The Volvo XC40 Recharge PHEV Extended Range Plus is a highly praised electric vehicle that boasts impressive performance and range capabilities. With its 268 horsepower engine and 64 kWh battery, this car can travel an impressive 296 miles on a single charge. However, despite its many strengths, there are some notable drawbacks to consider.

One of the main issues with the XC40 Recharge PHEV is its high APR (Annual Percentage Rate), which results in some of the highest monthly payments in its class. While this may not be a deal-breaker for everyone, it's certainly something to think about when considering whether or not this car is right for you. Additionally, despite the manufacturer's contribution of £750, the total cost of ownership is still relatively high.

In terms of design and features, the XC40 Recharge PHEV is undeniably a lovely car with a beautiful finish that really stands out. However, some critics have noted that so much emphasis has been placed on the touch screen interface, which can sometimes be frustrating to use. Furthermore, there are some ergonomic issues at play here, such as the interpretation of safety features by manufacturers like Kia and Hyundai. For example, in order to change the temperature, drivers must perform a pre-flight check before setting off, which can be a bit of a nuisance.

Despite these criticisms, there's no denying that the Volvo XC40 Recharge PHEV is a highly desirable car with excellent performance and range capabilities. Its 268 horsepower engine provides plenty of power on the road, making it a joy to drive. However, for some people, the frustrations mentioned above may outweigh its many strengths.

In a recent test, six separate testers spent two days testing out the XC40 Recharge PHEV, along with several other electric vehicles in its class. The results were overwhelmingly positive, with all six testers agreeing that this car is one of the best in its class. However, some notable mentions include the Hyundai Kona Electric and the Kia Nero EV, which offered impressive range and efficiency without sacrificing too much comfort or practicality.

But what really sets the XC40 Recharge PHEV apart from its competitors? In short, it's the completeness of its package. With a competitive price point, excellent performance, and plenty of practical features, this car has everything you need to make electric motoring easy and appealing. While there are certainly some drawbacks to consider, for most people, these will be outweighed by the many strengths of this incredible vehicle.

The finishing order in the test was as follows: the XC40 Recharge PHEV was voted the unanimous choice of all six testers, with the Hyundai Kona Electric coming second and the Kia Nero EV third. The MG 4 EVX came in fourth, followed closely by the Tesla Model 3, which won fifth place despite its high price point and some notable ergonomic issues.

In conclusion, the Volvo XC40 Recharge PHEV is an exceptional electric vehicle that offers a winning combination of performance, range, and practicality. While it's not without its flaws, for most people these will be minor complaints compared to the many strengths of this incredible car.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhello welcome to utart where we have some big Mega test of £40,000 sub 40,000 familyfriendly EVS it's a big sort of consumer focused Mega test we're going to go through uh their specifications and pricing what they like to drive um all of the other technical stuff and have a big chat about it over two days as we decide what is the best familyfriendly electric car this is a big consumer Mega test the whole LS car team have just put together for the magazine involving 12 of the best family cars you can buy at £35 to £40,000 notionally they are available for around £00 a week after a typical deposit we could have had 20 or more cars here twice as many as was possible just 2 years ago so this is a burdening section of the car market we have competitors from byd cpra Hyundai Kia mg Renault smart Tesla voxal Volkswagen and Volvo ready to face off as we name Britain's best sub 40K electric car on the way we'll talk about their prices but also Finance deals because that's how most consumers buy cars and unless otherwise stated assuming a deposit of £4,000 likely from a vehicle traded in at the end there'll be a big chart outlining all of those details correct as of April 2024 when we conducted this test let's go in alphabetical order and start then with the byd dolphin this then is the byd dolphin which is the cheapest car on this test by a distance you can however get an mg4 that is cheaper than this one but of all the cars we managed to assemble the mg was the only one we could get the only variant that they had free this is the cheapest by a distance the 2011 horsepower dolphin has a 60.4 kwh battery and a quoted range of 265 M it's the cheapest of R12 at 3,140 and in an attempt to break into the market byd is