Volvo S60 T6 Rebel Blue with Black interior
No. of kms at time of writing the initial review: [1600kms]
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Hello Everyone,
First off the format for this review is heavily borrowed from Axe77's review of his BMW 3 GT.
A little bit of background information on the thought process and current cars in the garage:
My family is pretty small. Just 3 people. Me and my parents. Mom does not drive. Dad drives maybe about 10 kms a day max. And he prefers petrol cars.
![Clapping](https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/images/smilies/Clapping.gif)
Most of my driving is in the city. and I drive around 20-25kms a day. On some days none of the cars go out. Our house and office are in the same building.
Some of you might remember that i had a slightly modded Honda Civic earlier (2007 to 2010). (
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/modifi...n-civic-4.html). Back in 2010 i moved to Dubai for work and sold the car. As my father also did not spend more than 3 months a year in India, we decided we did not need more than one car. So selling off the Civic left us with our 2010 White Swift Dzire which was in turn sold when Ford Came out with the Ecosport. 2013 i was the proud owner of a White Ecoboost Ecosport Titanium. With the low running we had petrol made more sense and I was happy with the car. But the itch to have a slightly more powerful car was still there. I currently own a 2012 Ford Taurus in Dubai with a 3.5 V6 putting out 288HP and everytime i came back to india that itch would resurface. Honda had finally launched their Earth Dreams 1.5 iDtec City and being a Honda lover we picked up a 2014 Honda City SV iDtec. The car was a lot of fun in the city with its low speed responsiveness and everybody in the family loved the back seat. It was the perfect city car. But the itch to pick up a powerful car was always there at the back of my mind.
Currently Visakhapatnam has only two luxury car showrooms, mainly Audi and Volvo. But with people in my friends group owning various cars I have been able to extensively drive most of the cars which were under consideration.
REQUIREMENTS:
- Had to be below 50 Lakh.
- Preferably Petrol. or an extremely good diesel. Our cars generally run a maximum of 7k kms a year.
- Front seats had to be good. Back seat comfort was not a high priority.
- Had to have a local service centre.
- Be reasonably reliable. (We generally don't abuse our cars) our cars generally never do long trips. Mostly city use.
- Have decent handling and ride quality.
1. OPTIONS CONSIDERED: Audi:
None of the VAG group cars were considered. I have heard quite a few complaints from friends about service. The A6 was considered for a bit. I like the look of the current Matrix A6. But ultimately discarded. The only VAG product i might buy comes with only two wheels. Ducati guy here. Maybe someday. I really liked the S5. Test drove the car in Dubai. and drove the S4 in india when I was invited for the Audi sportscar experience. But at 73 on-road I was not too keen on it.
Mercedes: The C Class:
The new C currently is one of my favourite cars. I love the Mini S styling. On the inside it feels the best in class. I was able to drive both the petrol and the diesel. Decent to drive. But nothing extraordinary. The pricing fell within my bracket. and my folks are a bit old fashioned. They still feel Mercedes is the end all of all cars. So the petrol C was brought in for a test drive. Dad liked it. The car really makes you feel special. Talk to the sales rep about service and he tells us that they have a service centre in Vizag. Thats great. And then he drops a bomb saying that service is carried out in Mahavir Auto. Which is the authorised SKODA service centre. Thats it. That was the end of discussion. No way i was going to send my 50 odd lakh car to be serviced in a service centre which i had bad experiences with. The C was discarded. Sad. Because this was a car which would have kept both me and my Dad happy.
The E Class:
Same reason. Service centre was not what i wanted to deal with.
BMW:
BMW does not have a showroom or A.S.C in Vizag. But all of my friends who own BMW's have very good things to say about the service. The tech comes down to do all the services. only the major services had to be done in the A.S.C
A compromise, But one i was willing to take to have the Ultimate Driving Machine in my garage.
The 328i:
This was the car which i wanted. Since the showroom could not arrange a TD for me, i actually took my dad to the BMW showroom in Dubai and made him TD the car there. while he complained about the low seat position he was fine because i was happy. Now i was away in Dubai for 5 months. I come back and call up the showroom and the Sales rep gives me a shock. The 328i had been discontinued in india. Why BMW, Why???? With a heavy heart i looked towards the diesels.
The 320D:
A close friend owns a red 320D Sportline. The car was good. On an average day it would keep me satisfied. But after driving the 328i, i just could not bring myself to settle for this and go through the service hassle of waiting for the tech to come down. It just wasn't exciting enough for me. But the car was being offered with heavy discounts. So it was still in contention.
The 3 GT:
The 3 GT which i drove owned by another friend was a black with beige interiors. It was a luxury line i guess. It still was not exciting enough, But here was maybe the most practical car in the class. It was ultra comfortable. Had good ground clearance. Vizag has a lot of speed breakers. The rear looked a little odd to me, But it wasn't something i could not live with. Driving the 3 and 3 GT back to back, I could make out the slight difference in handling, The GT felt a little loose. But it wasn't a deal breaker. So the 3 GT was also added to the final list.
The 520D:
With the discounts being offered on the 5 it too was considered. It would have been a step-up in class. I really like the look of the current 5. The 530D with the M-Sport kit would have been awesome, But way out of the budget i was planning for.
Out of the 3 BMW's considered The GT was at the top of the list. If i could not have the engine i wanted, i would atleast have the comfort.
Volvo:
No volvo's were initially considered as i never felt that they compared favourably to the german trio. and the diesels were a bit of a disappointment.
(Continued...)