2022 Euro Road Trip [Ask Me Anything]
Posted: Fri Aug 05, 2022 1:32 pm
Hallo fellow Volvo XC40 drivers!
We finally put our XC40 PHEV through it's paces, driving ~3,500 miles from Edinburgh, via Eurotunnel, over The Alps to an agriturismo near Florence, including an excursion to Padova (Venice) and daytrips to Florence and San Gimignano.
We left at end of the Scottish school term, avoiding the English term crush at the southern ports by a month. Flexipass tickets for Eurotunnel were more expensive but it removes the worry about getting to Eurotunnel for a specific train and you get waved on to the next available train, whatever time you pitch up (though, still got to go through all the new third country faff at customs and passport control).
Car observations:
Fuel economy: Car was loaded with 3 adults and two teenage children + luggage for a 2 week holiday. We took off the roofbars to reduce drag and inflated the tyres for 'fully loaded'. We treated the car as a 'soft hybrid' for duration of the trip - no plugging in. Generally cruising at 100km/h (62mph). As a result, we were getting ~600 miles out of a 48litre tank of petrol. The regenerative braking throughout the trip was reasonably impressive and coming down the other side of the St Gottard Pass in Switzerland recharged the battery by about 50%
This is extremely favourable fuel economy in comparison with the last car which was a Skoda Kodiaq with its larger 61litre diesel tank which also got about 600 miles per tank, with careful driving.
Comfort: It's a small car. But big enough to pack 5 people's worth of luggage for two weeks in the boot ("pack light, everyone!") and enough leg room for an elderly passenger in the front and two two stringy teenagers and an adult in the back. the two USB-C charging points in the back fed a pair of Nintendo Switches for the kids, during the long haul stretches of distance. Apart from a measure of stiffness due to sitting down for long periods, everyone was ok. We stopped at interesting looking places on the map for leg stretches.
Downsides: The car ran low on engine coolant at the top of the St Bernardino Pass in Switzerland, on the way back, and asked us to find a safe place to stop. I've made this trip before, in a Skoda Kodiaq, in 2018's ' Heatwave Lucifer' and didn't have a problem, so was genuinely surprised by this. I'd been instructed to use AA cover while abroad (it's a company car) and the AA cancelled the call out after 2 hours of trying to arrange help. We tried Volvo Assist and they came to the rescue.
The only other little blip was my iPhone overheating while using CarPlay navigation in heatwave temperatures but that's not Volvo's fault
Otherwise, bloody fantastic. Amazing how much you can get in a mini SUV and amazing how much comfort and fuel economy it can provide when most cars would feel cramped and have the fuel economy of a burning oilrig.
Well done Volvo.
We finally put our XC40 PHEV through it's paces, driving ~3,500 miles from Edinburgh, via Eurotunnel, over The Alps to an agriturismo near Florence, including an excursion to Padova (Venice) and daytrips to Florence and San Gimignano.
We left at end of the Scottish school term, avoiding the English term crush at the southern ports by a month. Flexipass tickets for Eurotunnel were more expensive but it removes the worry about getting to Eurotunnel for a specific train and you get waved on to the next available train, whatever time you pitch up (though, still got to go through all the new third country faff at customs and passport control).
Car observations:
Fuel economy: Car was loaded with 3 adults and two teenage children + luggage for a 2 week holiday. We took off the roofbars to reduce drag and inflated the tyres for 'fully loaded'. We treated the car as a 'soft hybrid' for duration of the trip - no plugging in. Generally cruising at 100km/h (62mph). As a result, we were getting ~600 miles out of a 48litre tank of petrol. The regenerative braking throughout the trip was reasonably impressive and coming down the other side of the St Gottard Pass in Switzerland recharged the battery by about 50%
This is extremely favourable fuel economy in comparison with the last car which was a Skoda Kodiaq with its larger 61litre diesel tank which also got about 600 miles per tank, with careful driving.Comfort: It's a small car. But big enough to pack 5 people's worth of luggage for two weeks in the boot ("pack light, everyone!") and enough leg room for an elderly passenger in the front and two two stringy teenagers and an adult in the back. the two USB-C charging points in the back fed a pair of Nintendo Switches for the kids, during the long haul stretches of distance. Apart from a measure of stiffness due to sitting down for long periods, everyone was ok. We stopped at interesting looking places on the map for leg stretches.
Downsides: The car ran low on engine coolant at the top of the St Bernardino Pass in Switzerland, on the way back, and asked us to find a safe place to stop. I've made this trip before, in a Skoda Kodiaq, in 2018's ' Heatwave Lucifer' and didn't have a problem, so was genuinely surprised by this. I'd been instructed to use AA cover while abroad (it's a company car) and the AA cancelled the call out after 2 hours of trying to arrange help. We tried Volvo Assist and they came to the rescue.
The only other little blip was my iPhone overheating while using CarPlay navigation in heatwave temperatures but that's not Volvo's fault
Otherwise, bloody fantastic. Amazing how much you can get in a mini SUV and amazing how much comfort and fuel economy it can provide when most cars would feel cramped and have the fuel economy of a burning oilrig.
Well done Volvo.
we reverted to France. We've driven to Como before (Karoq!) but that was when Hull>Zee was running. An o/n cabin and a couple o/n's en route meant it was totally do-able. Jack changes the dynamics tho and this time we chose the Loire Valley, via the Tunnel, another first. 