offering either % APR or happy to haggle on manufacturer contributions which means if you have a deposit of £3,200 they will put in £2,200 to get one on your driveway for under 300 p a month and it is not the least spacious by any means and it is not the worst feeling inside by any means there are soft feel Furnishings everywhere it's quite sort of big chunky slightly cartoonified but it's not unpleasant by any means it's got this uh rather funky screen that will shift from one way to the other bit gimmicky I suspect you will leave it one way or the other doesn't need to do both it gets asked to do a few too many things the emergency Lane keep assist gets a bit paranoid at times even if you are on something with no Lanes but again you can switch that off and I recommend you do it's competitive in terms of range in terms of battery size in terms of charge speed and stuff like that and then when you factor in the price the fact that it's a little bit clumsy to drive seems to matter less if you are in the UK market and you don't know who byd is sometimes easy to think well these who are these people why would I buy a car from them byd is a massive seller of electric vehicles it sells not Millions every year it's a big operation they know what they're doing they make good cars this is one of them and it's price gives it a particularly appealing Viewpoint in the UK so there is a reason that the cpra born was the best overall car in our sort of fun EV test that we did on this channel not very long ago the Fiat 500 sorry the abath 500 hot hatchback felt like a proper hot hatch but as an allr round car in terms of its competence and its ability and its fun the born was right up there the group leorn is our favorite family EV and also our favorite sporting EV it has a 58 kwh battery a range of 262 Mi and 227 horsepower in V2 form the ball is £ manufacturer contribution but they do give % Finance which works out for a £455 monthly payment and it really doesn't take long behind the wheel for you to remember why this is such a nice thing this platform in the way that the Volkswagen group uses it at the moment in the ID3 and this is rear wheeel drive and we're an Enthusiast publication so this this stuff does is relevant to us more than it would be from a sort of pure buy and guide perspective it's nice to drive cuz the front wheels don't have to worry about any torque steer it's got a really nice balance to it it's got a low center of gravity to it it's just Pleasant the cpra is allowed to be a little firmer on the road than the ID3 so less comfortable but it gets more body control and feels more agile and dynamic as a result and it's far from uncomfortable a long way from uncomfortable it's really nice to roll along with the drivetrain is just well meated out not everything here does that sort of stuff perfectly it's easy to think that because they're electric motors they're the same but the calibration can be quite different cpra gets it gets it right in this car it does have some of the ID3 problems in that the functionality of the screen is not perfect and these temperature things don't light up and the heated steering wheel is in a different menu to the heated seats and it's all you know here and there a bit clumsy but the rest of the stuff is fine it's got a good charge speed it gets a good range we found from from its battery size it's well priced it's well equipped and it is is it the nicest car here to drive so it's certainly right up there and for autocart that does count for quite a bit so it's no surprise it was right up there in our fun EVS test it's no surprise that it is there or thereabout in This Test 2 cuz the coper re born is just one of those go-to EVS that we like a great deal and so to the Hyundai Kona which is a car I like a lot we have a lot of time for this car over at aut car one of the reasons is the extraordinary range that we tend to get out of them for the battery size they are very efficient they really do do the kind of miles that they say they will they have decent fast charging speeds and it's a likable car elsewhere Hyundai and Kia to their credit have um got a bit of a sort of policy of sticking with quite a lot of buttons so there is a touchcreen but there are also lots of physical buttons I find that easier to use you do kind of have to do some sort of pre-flight checks before you start because in complying with the latest bout of European safety regulations gsr2 rigs which means that a car has to look at where you're looking to make sure you're paying attention to the road it's got Lany assist speed limit assists stuff like that Hyundai's interpretation of that is not as good as some manufacturers so you could be looking over your shoulder down a slip road to see that you're going to pull onto a Motorway and a little thing will ping up going hey pay attention and this exactly what you're doing so there are things you may want to switch off but you can select a sort of shortcut