After reconsidering the purchase of the new Civic (on the second visit we just didn't like it) we are now considering a V40 T4 new or a second hand V40 T5 with the 2.5 engine.

 

The T5 is appealing as the price is pretty good as they tend to drop quite heavily from new.  From that perspective we are not concerened about residual value but owning a car we like to drive.  Budget 2mil max.  Wife doesn't like the BMW mazda 3 lookalike.

 

Any complaints from members who own or have owned.  

 

It's the new CR-V or the above.

I would like a T5......

 

Only prob with Volvo is their cost of spares. I had a V6 Volvo, loved it, but replacement part costs were.........

Me too.

wife took the safe bet and went for the diesel CRV.  

The T5 we looked at was a 2014 V40 T5 R design.  1,045.000.  Only 35k miles.  

 

 

Super car, despite the spares prices.But a long time for spares to be needed if car is new. As good as the small mercs and beemers.

Great car, daily driving a T5 in Bangkok... 

 

Here is my feedback after more than 15.000 km

 

POSITIVE :

 

- Proper European sporty handling ( totally different from the outdated Jap plastic ecoboxes available here)

- Good looking exterior and interior design 

- Nicely assembled and good interior quality (marginally better than locally assembled BMW where you can spot some cheap plastic here and there)

- Faster than 99% of the overall Thai car population, pretty much like a Benz A250 and definitely better than the local BMW 3 series (320i and 320d)

- Relaxing driving experience both in the city traffic and upcountry as long as you don't use the Sport mode (it will start to kick like an old school turbo due to a different gearbox logic) 

- Cool TFT instrument cluster (better than Benz A-C and Bmw x1/x3 and 3 series) 

- good tech package (lane keeping, auto high beam, traffic signal reading, auto parking, collision auto braking, auto wipers, adaptive headlights ) 

- Great service and assistance (Scandinavian Auto Bangna)

 

NEGATIVE :

 

 

- Fuel consumption: average around 7-8 kml, highway around 10-11 but nothing more, having some fun it's not uncommon an average below 5 kml; she can be filled up with 95 or E20 but the latter is reducing the engine performance quite a lot... 

- Some basic optionals not available in Thailand ( shift paddles, sat nav, adaptive cruise)

- Not very user-friendly central console at least at the beginning and less visually appealing in terms of interface compared to Mercedes COMMAND or Bmw Idrive. 

 

 

Spare parts prices are higher than local Japanese but lower than BMW and Mercedes, in particular because plenty of components are still shared with Ford. 

 

I would definitely recommend one considering also that for the T5 version the price is pretty much the same as in Europe (around 45-50 EUR or 2 million THB) 

 

 

Forgot to update this as the wife backed out of the CRV and opted for the CX-5 recently.  She's holding out for the XC40, whatever the new small SUV is.

The XC40 should be a cool one, if the price is going to be in the range of 1.8-2.2 M.

 

Personally i will wait for the Plug-In Hybrid which will be probably release somewhere in 2019, if it's going to be like the XC60 T6 it will be definitely fun to drive...