Speccing out an XC60

[snowjoke]

Hi folks, I'm thinking of buying one of these beasts... any thoughts on the following - am I missing anything major or any options unnecessary?

XC50 S (I don't need most of the extras in the SE and Lux)
D5 AWD
Manual (could be tempted by automatic but fuel economy is significantly worse + lower acceleration)
Terra Bronze paint
Sunroof
Beige/Expresso leather upholstery (looks nice. Cheaper option would be the Eriksberg textile - is this any good?)
Nordic Light Oak trim
Heated front seats
Sandstone Beige steering wheel and knob? (Free option; can't see any pictures of this, so not sure how it looks)

£31,890

[Teejay1]

Originally Posted by snowjoke

Hi folks, I'm thinking of buying one of these beasts... any thoughts on the following - am I missing anything major or any options unnecessary?

XC50 S (I don't need most of the extras in the SE and Lux)
D5 AWD
Manual (could be tempted by automatic but fuel economy is significantly worse + lower acceleration)
Terra Bronze paint
Sunroof
Beige/Expresso leather upholstery (looks nice. Cheaper option would be the Eriksberg textile - is this any good?)
Nordic Light Oak trim
Heated front seats
Sandstone Beige steering wheel and knob? (Free option; can't see any pictures of this, so not sure how it looks)

£31,890

I think we are going to plump for leather but the SE material grows on you. If our car gets to expensive we might drop the leather and go the Eriksberg.

[Jack_of_all]

can recommend the beige/esspresso with the beige wheel/knob.
we got the alu centre consol and it all works really well.

everyone who sees it makes comment that it looks good.

i think it woudl look odd with the black wheel.

[UKDave]

I would recommend the SE Lux, you will miss the extras, no matter what you think.

Have you thought about buying a lightly used one. I got mine at several thousand pounds less than you quote, with only 2K miles on it. Look at my sig to see the spec !

[pbeecroft]

if you are going for heated seats, may as well go for the winter pack, headlamp wash and very nice carpet mats in addition to heated seats.

[XC60nick]

That's the kind of support that really helps, by the time we've all finished he'll have ticked every extra option available,

My advice is upgrade to some kind of sytling pack, may as well get the RDesign which looks great with 20" alloys....

Bi xenons which look around corners come as part of extended winter pack...

I'll leave any other options to the next poster, but of course you'll be ticking the sat nav and dab options too.....

[XC60nick]

By the way the price quoted seems quite high, have you haggled any yet? Or have you just taken list prices? Try drive the deal as a guide to what you should be paying...

What waiting time have you been quoted?

[Sandy379]

Originally Posted by XC60nick

By the way the price quoted seems quite high, have you haggled any yet? Or have you just taken list prices? Try drive the deal as a guide to what you should be paying...

What waiting time have you been quoted?

Before you upgrade your alloys (having just traded in an Alfa 159 SW with 19 inch low profiles at £250 a pop), bear in mind, bigger often = harder ride, less traction in mud and snow (even with Q4 AWD drive this is true, trust me) and a lot more expensive to replace.

[snowjoke]

Originally Posted by Jack_of_all

can recommend the beige/esspresso with the beige wheel/knob.
we got the alu centre consol and it all works really well.

everyone who sees it makes comment that it looks good.

i think it woudl look odd with the black wheel.

Thanks, I've just seen some pics in Volvo's online brochure showing the beige steering wheel and it looks very nice.

Originally Posted by UKDave

I would recommend the SE Lux, you will miss the extras, no matter what you think.

Can't miss what I've never had? I don't mind paying a bit extra for things I'll actually use, but there are definitely things I wouldn't use on the SE Lux. I haven't done a detailed price comparison though.

Have you thought about buying a lightly used one. I got mine at several thousand pounds less than you quote, with only 2K miles on it. Look at my sig to see the spec !

Yep, I've had a quick look at used ones... they don't seem to lose much value do they? All around 25-32k even with 15k miles on the clock. Sounds like you got a good deal on yours. Worth considering but it would be quite nice to have it in the exact colour and trim etc that I want.

Originally Posted by pbeecroft

if you are going for heated seats, may as well go for the winter pack, headlamp wash and very nice carpet mats in addition to heated seats.

I thought about this... I think it's about £250 more for the headlamp wash + heated windscreen nozzles + mats. I have never needed a headlamp washer in my life, but my nozzles froze this winter so that might be worthwhile, although I'm not sure I'd volunteer £250 to stop them freezing, which is why I hesitate.

[snowjoke]

Originally Posted by XC60nick

My advice is upgrade to some kind of sytling pack, may as well get the RDesign which looks great with 20" alloys....

I've never seen the point of paying hundreds of extra £ for wheels that basically look the same, and in the case of 20" alloys are less functional...

Bi xenons which look around corners come as part of extended winter pack...

No no no! This is precisely the kind of useless option I don't want to waste £500 on.

I'll leave any other options to the next poster, but of course you'll be ticking the sat nav and dab options too.....

Sat nav looks very expensive so I might stick with my TomTom. Could be tempted by DAB although it seems you have to get the whole upgraded sound system, so again it's not cheap.

Originally Posted by XC60nick

By the way the price quoted seems quite high, have you haggled any yet? Or have you just taken list prices? Try drive the deal as a guide to what you should be paying...

What waiting time have you been quoted?

Just took the list price from the Volvo website - haven't visited a dealer. I had a look at Drive the Deal, and they quoted £25,660 for this spec, + £2350 if you don't part exchange a car, + £750 if you don't use Volvo finance. Not clear how much these bonuses are worth until I hear how much they'd give me for my old car and what the terms of finance are, so ignoring them brings the quote to £28,760, which is still quite a bit off list price.

I hear rumours on these boards about a 2010 model being somewhat different spec? I also saw a video on YouTube's XC60 channel which talked about the new 2010 XC60 with hill descent control as standard etc, but this might have been for the American market.