Here is the end of traditional new car selling as Volvo becomes the first car company in the UK to offer ‘Prime Now test drives’ with Amazon.
These are available for a limited time on the V40 and open to Amazon customers in four UK cities around about now. The next stage, although it isn’t being highlighted, has to be clicking and buying on the ginormous retail interweb site. So who needs car dealers? Well, for the time being, used car buyers still rely on the sheepskins for their fix.
Find a Volvo V40 for sale on PistonHeads
Old-school Volvos, though, make all sorts of sense and are available for rather less than the £21,410 that a new V40 on the road actually costs. I keep returning to Volvos as one of the best prestige banger buys around. With a non-year plate, they just look like the faithful, reliable, middle-class mile-munchers they actually are. As the brand goes into the premium electro-futuro stratosphere, it leaves behind alot of models that we should be picking up on.
The C30 was something of an oddity, but a nicely designed one. I’d be inclined to pick this alternative to a three-door Ford Focus with a 2007 petrol-powered 1.8 SE. They go for just under £2000 and still look the sophisticated part. There will be 100k miles on the clock, but that should not be a problem. The R Design kit gives it a nice funky twist and adds a few hundred quid to the asking price.
I know the estates are the go-to Volvos, but the S60 has been a staple middle-lane-of-the-motorway sort for a couple of decades. A perky 2.4T from 2002 with a not outrageous 124k miles is less than a grand. And, golly, they still look so very smart. I saw one in gold – I’m very partial to gold – and it really did catch the eye. You find these petrol models with 200k miles as well, which proves that they go on and on.
I will steer clear of the S80 today, which is always great value, especially when you can get one for S60 money – a 2002 2.4 for £850 and under 100k miles. The S80 has the equipment and offers value but, unlike the S60, it does look like a great big lump of bargeosity. Instead, go sexy and get a C70. Okay, not that sexy really, because it is effectively the front end of an old 570, but just £1000 gets a 2001 convertible with a load of history. I even saw a Collection special edition for that money.
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