Hawk13
Member
- Messages
- 1,471
..... and it is a surprising choice (at least I think so).
For some time Mrs Hawk (a confirmed petrol head in her own right) has been looking for a new car. She loves a big SUV and left to her own devices, she would be driving a Rambo Lambo or a full military spec Hummer.
With those and an Urus out of budget (are you starting to see a theme here!) she initially turned her attention to a G Wagon ... thankfully she quickly realised what spiteful heaps of sh!te they are and we started looking at car mags and web reviews for inspiration.
There was nothing in the Merc or BMW camp that interested her (she had a GLC Coupe and didn't want another) and the only cars that piqued any interested from VAG were the Q5 and the Tourag - both of which were dismissed as boring when test driven.
Enter stage right, Land Rover. Now the the Disco and Evoque were straight off the table (we live in JLR land and every other house has got one) as was the Defender due to fugliness. RR was an option but more than she wanted to spend so we test drove the Velar and RR Sport .... and dismissed as "tart's handbag" and not sporty respectively.
Next came the Porsche Macan - which was OK as a petrol car (albeit we already have a sub 20mpg and £550 a year VED car) but not exciting enough as a diesel.
Despite liking the Levante, that was ruled out (thank goodness as I can't stand them) and up next came Lexus - which was quickly eliminated as "anonymous" as was the Jag SUV (which is so anonymous I can't even remember what it was called).
Now it might sound as if we weren't getting anywhere, but we were narrowing down our options lists which included panaramic roof, leather seat, parking camera, decent sound system, room for 4 adults and luggage and ideally over 30mpg. Test drives with Skoda, Peugeot, Ford and Subaru followed and I have to say I rather liked the Ford Kuga but when you start speccing up these cars they get really expensive and 'luxury' items that we have come to 'expect' such as auto light and windscreen wipers, heated seats, memory seats etc. were options and hard to find (1st world p[problems I know!)
We then went to look at a Volvo XC90 - which I have to say is a lovely car but was just a bit boring and we don't need 7 seats. I was just about to leave when a sporty looking XC60 caught Mrs H's eye - given a going over by Polestar (who are Volvo's in house performance arm). My initial thought was sporty SUVs are stupid and the gold Polestar accents scream pornstar but the wife seemed to like it. This got us onto the conversation of hybrids (it was a PHEV) which, after Mrs Hawk had kicked me under the table as she knows I think electric cars are a con, got us onto the the topic of the T8 engine.
The T8 is a turbo charged and supercharged 2 litre lump with a 100 bhp electric motor to help it along. So that's 400bhp and a 5 second sprint to 60 - I wanted a go! Mrs H was also taken by a 25 mile electric only range (most of her journeys), cheap motoring (it costs about a £1 to charge for the 25 miles) and no congestion charges.
Once I got past the linear and very quick acceleration (which is hilarious) I settled down into the test drive fully expecting not to like this Volvo. But I really couldn't fault it - and nor could Mrs H. OK it's a little bit vague when pushed hard through corners but all day comfortable and quick enough to beat most hot hatches away from the traffic lights.
So a deal was done a nearly new T8 R Design and it arrived home yesterday
For some time Mrs Hawk (a confirmed petrol head in her own right) has been looking for a new car. She loves a big SUV and left to her own devices, she would be driving a Rambo Lambo or a full military spec Hummer.
With those and an Urus out of budget (are you starting to see a theme here!) she initially turned her attention to a G Wagon ... thankfully she quickly realised what spiteful heaps of sh!te they are and we started looking at car mags and web reviews for inspiration.
There was nothing in the Merc or BMW camp that interested her (she had a GLC Coupe and didn't want another) and the only cars that piqued any interested from VAG were the Q5 and the Tourag - both of which were dismissed as boring when test driven.
Enter stage right, Land Rover. Now the the Disco and Evoque were straight off the table (we live in JLR land and every other house has got one) as was the Defender due to fugliness. RR was an option but more than she wanted to spend so we test drove the Velar and RR Sport .... and dismissed as "tart's handbag" and not sporty respectively.
Next came the Porsche Macan - which was OK as a petrol car (albeit we already have a sub 20mpg and £550 a year VED car) but not exciting enough as a diesel.
Despite liking the Levante, that was ruled out (thank goodness as I can't stand them) and up next came Lexus - which was quickly eliminated as "anonymous" as was the Jag SUV (which is so anonymous I can't even remember what it was called).
Now it might sound as if we weren't getting anywhere, but we were narrowing down our options lists which included panaramic roof, leather seat, parking camera, decent sound system, room for 4 adults and luggage and ideally over 30mpg. Test drives with Skoda, Peugeot, Ford and Subaru followed and I have to say I rather liked the Ford Kuga but when you start speccing up these cars they get really expensive and 'luxury' items that we have come to 'expect' such as auto light and windscreen wipers, heated seats, memory seats etc. were options and hard to find (1st world p[problems I know!)
We then went to look at a Volvo XC90 - which I have to say is a lovely car but was just a bit boring and we don't need 7 seats. I was just about to leave when a sporty looking XC60 caught Mrs H's eye - given a going over by Polestar (who are Volvo's in house performance arm). My initial thought was sporty SUVs are stupid and the gold Polestar accents scream pornstar but the wife seemed to like it. This got us onto the conversation of hybrids (it was a PHEV) which, after Mrs Hawk had kicked me under the table as she knows I think electric cars are a con, got us onto the the topic of the T8 engine.
The T8 is a turbo charged and supercharged 2 litre lump with a 100 bhp electric motor to help it along. So that's 400bhp and a 5 second sprint to 60 - I wanted a go! Mrs H was also taken by a 25 mile electric only range (most of her journeys), cheap motoring (it costs about a £1 to charge for the 25 miles) and no congestion charges.
Once I got past the linear and very quick acceleration (which is hilarious) I settled down into the test drive fully expecting not to like this Volvo. But I really couldn't fault it - and nor could Mrs H. OK it's a little bit vague when pushed hard through corners but all day comfortable and quick enough to beat most hot hatches away from the traffic lights.
So a deal was done a nearly new T8 R Design and it arrived home yesterday
