All are in addition to the Diesel and petrol versions also as a plug-in Hybrid available or at least announced. With the XC40 Recharge, Volvo now offers a part-time Stromer, the power of a lot different than the German cars. How well the overall package works, shows our Test .

The Swedes have solved things has always liked to be different – the Corona-crisis is only the most prominent example. Particularly spectacular examples are the car industry: Saab was the first manufacturer to offer a Turbo engine in series production, Volvo built in the Era of round-cut aerodynamics of cars of the Eighties, extra sharp car with a particular safety claim, Koenigsegg builds today's Hyper-sports car with over 1,000 HP, and input-transmission or, for example, with a three-cylinder engine with 600 HP.

the Highest and widest car in the Segment

The XC40 offers less spectacular Extreme as more of the slightly different way: In the Compact-SUV, he is the shortest, but at the same time the widest and highest car. The frontal area of the Volvo, therefore, is not as big as the SUVs of the next higher class, the air resistance is correspondingly high, the overall proportions are striking and very independent.

The dimensions have, of course, the space in the interior: The feeling of space with the large head - and elbow-freedom is very good, and also in the second row, two adults comfortable, three seats still bearable. When the trunk of the shortness of Sweden does: With 450 litres of the gas variants offer a lot less than the German competitors, which have consistently well over 500 litres of storage volume. Because Volvo waived the XC40 Recharge on a four-wheel drive, and the Integration of a battery in the basic construction has already been taken into account, the disadvantage of the plug-in hybrid drive in a tie.

The processing and the materials in the Volvo are very high quality. The controls of cut glass (Fahrwähl-lever act) in the Compact-SUV, however, the extravagant to the wrong place.

EFAHRER / Moritz Diethelm EFAHRER three-cylinder combustion engine with oomph

When the drive is treading the Volvo a very own way: The Recharge plug-in hybrid (T4 and T5) are not available with all-wheel drive can be combined. In contrast to the BMW X1, in which the electric Motor sits on the rear axle, and Mercedes GLA, as well as the plug-in from VW group (the classic all-wheel-drive with Visco-clutch and cardan shaft for the rear axle), effect of nitro and electric Motor so exclusively to the front wheels. In the case of nominally 192 kW (262 HP), the traction problem to worry about. In practice, the high weight (1.9 tonnes) and the design of the actuator to ensure that the performance of self is dominate on a wet road, and dosing. Only when the Kickdown with full power to use the traction control engages noticeably in the steering Wheel a Tug is felt.

The internal combustion engine in the Volvo delivers a level of its own output: While the three-cylinder to generate otherwise, a maximum of 163 HP, bringing it to the specially tuned gas in the Hybrid to 180 HP. Turbo, typically the output is already at moderate speeds and because the three cylinders at the same speed to produce lower frequencies than the four-cylinder, the Volvo engine is purely acoustic already beefy. The electric Motor is doing Its part: Especially in "Power"mode in which both motors together, the drive reacts very directly to the accelerator pulses. The car makes really fun. In contrast to the BMW-plug-ins (the 2 series Active Tourer, X1, X2, Mini Countryman), in which the E-Motor without a gearbox drives the rear axle, the electric Boost up to maximum speed – in the test car by the way: 205 km/h, since the 1. May, newly-registered cars are restricted to 180 km/h.

The three-cylinder engine sounds and drives but only good (even if the specific three-cylinder sound is not Everyone's thing), he is also efficient. He puts on our highway test session, and we take the empty battery in the attack and we keep consistently (GPS-calibrated) speed of 130 km/h. The Volvo in this Test, a fuel consumption of 8.3 litres per 100 kilometres. For comparison: this is over a litre better than the Audi Q5 55 TFSIe with four-cylinder Turbo, and better aerodynamics.

In pure electric mode, the can not force, because the gas is used to substitute in the "Pure"driving mode sometimes even at part throttle, not convinced of the Volvo completely. The 60 kW, the E-machine range, of course, in city traffic to play the game. You want to achieve on a short highway, the speed limit section, so this can only be achieved with an eye on the power display in the Instrument cluster, which signals the limit for Switching the internal combustion engine.

in Pure electric drive will remain but only on short distances: the 12.2 kWh, we could load the maximum into the battery, enough for a maximum of 45 kilometres. When a highway section is the usable range on the round of 30 kilometers. When Charging, Volvo is relying on single-phase technology: At public charging stations, he draws a maximum of 7.4 kilowatts of power and needs so that scarce two hours to fully charge. To domestic wall-boxes, the performance is usually limited to 3,7 kW, which will take a full load approximately three and a half hours.

EFAHRER / Moritz Diethelm EFAHRER Infotainment and assistance systems

The Infotainment about the Central, vertically placed, a 10-inch Display is Standard on the Volvo (and the Polestar 1). Functions that can be used in travel, mostly to operate quickly and clearly, and Detail settings to hide however, sometimes deep in the nested menu. The real-time data of the Volvo navigation system can help have been disappointing. Who can, of anticipating the Google-Maps-Integration of the Polestar 2, he includes his cell phone by Android Auto or Apple Carplay.

In the case of assistance systems Volvo is no slouch and offers the full safety features of the larger models, that is: in addition to pedestrians, emergency braking, cross - traffic and Spurwarn wizard has the XC40 is also an adaptive cruise control that adjusts very smoothly and with foresight, the speed of the traffic and the restrictions.

conclusion: , The XC40 is a refreshing Alternative in the Compact SUV Segment. This is especially true for the plug-in Hybrid. Due to the efficient engine, is even at the consumption of competitive, although it has by its size and the largest air resistance of the class. The crucial hook at the Volvo lurking in the Configurator: The price. As a T5, the Volvo will cost at least 50,000 euros. He surpasses the comparable BMW X1 25e round of 5,000 euros – the latter offers standard all-wheel drive and a more usable electric mode with more power. For Volvo Fans will not need to turn around the Euro, the XC40 but it is a good choice.

*The post "Volvo XC40 Recharge T5 in the Test: The can released, the compact plug-in SUV from Sweden" is of EFAHRER.com. Contact with the executives here.

Date Of Update: 09 June 2020, 10:27