So after a lot of humming and harring we have ordered Mrs Jim’s replacement for her June 2014 Evoke Dynamic. Now as we know the Evoke will be facelifted some time in 2019 so she was concerned that if she replaced her car in March she would end up with a discontinued model in a year or so.

We researched the E Pace, the Q3 and the VW Tiguan. However a late contender, the Volvo XC40 popped up and after securing a fantastic deal we have ordered a new XC40 First Edition, which should be with us in late March.

Built to challenge the market segment in which the Evoke sits it appears to be a very well thought out and put together piece of machinery. The purchase is subject to test drive as they haven’t yet hit the show rooms. The car that came in at second place was the VW Tiguan in R Line spec.

The thing that really struck us when we were visiting show rooms and researching was just how much the other dealerships wanted our custom when compared to walking into a Land Rover dealership where you are not an existing customer. The other thing which helped us decide was the price to change. We had a new Evoke priced up to replace Mrs Jim’s existing one and the Volvo XC40 came in just under £10,000 cheaper, with the VW just touching £11,000 less......... The First Edition has every bell and whistle imaginable so you can not even upspec it.

I think that Land Rover have lost the plot in the U.K. they simply can not carry on increasing the price of their vehicles whilst at the same time Quality Control and Customer Care continues to slide.

I will post up our thoughts about the XC40 after we have run it for a couple of months.

Jim

Last edited by jim4244 on Wed Jan 10 2018 3:05pm. Edited 1 time in total

how did you find the Tiguan, size wise? i keep getting a All Space version popping up on my social media, and keep thinking it might be a contender to the FL2, also the XC Volvos

The Tiguan was actually my favourite until the XC40 popped up.

With the 190hp 2L diesel it was very slightly quicker than the Evoke and more fuel efficient. Size wise there is room in the back to get 2 Labradors in without too much of a squeeze. The satnav / infotainment system beat the Evoke by miles......

The ride on the R Line is quite firm due to the tuned suspension and the larger wheels, but still very acceptable. VW will be releasing a new 1.5L turbo petrol engine which they intend to put in cars across their range. It should give mpg in the early 50’s with a 0 to 60 of around 7.5 seconds.

Jim

The really annoying thing was that we had been into the original supplying dealership and priced up a replacement Evoke, but the deal offered was quite poor. Carwow came in nearly £4000 better and this deal was offered by another local dealership.

Volvo gave us a trade in value on Mrs Jim’s car that was £1600 better than the Land Rover dealership who supplied the vehicle. How is that even possible?

Jim

I had similar findings with LR dealerships regarding trade in values and buying new pricing, even my normal source in London wasn’t as competitive as usual. I never got as far as BMW showroom (it is attached to the Mini showroom here.....) but partex offers, discounts and deals were all easier to do than at Land Rover. The local VW, Volvo, Mazda, Toyota and Renault dealerships are all part of the Arnold Clark empire and I will not do business withthem as they are a bunch of cowboys and I have found them impossible to do a deal with. The VW outlet were not prepared to allowing me a test drive of the Golf GTE PHEV or the EV Golf that they had in stock.......... I looked at the Mini, was welcomed like an old friend, tea or coffee sir, how can we help? I explained what I was after and immediately was offered a 48 hour test drive later that week and when I collected the car I was told have it for the week, I was given a full hand over when I collected it as if I had bought it and after my 4 days test I was sold and placed an order. I have since had emails every 10 days advising me of my order progress, invites to go and have a look around the facilities they have and more electronic brochures than you can shake a stick at - no wonder I never got through the glass wall into the BMW side of the franchise, there was no need! Also interesting at the Mini side was there were NO pre-reg cars on offer, there were ex demos And a huge selection of pre-owned cars but the BMW area had lots and lots of pre-reg 2, 3 and 4 series cars on offer at enticing discounts and immediate delivery and yesterday when I was in the Mini section I noticed that there were about 15 pre-reg i3’s on offer on the forecourt, I thought i3 was only built to order......... 2020 Pangea Green 1st Edition D240 New Defender 110 is here and loving it
2018 Melting Silver Mini Countryman PHEV - soon to be replaced
2015MY Corris Grey SDv6 HSE Dynamic, the best car I have ever owned, totally reliable only a cou0le of rattles in 3 years, now no longer in my care
Also in my garage is a 1996 TDi300 Defender 90 County HT made into a fake CSW

We are quite lucky as we have a good choice of dealerships in a 10 mile radius of where we live. The only ones we will not use are those run by the Vindis Group and who have a few VW and Audi dealerships. In past encounters we have found them to be arrogant and dismissive.

We found that all the rest were pretty decent. We ended up using Bells Volvo, Northampton, and dealt with a very nice lady named Dawn.

Jim

The XC40 looks great especially in 1st edition trim however I think its much smaller than an Evoque. More like the size of a 1 series 4x4 than a BMW X3. Will have to wait to see one in the flesh but certainly tempting at £40k fully loaded!

Mrs Jim is happy that she has made the right choice, especially as it was today named Car of the Year! 👍

Jim

saw my brothers newly collected XC40 First Edition yesterday, quite impressed with it when i had a look around

Very similar in size to my FL2, but maybe a little more length in the boot