button on the steering wheel to bring you to the right menu to do it as long as you accept that and I can this is a really nice car the Hyundai Kona longrange Advance is £ 43,4 which can be had with a £1,000 manufacturer contribution and £ 3.9% interest for a monthly rate of £432 it has 215 horsepower a 65 KW battery and a range of £282 miles now we've always liked Hyundai and K for that matter uh buying and ownership experience the long warranty the good value and that sort of thing these days they combine that with a really feel- good interior and a pleasant Driving Experience too making it all round a very compelling proposition so the Jeep Avenger bit like voxal Astra perhaps but I mean both stellantis vehicles maybe it's no surprise that some of the technical aspects to it in terms of the range recharge speed given the battery size and everything else not outstanding in any given area it's pretty sort of bang average all the way through this is towards the upper end of our price limit but there are reasons that the Avenger one car of the year last year and that is it is a pretty funky package it's not very spacious in the back but it's a pretty cool looking thing inside and out it feels good and it drives relatively nicely there is a little underlying firmness in the ride some of the other cars here are a bit softer and everything else and the steering is light and arguably a little bit remote given the sort of slightly keyed down semi- sporting nature of the chassis but it is a pleasant enough car to get along with the Jeep Avengers Summit lists at £ 38,6 45 but Jeep will put in a hefty £45,000 manufacturer contribution to get monthly payments down to £388 a month the interest rate though is relatively high at 7.9% the Jeep is a 154 horsepower car with a 50.8 KW battery and a range of 245 mil I sometimes think a manufacturer needs to give buyers a really good standout reason to buy a car and I think in the Jeep's case they do yet a lot of the tech technical aspects are fairly straightforward but when it comes to the way this car looks and feels there are a few which have the same level of showroom appeal the konero is is a pleasant easy car to rub along with it's got a very functional interior it's got some sort of separate buttons as well as a screen it's got decent range Kier and hyai always get a decent range out of their batteries this doesn't charge as quickly as some of the some of the really quick stuff but it's very spacious it's good value you can have it in like a three specification which is around about 38,000 there's one that is cheaper mechanically they're the same so it's just kit inside the two variant of the Kia Nero is £ 36770 has 2011 horsepower and a 65 KW hour battery for a strong 285 mile range the residual value is also good and APR 2.9% which with a manufactur a contribution of £1,000 means a monthly payment of £338 it's quite well finished it drives reasonably nicely it's a bit more lumpy than the Hyundai and it is the Hyundai that gives this car I think its biggest problem cuz if you just drove this in isolation you go this is nice I like this you look around you go yeah this is pretty good and then you get into the Hyundai which is mechanically very similar and it just does things that little bit better all the way around but this is a nice car this is a good car this is Comfortably upper middling car and there are very good reasons why you should buy one now there are various different mg4 you don't have to have this x power fast one but even if you do it is Comfortably under our sort of £40,000 limmit if you go for one which is kind of competitive on range and power and charge speed and battery size with the other stuff that we have here the mg4 is just like since s fairly mind-blowing value one of them costs £30,000 it's £1 a month on a PCP less than most of the other stuff here and that is really hard as a lot of buyers are finding to look past you know mg is one of the fastest growing brands in the UK for those reasons this is the xow mg because it's the only one they could offer us on the dates of our test but even though it has 429 horsepower it still comes in at just £ 36440 and cheaper versions are available with a 62 K battery it has a 239 M range they will do % Finance but with a big customer deposit of $7,300 for A320 9 monthly payment but a poorer than average residual value now to drive it is all right I mean this one's really quick the others are not you know the the Lesser versions are not the same as that but it's pretty firm it feels a bit a a bit noisier than some of the other stuff here you know with in terms of road noise feels a bit more brittle in this quick version you kind of excuse that a bit because it just goes so fast but in the Lesser versions I think there's less of a excuse for it but whatever you think about it it is hard to overlook the value which is fairly Sensational and it feels fine inside not troubling the stuff at the top of the