Volvo XC90 Plug in

[hartley]

Anybody got one/got one on order ?

[Inverness]

Nobody should have one yet as they keep on putting back the delivery date, the last dealer I spoke to back in August said they might get their demo in December but customers would be lucky to see one in Jan 2016.

We are very intrested in one but due to the delays we will wait to compare it with the Audi Q7, Mercedes ML and BMW X5 Plug-in versions (all due 2016).

[dabooga79]

Just confirmed my order for one today. Delivery date has been given as 13th April 2016 but been advised by the dealer this may change due to the long list of options I've chosen.

They had a T6 in the showroom in the same exterior & interior colours that I ended up choosing as it looked stunning, the interior is fabulous! I went in to the dealer expecting to spec up an R-Design but the Inscription with the exterior styling kit looked fantastic & changed my mind there & then.

Spec confirmed as:

Inscription
Osmium Grey
21" 8 spoke diamond cut wheels
Blond Nappa contoured (sports) seats with charcoal mats
Walnut inlays
Winter pack (Heated steering wheel, washer jets, windscreen & front seats)
Family Pack (Integrated booster in middle seat, load net & power child locks)
Xenium Pack (360deg parking camera & park assist)
Homelink
Air suspension
Charge cable
BLIS
Tinted rear windows
Subwoofer
Exterior colour styling kit with running board

Also got a V8 Mustang on order that is expected in March so I can hopefully keep my PH card

[TUS373]

Dare I ask what that little package adds up to?

How many miles a year do you expect to do? Persona;/company purchase, or a lease deal?

[dabooga79]

I am buying the car outright through my Company in order to get 100% Capital allowances.

The car cost is showing a smidge over £75k but this appears to be before any Government EV grant, I am awaiting confirmation on this.

The personal cost to me in 2016/17 will be about £225 p/m including private fuel so not bad for a £75k car!

[oop north]

dabooga79 said:

The personal cost to me in 2016/17 will be about £225 p/m including private fuel so not bad for a £75k car!

Err, ignoring the reduction in available income that is - so the total cost's a lot higher. I considered getting one but the monthly depreciation / repayment on a loan (with balloon at the end) oven over 4 years was coming out at £1k per month. More importantly, though, I couldn't believe the appalling tyre noise on the D5 I tested

[dabooga79]

I appreciate the actual physical monthly cost of the car is massively greater then the personal cost to me but I'm in a lucky position in that I have plenty of cash reserves within my Company so I see it as a fairly tax friendly way of taking more earnings out of the business.

Don't forget also that a decent proportion of the Company tax bill for the year will be wiped out by the purchase so all I'm doing is re-directing cash that would be paid to HMRC into subsidising a vehicle I can use & enjoy. I appreciate I'm in a rather unusual position though.

[BBYeah]

Have you a rough estimate of how much you're saving in total off the 75k via the tax offsetting? It's something I've vaguely considered but don't quite understand it all and the savings available. I also might try it on a cheaper car like a Passat GTE!

[TUS373]

Sounds like a good plan for tax efficiency. I still can't quite believe where car prices have got to recently though - I must be getting old. It was not long ago that £35K would buy a really nice car. We are now talking double that for a Volvo SUV. Admittedly, even a Golf can be north of £30K (well, until a fortnight ago at least ). I am opting for the new Lexus RX coming out next year, and even that is in the £50-60K bracket. However, I specced up a nice Tesla Model S 85D with options, and that came out at £73K. Not really comparable to an XC90, but an interesting and capable alternative for the same budget.

[Inverness]

TUS373 said:

Sounds like a good plan for tax efficiency. I still can't quite believe where car prices have got to recently though - I must be getting old. It was not long ago that £35K would buy a really nice car. We are now talking double that for a Volvo SUV. Admittedly, even a Golf can be north of £30K (well, until a fortnight ago at least ). I am opting for the new Lexus RX coming out next year, and even that is in the £50-60K bracket. However, I specced up a nice Tesla Model S 85D with options, and that came out at £73K. Not really comparable to an XC90, but an interesting and capable alternative for the same budget.

No not getting old, it seems that they took the big crash in 2007 to really hike up the prices from 2010. the New Golf R Estate starts at £33k before any extras!
We also looked at the Tesla Model S 85D with the extra seats in the boot. Very nice car inside, ammazing tech but will they be easy to sell on after 2 or 3 years with 40 of 60 thousand miles on the clock? Plus they don't look "special" (for a £73K) they look like an Audi A7 or Mazda 6, very plain Jane!

[dabooga79]

BBYeah said:

Have you a rough estimate of how much you're saving in total off the 75k via the tax offsetting? It's something I've vaguely considered but don't quite understand it all and the savings available. I also might try it on a cheaper car like a Passat GTE!

I find this HMRC guide good at explaining the tax savings available https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploa...

One thing I realised when speaking to the dealer this afternoon is that any government EV grant is not included in the figures so hopefully the cost could be reduced by up to £5k. The existing grant is £5k for any hybrid vehicle with CO2 emissions below 75g/km but the funding will apparently run out for this within the next few months however there is talk of a tiered system to replace it going forward. Does anyone know whether the grant is available to be secured from the order date or is it based on the delivery date? My dealer was going away to find out.

[kryten22uk]

Inverness said:

We also looked at the Tesla Model S 85D with the extra seats in the boot. Very nice car inside, ammazing tech but will they be easy to sell on after 2 or 3 years with 40 of 60 thousand miles on the clock?

Model S comes with a 3 year buy-back guarantee, at 50% of original value. So a bit like a PCP really, except that the GMFV is actually sensible.