[stan]

We've been waffling between the Mercedes GLC Coupe and the XC 40. With either vehicle we decided to go with the overseas delivery program. Yesterday we drove both vehicles and carefully debated the virtues of each. And while both are excellent vehicles, what finally swung our decision towards the XC40 was the color options (we'll go with the Amazon Blue with the White Roof) and the comfort of the Volvo seats. We've previously owned 3 Volvo's and 2 Mercedes and found that the Volvo is more comfortable for long trips. The Mercedes seats are good for the first couple hundred miles, but after that we found ourselves squirming trying to find the most comfortable seating positions. With the Volvo's we were never overly impressed when we first sat in them, but after hundreds of miles into a trip we found that they were still very comfortable. And Volvo's are made for high speed cruising. I had a Volvo 240, the overweight, under powered lead sled when we lived in Germany. It never impressed anyone with it's acceleration, however, on the Autobahn you could slowly climb up to 90 MPH and stay there for hours, with just a little of your throttle remaining for emergencies. And at that speed it was comfortable, handled well and we always felt safe and under control. We expect no less from the XC 40 (T5 AWD).

Our disappointments with the Volvo is that we could only get the color we wanted in the Momentum, and then we couldn't get the upholstery color that we really wanted. It's a shame that we had to make these compromises, but overall I believe we'll be very happy with our choice. We also would have preferred a standard transmission, but almost no one provides a standard transmission on new vehicles sold in the US any more.

Our plans are to order the car this coming Monday. We're planning on taking delivery in October and then spending the next two weeks driving to Lithuana, then down through Germany (where we've lived), then over to Beaune, France, and either down to northern Italy (where we've also lived) or over to Spain and Portugal (where we've never visited). And hopefully we'll have time to make a quick trip to England to visit old friends and probably ship the car out of England to California.

This is an excellent way to revisit Europe and saving through the Overseas Delivery Program will help cover the cost of our two week vacation in Europe. If anyone is interested I'll post the results of our experience with this program, and I'm sure that my wife will thoroughly document the whole process and our travels on Facebook.

 

[Goldfish]

Hi there, lovely travel plan and wonderful vehicle. I like the Amazon blue colour especially with the white roof. I am not Keen on the white wheels though. When I ordered my XC40 in February that colour was no longer available. I am in England. I will have a r-design in glacier silver, a new colour replacing the bright silver. There are other new colour please check their availability. I will post pictures of mine after I got it. Have fun.

 

[amycvolvoxc40]

Make sure you do the factory tour in Gothenburg. It is really interesting. Since there were no direct flights from Cincinnati and would have to connect through Stockholm, they were wonderful with letting us visit in Stockholm for three days and then flew us into Gothenburg. We drove the car up to Oslo and then returned it back to Gothenburg. We took the train down to Copenhagen (though I do not recommend it) they would have flown us there too. And we spent a few days in Copenhagen. We took delivery of my XC40 R design at the end of September last year, but did not receive the car until Christmas. I cannot speak highly enough of our experience with overseas delivery. I am trying to talk my husband into a Volvo so we can go back and drive south.

 

[Crestwood]

I couldn't agree more. Our experience in Sweden with Volvo was outstanding. The factory tour was fascinating. I only wish I could speak so highly of my experience with our local Volvo dealership. It's been a nightmare start to finish.

 

[eVolved]

I couldn't agree more. Our experience in Sweden with Volvo was outstanding. The factory tour was fascinating. I only wish I could speak so highly of my experience with our local Volvo dealership. It's been a nightmare start to finish.

Keep trying different dealers if you can. It can be hard and might be why Toyota/Lexus dealers do so well, there's lots of them, and that creates competition that ultimately benefits consumers. Volvo dealers don't face nearly as much pressure. Different management can make a big difference.