Volvo XC40 PHEV
GOODBYE £42,305 OTR/£48,105 as tested/£630pcm WHY IT’S HERE
Does the baby Volvo work with added eco gubbins? DRIVER
Sam Philip
AFTER EIGHT MONTHS SERVING ON FLEET TG, IT’S TIME FOR THE XC40 to meet its maker, and time for a verdict. Which raises a question. Am I reviewing the car, or the wider experience of owning the car?
Because if it’s the former: brilliant, great, no complaints here. It’s a quality bit of kit, feeling every inch the premium rival to Germany’s finest.
But I’m still struggling with plug-in hybrids as a species. Specifically the ‘plugging in’ bit. Maybe that’s because a PHEV is the wrong shoe for my foot. I don’t have off-street parking, so I’m limited to public charge points. Maybe if I could top up on my driveway, I’d feel differently.
But that said, surely I’m just the sort of potential customer that a plug-in hybrid should be convincing? I live in a town, I do a bunch of short journeys punctuated by the odd longer one. But, in most of Britain right now, the inconvenience of finding a working, vacant public charge point outweighs the benefit of the cheap ’n’ green motoring a plug-in hybrid elicits.
Is it really worth the hour of faff to gain just a couple of dozen miles of slightly cheaper, slightly greener motoring? Not for me, Gary. Of course, if every car park was stuffed to the gills with vacant charge points, that would change the equation. But they aren’t, so it doesn’t.
As it is, I constantly found myself wondering if I’d be better off with a big battery, full electric car, and blocking out a few hours once a week or so to find a charge point and thoroughly brim it. At least it’d represent a decent return on the inconvenience.
Plug-in hybrids have always faced a squeezed existence. As electric cars become ever more rangey – and full petrols become ever more economical – it feels tough, for me at least, to justify a PHEV on anything but taxsaving grounds. In other words, however good the XC40 might be, it’s still a plug-in hybrid. That new XC40 T8 Recharge EV, on the other hand...