The information on the display showed the charge rate in a number of ways, including a miles per hour figure showing the range being obtained.  At this charger it was showing a rate of 140+mph, which looked pretty impressive. 

However, a couple of days later we used the Instavolt chargers next to the Costa coffee shop at Solstice Park, on the outskirts of Amesbury, and were achieving a rate of 222+mph.  There were two chargers at this location and one was already being used when we arrived.  A car was parked in the (non-charging) parking space next to the space in front of the other charger, and I was able to reverse into the space and commence a charge.  However, the space was very tight and it was quite a job manoeuvring the cable around the car and plugging it in.  It struck me that if it was an effort for me as a large, but essentially able-bodied, man, it would be virtually (or totally) impossible for a disabled driver, especially a wheelchair user.

It really does seem that the providers of these services need to do more to make them accessible.

Interior Space

Prior to the XC40 being delivered, a friend of mine had commented that he had been loaned one recently whilst his XC60 was in for a service.  He opined that the XC40 was really quite small and showed concern as to how I would cope with it.

He shouldn’t have worried.  Whilst I am a big chap, I found the car to be quite spacious and comfortable.  It obviously isn’t as large as the XC60 and XC90, but I didn’t feel more cramped that I had felt in the V60 I drove a couple of months earlier.

There is plenty of head room, even for a six foot lump like me, and the seat had loads of adjustment to ensure the comfort of the driver.  It isn’t a large car, perhaps, but we still didn’t have any issues when we gave a lift to my daughter and her 6ft+ boyfriend.

The sense of space was improved with the inclusion of a double length panoramic roof, the front part of which also retracts allowing some fresh air motoring; very apt given the lack of tail-pipe emissions.

The boot is a decent size, but not quite cavernous.  It did manage to a large cool box, which was plugged in to keep the contents cold on the journey, bags, crates, a bottle bag for a dozen bottles of wine and other (non-alcoholic) beverages, a laptop bag and the case containing my CPAP machine.  I’m sure that, with better planning, I could have fitted more in too.

The ‘frunk’ offers up more space, but this would typically just be the place to store the two charge cables that the Volvo is provided with.

The Towing Test

The V60 T6 Hybrid I had tested previously had a button to push when reversing up to the tow bar, which focussed the camera on assisting the placing of the tow ball under the hitch.  The XC40 did not have this and it was only a few days later that I realised the were options to change the camera to one that allows you to see the tow ball.  That said, I still had no problems in getting the car hooked up.

The lack of adjustable air suspension and the relatively high height of the car did lead to me slightly grounding the rear of the caravan as I drove off the sloped driveway and this did lead to me looking at alternative options when I came back a few days later.

Having successfully navigated off my driveway and out of the close where we live, we headed onto the A343 to Salisbury.  The XC40 towed with ease and it certainly did not feel at all strained.  It pulled the caravan with ease and never felt underpowered or slow.

I did have cars queueing behind me as I drove through Salisbury at 30mph, but when we reached the national speed limit roads and I accelerated up to 50mph they disappeared into the distance behind me.  The beauty of electric motors is the absence of a ‘power band’, or needing to get the revs up in order to accelerate.  Just push the quiet pedal and the speed increase quickly, even with almost one and a half tons of caravan behind you!

There were some roads surfaces that caused a feeling of almost lurching down the road, but I have experienced something similar, albeit to a lesser extent, when towing with my Audi A6 Allroad and can’t be sure this was entirely an issue with the tow vehicle.  It is likely that this would be less pronounced if the UK's roads weren't so poorly kept.

There were parts of the journey where we encountered heavy traffic, crawling around the inner ring road in Salisbury towards the notorious roundabout junction with Southampton Road.  Towing in such conditions can be trying, but no so in the XC40.  Progress was smooth and controlled.  Whilst it is obviously important to retain focus on the road, the Volvo’s driver assistance does keep the car (and the caravan behind it) moving along with the traffic, adjusting the speed and bringing us to a halt when necessary.  A slight push on the accelerator, when safe to proceed, instructs the car to resume progress.  This takes a lot less effort than towing in similar circumstances with my usual tow car and, as a result, isn’t as stressful or tiring.

