Volvo XC40 Recharge vs Skoda Enyaq

[48k]

I'm thinking of changing my XTrail T31 this year which is getting a bit long in the tooth and starting to generate some expensive garage bills. Also my journey profile (mostly short journeys with a smattering of 200 mile round trips, 5-6000 miles per year even before lockdown) is really killing the diesel engine.
I've been doing some research on a full leccy or hybrid replacement and a couple of front runners in my list are the XC40 Recharge and the Enyaq. Not looking to load the new car with a bazillion options but it does need to carry a dog crate for two sizable dogs, needs leather, sat nav, parking sensors/camera and a tow bar for my bike carrier.
Just wondering if anyone owns either car or is going through a similar search? I scratched off things like Merc GLE and iPace for racking up the £££s as soon as you put options on, and things like the eNiro and Lexus NX are too small in the boot mainly because of the heavily raked rear window.
Anyone got any thoughts / suggestions?

Edited by 48k on Friday 14th May 10:16

[pmanson]

Slightly different car but I've had an XC90 T8 Hybrid for the last 14 months and 10k miles.

It replaced an XC90 D5 which I had for 2.5 years and 27k miles.

Driving profile had changed to working from home and then in Nov 20 to a 12 mile round trip to the office.

D5. Around town 23mpg, long journey late 30s to early 40s mpg. Average 29mpg and declining (previous role the office commute was a 24 mile round trip and a far amount of business miles).

The T8 has the Polestar chip (435bhp).
Around town 150mpg, long journey we average around 26mpg and the average is 43mpg over the last 5k miles.

It's a very comfortable place to be, ours is the Inscription Pro so we've got massage seats, pano roof etc. It's worth upgrading from the basic stereo though.

I'm happy to take the mpg hit on the longer journeys for the flexibility around town on electric

[Evanivitch]

Don't think Enyaq have been delivered in the UK yet. Only a few ID4s too.

[SWoll]

No driven either but on paper the XC40 looks expensive, small and inefficient in comparison to the Skoda?

[jimKRFC]

What size dogs?

I tried the XC40 and really liked it, would have gone for it but it was the wifes turn to chose the company car, but the boot is pretty small.

Would a 530e Touring be in budget?

[48k]

jimKRFC said:

What size dogs?

Medium-large, biggest is just over 35kg. We have 4 but can only travel 2 at a time.

jimKRFC said:

I tried the XC40 and really liked it, would have gone for it but it was the wifes turn to chose the company car, but the boot is pretty small.

Would a 530e Touring be in budget?

I really like the XC40, looked at one a couple of years back, thought the boot was surprisingly big for the size of the car. Need to go to the dealers this weekend with a tape measure.

Really don't want an estate.

[Dave_Rich]

The Enyaq is bigger and cheaper.

I have a large dog and wouldn't consider the XC-40 as I think it's too small.

We currently have a XC-60 B5 Diesel and that is okay for size. I'm toying with the idea of chopping in my Audi A8 for a more dog friendly Enyaq/Q4Etron or IX3 as I don't carry the dog in my A8.

But parting with the A8 is not easy as it's so effortless to do long journeys in.

Part of the problem is I really don't know what my usage profile will look like post lockdown.

[Evanivitch]

Dave_Rich said:

The Enyaq is bigger and cheaper.

With the options list the OP has the Enyaq quickly goes up in price.

You could get the 60kWh, and even then you'd definitely want to option the 125kW charging. I worry a few lease cars will ignore this and the second hand market will be a minefield.

[48k]

Dave_Rich said:

The Enyaq is bigger and cheaper.

Definitely has a bigger boot, which is a big plus point. Not sure about cheaper. It seems to be a German car manufacturer "thing" to have really expensive options. For example, speccing up an Enyaq I can't just have a boggo towbar or even a removable one, my only choice is an electrically retractable one for £775. Mind you having said that, Lexus want over a grand to put a towbar on an NX

Reviews suggest the "battery heat pump" is a must-have which is £1005 - I assume this is to keep the battery at the optimum/most efficient temperature in winter ? Is it really a must have ? I'm quite new to the world of EVs so it's a bit of a learning curve.

[jodypress]

I've had an XC60 T5 Inscription Pro with a fee extra packs on. Lovely lovely place to be inside.
Plenty of space in boot.
I feel the XC40 will be too small for you and have a look at Volvo extras, soon adds up. Towbar is £1k if I remember.
I'm looking at EV for my next car later this year.

I've got Ionic 5 and Model Y on my list.

Have a look at the Ionic 5. Boot space is larger than the XC60 which surprised me..
Base model is £36k and top spec with all bells and whistles is under £50. Could be a real EV game changer.

[kambites]

48k said:

Reviews suggest the "battery heat pump" is a must-have which is £1005 - I assume this is to keep the battery at the optimum/most efficient temperature in winter ? Is it really a must have ? I'm quite new to the world of EVs so it's a bit of a learning curve.

The heat pump scavenges latent heat from the battery and uses it to warm or cool the cabin which makes the HVAC more efficient and keeps the battery cooler, both of which can help range a bit. On some cars it can also be used to heat or cool or the battery using ambient air (from outside the car), not sure how the MEB platform's heat pump is set up. You'll probably find it has a small but significant effect on range when the temperature is at either extreme.

ETA: The electric XC40 seems to start at £50k. Surely you're not managing to option up the Skoda to £50k? Plus a tow-bar on the Volvo is over a grand.

ETAA: You've got to add a £6750 option pack to get a heat pump on the Volvo! That makes it a near £60k car.

Edited by kambites on Friday 14th May 10:42

[Dave_Rich]

Evanivitch said:

Dave_Rich said:

The Enyaq is bigger and cheaper.

With the options list the OP has the Enyaq quickly goes up in price.