class but it's far on away far from the worst one here too the mg4 is a really compelling EV the Rena Manan is I think a really likable car to drive it Corners flatly it steers really accurately and pleasingly with a nice weight there is a reason we put this in our uh fun EVS test which you can find Elsewhere on this channel and it did quite well it's not pitched as a sporting car but it is a pleasant car to drive it's also nice inside it's got a pretty functional usable interior of course there is a touchscreen with stuff on it but there are some physical other controls too it's very easy to work your way around some of the sort of lower cabin materials are a bit a bit hard but the upper cabin surfaces are really nice this is a nicely designed nice to drive goodlook car some early eagans did not have uh a heat pump on the battery so they were not getting the range anything like the range that they were supposed to in cold weather that is now less of an issue this is an easy EV to recommend I think it has a lot going for it the Techno plus version of the Ragan is 36,43 9 it has a 215 horsepower motor and a 280 M range from its 60 kwh Battery a small manufacturer contribution and 7.9% interest means that it's £ 474 per month the pricing is good the range is good it's got a fast charge speed it's Pleasant inside it's nice to drive there is quite a lot to like about aagan this is the Smart hashtag one number one hash one one the smart one I think it's funny it's on the same platform as the Volvo ex30 if you open the Bonnet and have have a look underneath at the actual structure you can see where the structure is the same but they feel so different it's a much taller car you could wear a top hat in here and get away with it it's also the Volvo is a really nice car to drive right this is just strangely lumpy strangely weirdly not nice to drive if you look at the the stats in terms of what it comes with in terms of it charging speed and terms of it range and everything else it is there or thereabouts the smart in premium spec costs 38950 lb has a strong 268 horsepower and will go 273 mi from its 62 KW battery on relatively low interest Finance it will cost £467 a month but it just drives really bad the Volvo drives really nicely this just doesn't it's just clumsy it's got loads of of what you what we what Engineers sort of call head toss in that the the body moves around a lot and your head moves around a lot it never quite settles it's never quite comfortable it is a curious car it's a funky car welld designed I like the look of it inside I quite like the feel of it inside you've got to sort of accept that it's a bit blingy but I don't mind that there's some funky Graphics a little too much has gone on the screen quite a lot too much has gone on the screen but there are some shortcuts there are worse basically it's not the best but there are worse Allin it's fine if you like the look of it and you don't mind a bit of slap and Bong about the way it drives it's fine but it is not going to win in the competition it finds itself up against today so it's the Tesla Model 3 which is a Tesla it's appealing in many ways it's fast it's responsive they still do Battery tech very well they do range very well they do charging speeds very well and I think the supercharger network is still something one shouldn't underestimate I really think it's you know the the standout charge Network in the UK I think it's a really good thing the model 3 rear wheel drive comes in at just under 40,000 lb and has 279 horsepower and will go 318 M from its 57 .5 kwh battery Finance deals will let you do 10,000 m per ROM more than the other deals here but with a 9% APR payments come in at 633 a month also the highest hit do I have issues the ride is a little bit firm but it's fine cuz it's a responsive car it's okay steering is direct and quick I don't mind that either the interior is very clean it's a spacious car actually this is a big car in the context of this test this offers a lot of space uh and value for the money do I have a problem with the screen stuff and the steering wheel stuff and the lack of stalk stuff yes I do the the wind screen might sorry the indicators are particularly DED because they have now moved one upon the other onto the steering wheel even when you're familiar with it it is not as easy to use as a stalk and it's an indicator I consider that a safety critical device it's it's clearly developed by somewhere where they don't have many roundabouts cuz in the UK you're halfway around roundabout and you want to go the uh let's signal cuz I want to go off there and it's one switch just above the other it's not that clear Ferrari moved them to the steering wheel but at least left them on opposite sides of the wheel it's not I'm sort of slightly stagger that it's allowed because it's that bad um otherwise the Tesla screen has a lot of stuff on it as they do but the layout is not bad it's better than the Volvo I think