The car can be configured to operate on a ‘one pedal’ basis, which is something I had selected on the first day, and this applies equally when towing.

During the whole journey to the campsite, I felt the need to use the brake pedal just one time; when a post office van slowed quicker than I expected, turning into a car park ahead of the roundabout where I had thought they were turning.  It’s quite possible that the car would have coped with this purely from the throttle being released completely, but it wasn’t worth taking that risk.

We arrived safely and happily at the site near Fordingbridge and I found that I had used 22% of the battery in getting there.  On a like for like comparison, there was an increase of about 85% in the energy consumed when towing.  If this were typical of the impact of towing, then the car’s stated maximum range of 250 miles would be reduced to 137.5 miles.  I had not made any effort to drive economically when towing to the site, having accelerated swiftly (rather than hard) frequently to see how the car coped with increasing speeds, both from standstill and from 30mph to 50mph.  It may therefore be possible to beat these figures.

I should also mention that the 250 mile stated range is beatable.  Based upon my return trip from Alderholt to Andover, where I covered 29.5 miles and used 10% of the battery’s capacity, it is possible to get closer to 300 miles range from the Volvo and, using similarly gentle driving, it might therefore be possible to achieve a range of 150 to 165 miles whilst towing a 1,450kg caravan.

The return trip home from the caravan site, after what was a lovely long weekend, was plagued with travel disruptions.  The first diversion happened in Fordingbridge, where the road through the town to the main road to Salisbury was closed.  I instead headed in the other direction on the A338, towards Ringwood, with Google Maps trying to get me to use some rather small roads as a means to turn back.  As the system had not been configured to take account of the Venus caravan being pulled behind me, I elected not to take turns into what appeared to be narrow roads leading to small and, probably, difficult to navigate villages.

I did try turning round by pulling in at the Old Beams Inn and using the exit of the car park into Mockbeggar Lane as a means to effect a u-turn, but an HGV driver on a mandated break (which I obviously had no issue with) left me insufficient room to safely undertake the manoeuvre.  So I continued onto Ringwood and decided to see it as encouragement to test the Volvo as a tow car on the dual carriageways and motorways that would lead me home.

The XC40 coped admirably with these roads and I was able to move along at the reduced speed limit applicable to cars towing caravans or trailers with absolute ease.  Surprisingly, even at such speeds, I found myself needing to pull out into the overtaking lane to pass slower moving cars and, less surprisingly, lorries.  This was handled without any struggle, even when the adaptive cruise control had slowed my pace down to 50-55mph.  As soon as I had indicated my intention to change lane and started the manoeuvre, the Volvo increased the speed safely back to the pre-set 60mph and I was able to overtake the slower moving vehicles before resuming my place in the normal driving lane.

The SatNav suggested I turn off the M27 very soon after continuing onto it from the A31 and I, wrongly, assumed this was just trying to get me back onto the more direct routes along the more minor A roads, rather than the long loop around the more major routes.  So, I stuck with the M27 and then the M3, even after Google Maps tried diverting me off at nearly every junction.  The traffic got slower and slower and I really should have got the message earlier.  Truth told, I was simply enjoying the ease of towing the caravan along the major routes, even if the progress was sedate… at best.

I eventually turned off into Winchester and took on the one way system from Bar End, through the city centre and out on the Andover Road.  I’m sure this was the least sensible option, but it again showed how easy it was to tow with the all electric SUV in different environments.

Overall, I would say that the Volvo surpassed my expectations as a tow car.  But that would not be to say that it was without fault.  I did mention earlier the tendency for the car to lurch a bit over some road surfaces, something that may have been made worse by the use of cruise control.  The car would also benefit from adjustable suspension; or at least I would have benefited from it.  Getting the caravan off my drive caused some grounding at the rear and being able to lower the suspension would have enabled me to reverse the van back onto the driveway.  After an aborted attempt to use the motor mover, during which the pneumatic jockey wheel exploded, I ended up having to use the Allroad to get it back in its position in front of my garage.