You could get the 60kWh, and even then you'd definitely want to option the 125kW charging. I worry a few lease cars will ignore this and the second hand market will be a minefield.

The Enyaq will still be cheaper and more to the point fit for purpose. The XC-40 is a small SUV.

We tried a XC-40 last year but went with the XC-60 as the 40 really is quite small.

[SWoll]

48k said:

Dave_Rich said:

The Enyaq is bigger and cheaper.

Definitely has a bigger boot, which is a big plus point. Not sure about cheaper. It seems to be a German car manufacturer "thing" to have really expensive options. For example, speccing up an Enyaq I can't just have a boggo towbar or even a removable one, my only choice is an electrically retractable one for £775. Mind you having said that, Lexus want over a grand to put a towbar on an NX

Reviews suggest the "battery heat pump" is a must-have which is £1005 - I assume this is to keep the battery at the optimum/most efficient temperature in winter ? Is it really a must have ? I'm quite new to the world of EVs so it's a bit of a learning curve.

It's considerably cheaper, smaller and has lower range. What you are losing is AWD and performance.

The XC40 always looked way overpriced to me at £53k+ options when you consider the Polestar 2 with AWD starts at £45k.

For your requirements I'd probably be looking at a lightly used Audi E-Tron and getting a towbar fitted. They start at £40k, have all the kit and are a big enough for your dogs no question.

kambites said:

48k said:

Reviews suggest the "battery heat pump" is a must-have which is £1005 - I assume this is to keep the battery at the optimum/most efficient temperature in winter ? Is it really a must have ? I'm quite new to the world of EVs so it's a bit of a learning curve.

The heat pump scavenges latent heat from the battery and uses it to warm or cool the cabin which makes the HVAC more efficient and keeps the battery cooler, both of which can help range a bit. On some cars it can also be used to heat or cool or the battery using ambient air (from outside the car), not sure how the MEB platform's heat pump is set up. You'll probably find it has a small but significant effect on range when the temperature is at either extreme.

ETA: The electric XC40 seems to start at £50k. Surely you're not managing to option up the Skoda to £50k? Plus a tow-bar on the Volvo is over a grand.

ETAA: You've got to add a £6750 option pack to get a heat pump on the Volvo! That makes it a near £60k car.

Edited by kambites on Friday 14th May 10:42

This. Crazy expensive for what it is

[kambites]

Does the ETron actually do anything better than the Enyaq? I guess it's faster a 4wd, if that's useful for the OP.

[SWoll]

kambites said:

Does the ETron actually do anything better than the Enyaq?

Bigger, better built, better materials, AWD, quicker etc.

[kambites]

SWoll said:

kambites said:

Does the ETron actually do anything better than the Enyaq?

Bigger, better built, better materials, AWD, quicker etc.

Bigger... is it? I mean the external dimensions are bigger but given that it's based on an ICE platform I suspect the Skoda is far better packaged and hence has more usable space?
Better built... what makes you think that? You might be right, but I've not heard of any build quality issues with the Enyaq and generally Skoda do better in reliability surveys than Audis.
Better materials... probably a fair point although personally I prefer the styling of the Skoda interior.
Faster and 4WD undoubtedly, if that's a concern. Presumably there will be a faster AWD Enyaq along at some point.

I think for me, the packaging and energy efficiency of the Skoda would probably sway it that way but you're right there are advantages in the Audi.

Edited by kambites on Friday 14th May 10:57

[Evanivitch]

48k said:

Reviews suggest the "battery heat pump" is a must-have which is £1005 - I assume this is to keep the battery at the optimum/most efficient temperature in winter ? Is it really a must have ? I'm quite new to the world of EVs so it's a bit of a learning curve.

It's more to do with cabin heating. On an EV you're largely using resistive heating which is 1:1 for energy used. Typically a heater will draw 2-5kWh per hour which reduces your range by 6-15 miles per hour of driving.

A heat pump reduces that by 50-60%.

[SWoll]

kambites said:

SWoll said:

kambites said:

Does the ETron actually do anything better than the Enyaq?

Bigger, better built, better materials, AWD, quicker etc.

Bigger... is it? I mean the external dimensions are bigger but given that it's based on an ICE platform I suspect the Skoda is far better packaged and hence has more usable space?
Better built... what makes you think that? You might be right, but I've not heard of any build quality issues with the Enyaq and generally Skoda do better in reliability surveys than Audis.
Better materials... probably a fair point although personally I prefer the styling of the Skoda interior.
Faster and 4WD undoubtedly, if that's a concern. Presumably there will be a faster AWD Enyaq along at some point.

I think for me, the packaging and energy efficiency of the Skoda would probably sway it that way but you're right there are advantages in the Audi.

Edited by kambites on Friday 14th May 10:57

Definitely a bigger boot which seems important, and if towing regularly AWD can be very handy.

Also that 2020 2k mile E-Tron above has already depreciated considerably so should make more sense financially long term as well? Certainly a better bet than the Volvo anyway.

[48k]

jodypress said:

Have a look at the Ionic 5. Boot space is larger than the XC60 which surprised me..

Will take your word that's it's even bigger than an XC60 (which in turn is bigger than the XC40) although it doesn't look it to me, but it's one of those SUVs with a really raked boot.



If the rear is too slanted it robs headroom and pushes the crate further in to the boot which means the boot needs to be longer. This is what I have to deal with



The good thing about the Skoda is that it's pretty square and flat at the back and has more space than the XC40.

[48k]

SWoll said:

Definitely a bigger boot which seems important, and if towing regularly AWD can be very handy.

No towing but a tow-bar mounted cycle rack to carry.

AWD is sometimes handy for where we are, and going to horse events in muddy fields etc. but 2WD only is not a deal breaker.