XC40 is Chinese, thereafter everything as I understand is then shipped to Ghent where the Volvo contract assembler puts the finished car together, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1-22aIfPZ0&vl=en as I understand to the highest Volvo standards and then on to the customer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volvo_Car_Gent This takes the sting out of the Chinese inputs, which essentially leaves the complete engine manufacture as a moot point.

Which now raises the question of how much Volvo input is present at Zhangjiakou to guarantee that there is a huge difference in quality of materials and working standards between the Land Wind engine and the Volvo engine.

When spending circa £35k I feel that I would like to know a bit more of the detail of the product.

Telboy
Posts: 138
Joined: Mon Mar 05, 2018 8:30 pm
Location: Bournemouth

Post by Telboy »

I'm coming from the latest Audi A4 (b9) to the XC40, the Audi has not been without its faults or rattles for that matter - although is a good car.

Test drive in the XC40 T5 and spending a lot of time inside the car has waylaid my concerns to a point, there are some areas where it's clear the cheaper route has been taken, however all in, the XC40 seems very well screwed together.

The parent company that own Volvo have learnt a lot from past mistakes and are growing significantly in the right direction so it seems.

The core of the XC40 is still typical Volvo and should bode well in safety tests. I'm hoping the a2b of build and quality control remains typical Volvo too!

I've had many makes of cars and most have not been great, some of the worst offenders being BMW and VWGroup cars so hoping this Volvo does better for me.
XC40 T5 FE - Bursting with blue and now with some extra blue - Polestar :D
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