Test drive?

[cootuk]

Anyone been for a test drive yet?

[stevew]

>Anyone been for a test drive yet?

I drove a V50 SE T5 auto around Rutland Water last week after being invited by Marshall's of Melton (formerly TMS).

It handles nicely, and the engine has bags of power as you'd expect, but the auto box doesn't do it justice. There is also a very annoying 1 second delay before the engine picks up after pressing the throttle. This happens while pulling away from a dead stop, so is particularly annoying when pulling out of a junction. I guess this is the fault of the auto box though, strangely, kick-down works fine.

From the outside, it's a handsome car. However, I wasn't overly keen on the interior. The centre console display/controls can be quite distracting to use while driving.

That said, I spoke to several people at the event who absolutely loved it.

Anyway, the afternoon out wasn't in vain; in about 4 hours I'm swapping my V40 2.0 for a V70 SE D5 after driving one there. :-)

Cheers, Steve