Volvo have clearly benchmarked that ex30 against a Tesla they've gone yeah we can put everything on a screen CU people love it when Tesla do it the layout here is still superior to the Volvos but let's not get ourselves still not good enough I don't think the speedo should be small and over there I think it should be large and in front of me I don't think the windscreen wipers I've got a sort of on hit wipe on the steering wheel there but I don't think it's good enough to hide the other wiper buttons If I push that it brings up a little submenu which I mean it's good that it br brings it up but that menu is not big enough it's silly that other light stuff is all it's it's not good enough I don't think it annoys me this sort of thing more than it annoys some other testers and clearly more than it annoys some buyers but if you can look beyond that I struggle to many people do then actually there is a car in here which is really good over long distance quite good fun quick steering responsive Dynamic agile spacious competitive in all of the key areas in terms of buying has a great Network supporting it I mean there is a lot of it you can't argue with so welcome to the Vox all Astra electric which is fine I'm not sure fine is good enough in this company uh anymore what are the compelling reasons you would buy an Astra there are not that many to drive it is okay it's a little bit lump it steers quite nicely the interior is not that special but it is more usable than some of the other cars here to its credit but by the time you go through all of the aspects involved in terms of its pricing its efficiency the maximum charge rate the range and everything else the astr just comes up in a sort of Fairly standard not particularly special rating in basically all of those areas there's no one area where it stands out and says yeah you must buy an astro this is really why I want you to buy one of these cars the GS Astro electric is £ 4,145 and it has 153 horsepower it's 51.5 KW battery will take it 259 Mi voil will put in a £ 35,000 manufacturer contribution and with a 4.5% interest rate monthly is come in at just under £500 it's agreeable it's acceptable there are more physical buttons than there are in some Rivals and I personally like that but beyond that this is a car that in this company is one of the also Rams I think the ID3 has quite a lot going for it it is really competitive in all of the areas that matter in terms of its charge speed and its range its battery size and it pricing is pretty good this one feels nicer inside cuz it's speced up to actually comfortably over £40,000 but they feel good even at a slightly lower spec to this Pro vers of the ID3 costs £ 37,1 15 it has 2011 horsepower and has 266 mi from its 58 Kow battery the mileage limit on this Finance example is only 5,000 perom but if that's okay then 0% APR means 462 on the monthly repayments there are some problems with the infotainment the fact that the temperature Key don't light up at night is a bit silly there are things which frustrate about it but it is a pleasant car to drive drive goes to the rear wheels which means the steering doesn't have to worry about torque steer or anything it's just really nice and smooth I think if a cpra born wasn't here we would probably look even more favorably on the ID3 but there is a lot to like about what is a very cool and one of the first practical family EVS so several months on from the first time I drove this car still conflicted and torn about the ex30 right cuz I really like the way it drives I really like the way it drives especially in this rear motor form the four-wheel drive all singing all dancing Flatout one is a bit is a bit much but this is just such a really Pleasant car to drive and it's got a nice interior I think it looks great on the outside and when you look at the numbers the ex30 single motor extended range plus is £ 38585 it has a strong 268 horsepower and a fine 296 M range from its 64 kwh battery the APR is high at 9.9% which makes for the second highest monthly payments of 551 even with the £ 750 manufacturer contribution and it's a lovely product beautifully finished really pleasant but the frustration I had with it I still have with it now in that so much is given over to the touch screen and not all of that is that straightforward when you get there and there are some other frustrations like the Kia sorry like the Hyundai sorry Volvo's interpretation of uh the latest safety rigs you just have to do a pre-flight check before you set off because otherwise if I go to change the temperature the little thing we'll see up here that I'm not looking straight out the window and then it starts flashing and going you know what you should really pay attention to the road and I just think to myself if you just had a button I could pay attention to the road well enough that I wouldn't have to look away from where I'm going to try and change things and you wouldn't then bong at me like it