Anyone care to share their opinions on the two shortlisted? I like both, would probably keep around 3 years, and go for Petrol over Diesel. Any personal experiences, good or bad, of either model very welcome.
Many thanks to all.
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Haven't driven the volvo but not long after they came out i had to deliver an X-Type to a customer. It was a 3.0 V6 Manual in sport spec and the journey from Telford to Aberystwyth was a really great drive.
Isn't the V50 based upon the new focus whereas the X-type is based on the mondeo platform?
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Interior and exterior size (to my eye anyway...!) seems virtually the same. I knew the X Type shared its platform with Mondeo, however the V50's bloodline I know little about.
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I know the S40 shares it's underpinnings with the focus - just have a look at an S40 and a new focus saloon, they do look quite similar.
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I've tried only the diesel version of both, and the Jaguar was about 3 years ago - but for what it's worth....
Jaguar:
Excellent ride and handling
Diesel noisy (so go for the petrol as you suggest)
Gearchange OK but very heavy and fierce clutch
Seats not as comfortable as they looked
Some poor finish where they think you won't look
Volvo:
Quite responsive and refined (different Ford engine I think from the X-type)
Very good seats but driving position spoilt by no rest for left foot (Ford's influence no doubt)
Expensive, and my overriding feeling is that it didn't do anything that a Skoda Octavia couldn't do for several thousand pounds less.
Unfortunately neither of the cars on your list holds its value very well. An A4 Avant, a 320i or even an Octavia would do better in this and (in my view) other respects, but I presume you've discounted them in making your list.
Edited as per your now deleted post - PU
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Seats not as comfortable as they looked
wife has X Type diesel est 2 yrs old, SE trim.....regularly do long trips and despite the beginnings of lower back pain when i sit too long on a hard chair etc......have not had a problem at all from the car seats.......'er indoors curls up with a blanket and pillow and goes to sleep when we go on the furthest trips, so they can't be that bad.
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Thanks for the replies. Depreciation not too much of a factor, as will be buying 1 year old or so anyway and holding on to for at least another three. Any more feedback welcome.
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I bought a new V50 diesel last October. Coincidentally, 6 weeks previously my friend got an X-type 2.2 diesel estate. I seem to recall that the Jag cost more, and offered less power, one less cylinder, and a manual gearbox, whereas I got the 2.4 D5 geartronic for less ££.
Can't really comment on the petrol-engined equivalent models, although I have read somewhere that neither the Volvo 1.8 nor the 2.4 petrol engines are especially rapid or frugal? Most used V50s out there seem to be 2.0 diesels.
The V50 itself has been faultless, with a more modern interior than the Jag IMHO. V50 has been Volvo's best seller for a while now, so you should find quite a stock to choose from.
The Jag is a lot harder to find isn't it?
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My only opinion on the V50 is that it's like a 'reverse Tardis' - looks big enough on the outside, but once inside seems to be rather less so. Strangely enough, I don't get the same impression with the Focus.
S6 1SW
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My impression (as one who owns an S60 and has tried most of the rest of the Volvo range) is that the people in the front seats do very nicely in any Volvo, even the gorgeous little C30. Once those two have what they want, though, other people and luggage have to make do with what's left. A V70 will take luggage, an S80 adults in the rear; the V50 doesn't really manage either (even the just-superseded V70 is tight in the back seat.)
The V50 strikes me as perfectly pleasant but - for all the puff at its launch if it being a 'proper' Volvo estate, with the third window longer than the second - it strikes me as a marketing creation that promises more than it delivers. But then, that doesn't seem to have put people off buying the Audi A4 Avant, and the V50 seems to be doing well too.
Haven't tried the X-type, beyond one brief ride in a colleague's saloon. You'd have to be a big fan of the mock-Tudor look (which, as I may have mentioned elsewhere, I'm not) to prefer one to a Mondeo.
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I bought a new V50 diesel last October. Coincidentally 6 weeks previously my friend got an X-type 2.2 diesel estate. I seem to recall that the Jag cost more and offered less power one less cylinder and a manual gearbox whereas I got the 2.4 D5 geartronic for less ££.
Though the 2.2 Jag is stonking due to 400nm torque.
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Regarding the seats in X type, try the cloth, rather than leather, 1/2 leather. You'll find these more of an improvement.
Interior is not too generous, either.
It'd be my choice!!
VB
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To be honest the S40/V50's look weird to me... they're tiny looking things
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To add to WDB's comments above, I had an S60 before I got the V50. The rear seat area of the V50 feels more spacious than the S60 did, partly no doubt due to the taller roofline, and in my case a light interior replacing a black one.
Although very comfy, the front seats of the V50 are definitely smaller than the S60's though, and overall the car does feel smaller when you're behind the wheel.
Boot space is obviously better than the S60, provided you're prepared to load up to the roof and lose your rearward vision.
Someone told me the Jag looks like the old Volvo V40..?!
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