[Mike911SC]

Picking up our new XC-40 at the factory in Gothenburg on 19-March following a few days enjoying Stockholm before taking a train across to Gothenburg. We had hoped to pick up our XC-40 at the factory in Ghent, Belgium where it is actually manufactured but unfortunately Volvo only offers factory deliveries at its main factory in Gothenburg. Still cool nonetheless as it includes a lot of personal attention and hand holding with a factory rep walking you through all of the car's many features.

https://www.volvocars.com/intl/cars/volvo-factory-delivery-experience

After completing the delivery, we will immediately swap out the factory Continental summer tires for a set of all-weather Nokian WRG3 SUV tires. Unfortunately, no all-season or all-weather option was available from Volvo in Europe but found a great tire dealer in Gothenburg http://www.th-pettersson.se/en who agreed to take the Continental's in partial trade toward the Nokians.

Once we have the new tires fitted, we will drive south before entering Denmark and spending a few days in Copenhagen. Then it will be south again to the coast and a ferry across to Germany where we will end the day in Berlin spending another couple of relaxing days enjoying the city. The next three days will include three short jaunts onward to Prague for a night, followed by a night in Bratislava before arriving at our home in Budapest, Hungary.

We have waited a long time for the XC-40 to finally hit the market and can hardly wait for the next two weeks to pass before starting our little adventure. If you are interested in what we bought, below is a link to a post I did several months ago after ordering our XC-40. Hope you are all as happy as we are with your new purchase once it arrives.

http://www.xc40forum.com/forum/55-volvo-xc40-ordering-purchasing/875-your-new-xc-40-a.html

 

[revolvo]

Congrats on taking delivery soon! Shame it's not closer, but that just gives you an excuse to road trip in the XC40 instead of just driving around the neighborhood. IT will be an amazing break in period for you. Maybe a future road trip review from you on this forum?

 

[Kalvin]

Looks like you're going to be one of the first owners of the XC40 on this forum, looking forward to reading your impressions. Though from what I was able to see at the CIAS, I know you wont be disappointed. Volvo has also indicated that they have plans for a hybrid variant down the line. Love that it comes in a manual transmission and I'm eager to test drive it.

 

[Mike911SC]

On 19-March this American and his Serbian girlfriend will pick up our Swedish car manufactured in Belgium and subsequently fitted with Finnish (Nokian) tires manufactured in Russia. We will then make stops in Denmark, Germany, including East Berlin, then on to Prague in the Czech Republic, followed by a stop in Bratislava in Slovakia, ending our journey home to Budapest in late March.

We will definitely provide you guys with a thorough review of the XC-40 once we have it in our hands. The overall trip from Gothenburg to Budapest is just under 1600km which will give us plenty of time to get to know the car and provide a review over varying conditions. We will cover the distance over a period of 8 days with the longest run planned being roughly 300km. The majority of the others are between 150-200km with city driving in each of the major cities along the way.

It should be a fun trip. All of our reservations have been made, parking locations confirmed and GPS coordinates all laid out. All we need now is an intro to our new car and off we go. More to follow in about two weeks.

 

[rsbcopydr]

My wife and I picked up ours on March 20. We were kind of disappointed with our Volvo rep at the factory, however, the journey to Oslo, Copenhagen and back to Kaiserslautern Germany took care of the disappointment. The vehicle is absolutely amazing!

 

[Grayhawk]

Was hoping for the rest of your trip. Fill us in on the good and the not so good.

thanks

 

[stan]

Mike, my wife and I plan on using this procedure to purchase our XC40 next summer so we would appreciate hearing anything that you care to share about the process, pros and cons? Also, when I showed my wife the picture of your car she fell in love with the color combination. Great choice.

As an aside, I lived in Hungary (Taszar) for about a year in 1999 as part of the US Peacekeeping force for the Balkans. I loved traveling to Budapest, and especially enjoyed the friendliness of the Hungarians, and how far the US dollar went. If you have a chance to drop me a line to let me know what you think of your car now I'd appreciate it.

Stan
[email protected]

 

[Grayhawk]

We would still welcome a report on your trip and your evaluation of the car, delivery process, and anything else that would be helpful prospective overseas delivery customers. Thanks.