does like it has just done doing that and I think that's unforgivable for Ev Volvo in particular I don't think it's forgivable in general I feel the same way about the Tesla in fact you know because so much of that including its ridiculous indicators have gone to the steering wheel or to things that are not buttons and it's such a shame it bothers me more than it bothers my colleagues and this being a very Collegiate uh kind of event where everybody has their say I will accept wherever the Volvo lands uh with good Grace but I personally would avoid one for the reasons I've outlined but if it doesn't bother you if those aspects of it do not bother you and I know some other testers who it doesn't bother so much this is a really lovely car so here is the finishing order and this is not just me this is a summary of what six separate testers all think after 2 days of solid testing remember these are the best 12 cars and there are more than two dozen in the market so even the smart hasht one sort of in last place is comfortably in the top half of this segment it has practicality and lots of power but also a high price and is an unen discing drive at 11 is the voxal Astra electric a mild-mannered mainstream car which is surprisingly pricey even allowing for some okay Dynamics the Avenger at 10 has some lackluster interior refinement and a slightly coarse ride to undermine its excellent showroom appeal at 9 the BD dolphin has some weird flaws undermining its quite likable demeanor otherwise at 8 is the Volvo I love the design of this car and I like the way it drives but that cannot overcome some crucial ergonomic shortfalls in both convenience features and more importantly critical driving controls at 7even is the very likable Volkswagen ID3 a good car recently made better still but still lacking the latest remodeled infotainment system available on other ID models the Tesla Model 3 is in six but it's deceptively pricey and let down for some testers by some infuriating ergonomics I don't think those indicator switches have any place on a car on sale and in the coming years Euro encap will not award five stars to a car with those switches this would be a top three or four car otherwise fifth then goes to the renom mean etch which drives and rides well if falling a little short on efficiency and interior space and in fourth is the the Kia Nero EV a spacious comfortable and easygoing Kia which ticks a lot of options if having less flexible Finance than the related highend ey cona in third place is the mg4 evx power which offers range performance and value Beyond its Rivals reach it has decent packaging and if you buy the right version tidy handling too second is the Hyundai Kona electric which has really convincing passenger and cargo space and a great range and efficiency which make it a compelling rational purchase if you want maximum EV metal for your money but the winner of this test is the ca born the unanimous choice of all six testers for bringing desirability and Driver appeal to the affordable EV scene but also having practical qualities and a competitive price all things taken into consideration then the excellent value of the mg4 puts it in third place the all round spaciousness and comfort of the Kona sees it second but nothing comes close to the completeness of the cpra born so thank you for joining me there's more over at autocar.co.uk if you agree or disagree you can write to us at autocar heym market.com and you can find this feature plus our entire 129e archive over atth magazin shop.com see you next timehello welcome to utart where we have some big Mega test of £40,000 sub 40,000 familyfriendly EVS it's a big sort of consumer focused Mega test we're going to go through uh their specifications and pricing what they like to drive um all of the other technical stuff and have a big chat about it over two days as we decide what is the best familyfriendly electric car this is a big consumer Mega test the whole LS car team have just put together for the magazine involving 12 of the best family cars you can buy at £35 to £40,000 notionally they are available for around £00 a week after a typical deposit we could have had 20 or more cars here twice as many as was possible just 2 years ago so this is a burdening section of the car market we have competitors from byd cpra Hyundai Kia mg Renault smart Tesla voxal Volkswagen and Volvo ready to face off as we name Britain's best sub 40K electric car on the way we'll talk about their prices but also Finance deals because that's how most consumers buy cars and unless otherwise stated assuming a deposit of £4,000 likely from a vehicle traded in at the end there'll be a big chart outlining all of those details correct as of April 2024 when we conducted this test let's go in alphabetical order and start then with the byd dolphin this then is the byd dolphin which is the cheapest car on this test by a distance you can however get an mg4 that is cheaper than this