XE Vs S60 Vs ..?

[macron]

250ps ish petrols, XE can be had around 2018 I think in the 25t trim, S60 seems later. T5. Any experience? Preference?

Post 2019 XE has a lovely steering wheel but the dash is pretty ugly, being quite a big slab of plastic. S60 has Volvo seats, which lets be fair you'll forgive a lot for.

Yes 3 series but dull, as is C class I'm afraid. Alfa G lovely but too easy to pinch.

C£20k, short, saloon, nippy but not daft tax or insurance, alternatives welcome!

[bobsavage789]

S60 is a very pleasant place to sit: the open-pore wood trim is an especially nice touch. Driving-wise, my wife and I despised the gearbox so much we sold it. A fun drive it is not. If practicality is a concern, we found that the folding rear seats were quite a rare option.

The XE on the other hand has some of the best suspension setups for a car at that price point, and the 25t is fairly brisk. If you’re that way inclined, why not look at the full fat XE S?

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202310042...

Again, if practicality is a consideration, the rear space is appalling on the XE.

Maserati Ghibli creeps into budget, though I haven’t read good reviews…

[macron]

XE S insurance is needlessly expensive for me over the 25t or the rare 30t, despite the rave reviews.

Maserati is too big for this job, it's more an XF/ E class competitor, but nice curve ball!

What was up with the Volvo gearbox and what engine did you have? The low power diesels seem to be v dimwitted, but I'd be after petrol so hoping that's better...

[Tinkermantony]

I was looking at all of these and settled on the f30 340i, purely for the engine and rear space relative to the XE.

Jag XE
- drove the 300 sport. thought it handled great and came specced with everything. More than quick enough. Negative was that it was small in the rear.
- XE S. Must be a lot of fun.

BMW 330i G20
- seem to be depreciating quickly so a lot of car for the money. Doesn't look much slower than a 340i on paper and has a much better interior. But I wanted the straight 6 sound

BMW 340i
- I went for this. With the right spec it's a good all rounder.

Alfa Giulia
- would have got this if it didn't have niggly relay and battery issues and being easy to steal

Volvo S60
- luxurious inside but slow and uneconomical.

Audi A4/A5 45tfsi black edition
- was tempted as it has the space and in black edition guise looks good. The in-car tech is also solid. Not the most fun to drive.
S4/S5 out of budget.

Mercedes c class
- good examples of a C300 were out of budget.

Peugeot 508 225
- looks great outside and in. Bad points is that it's slow and not sure about the electrics. Depreciating quick

Infiniti Q50 3.0t
- may be a nice left wing choice for someone. Quick car but has drive by wire steering. Didn't fill me with confidence

Good luck with your search. Glad people still want a sports saloon these days

[macron]

Top feedback, thank you so much!

You looked at some really interesting cars!

[bobsavage789]

macron said:

XE S insurance is needlessly expensive for me over the 25t or the rare 30t, despite the rave reviews.

Maserati is too big for this job, it's more an XF/ E class competitor, but nice curve ball!

What was up with the Volvo gearbox and what engine did you have? The low power diesels seem to be v dimwitted, but I'd be after petrol so hoping that's better...

We had a T5, so most powerful petrol-only power plant (I think). The gearbox was very dimwitted and slow to kick down, even in the sportiest setting. As mentioned above, the MPG was poor for the type of car: for comparison, our current 2019 Focus ST gets similar MPG, is faster and manual.

We test drove a Giulia Veloce, and it was a fabulous thing to drive. The technology on what was to be a daily driver was too far behind the times, unfortunately.