one but of all the cars we managed to assemble the mg was the only one we could get the only variant that they had free this is the cheapest by a distance the 2011 horsepower dolphin has a 60.4 kwh battery and a quoted range of 265 M it's the cheapest of R12 at 3,140 and in an attempt to break into the market byd is offering either % APR or happy to haggle on manufacturer contributions which means if you have a deposit of £3,200 they will put in £2,200 to get one on your driveway for under 300 p a month and it is not the least spacious by any means and it is not the worst feeling inside by any means there are soft feel Furnishings everywhere it's quite sort of big chunky slightly cartoonified but it's not unpleasant by any means it's got this uh rather funky screen that will shift from one way to the other bit gimmicky I suspect you will leave it one way or the other doesn't need to do both it gets asked to do a few too many things the emergency Lane keep assist gets a bit paranoid at times even if you are on something with no Lanes but again you can switch that off and I recommend you do it's competitive in terms of range in terms of battery size in terms of charge speed and stuff like that and then when you factor in the price the fact that it's a little bit clumsy to drive seems to matter less if you are in the UK market and you don't know who byd is sometimes easy to think well these who are these people why would I buy a car from them byd is a massive seller of electric vehicles it sells not Millions every year it's a big operation they know what they're doing they make good cars this is one of them and it's price gives it a particularly appealing Viewpoint in the UK so there is a reason that the cpra born was the best overall car in our sort of fun EV test that we did on this channel not very long ago the Fiat 500 sorry the abath 500 hot hatchback felt like a proper hot hatch but as an allr round car in terms of its competence and its ability and its fun the born was right up there the group leorn is our favorite family EV and also our favorite sporting EV it has a 58 kwh battery a range of 262 Mi and 227 horsepower in V2 form the ball is £ manufacturer contribution but they do give % Finance which works out for a £455 monthly payment and it really doesn't take long behind the wheel for you to remember why this is such a nice thing this platform in the way that the Volkswagen group uses it at the moment in the ID3 and this is rear wheeel drive and we're an Enthusiast publication so this this stuff does is relevant to us more than it would be from a sort of pure buy and guide perspective it's nice to drive cuz the front wheels don't have to worry about any torque steer it's got a really nice balance to it it's got a low center of gravity to it it's just Pleasant the cpra is allowed to be a little firmer on the road than the ID3 so less comfortable but it gets more body control and feels more agile and dynamic as a result and it's far from uncomfortable a long way from uncomfortable it's really nice to roll along with the drivetrain is just well meated out not everything here does that sort of stuff perfectly it's easy to think that because they're electric motors they're the same but the calibration can be quite different cpra gets it gets it right in this car it does have some of the ID3 problems in that the functionality of the screen is not perfect and these temperature things don't light up and the heated steering wheel is in a different menu to the heated seats and it's all you know here and there a bit clumsy but the rest of the stuff is fine it's got a good charge speed it gets a good range we found from from its battery size it's well priced it's well equipped and it is is it the nicest car here to drive so it's certainly right up there and for autocart that does count for quite a bit so it's no surprise it was right up there in our fun EVS test it's no surprise that it is there or thereabout in This Test 2 cuz the coper re born is just one of those go-to EVS that we like a great deal and so to the Hyundai Kona which is a car I like a lot we have a lot of time for this car over at aut car one of the reasons is the extraordinary range that we tend to get out of them for the battery size they are very efficient they really do do the kind of miles that they say they will they have decent fast charging speeds and it's a likable car elsewhere Hyundai and Kia to their credit have um got a bit of a sort of policy of sticking with quite a lot of buttons so there is a touchcreen but there are also lots of physical buttons I find that easier to use you do kind of have to do some sort of pre-flight checks before you start because in complying with the latest bout of European safety regulations gsr2 rigs which means that a car has to look at where you're looking to make sure you're paying attention to the road it's got Lany assist speed limit assists stuff like that Hyundai's interpretation of that is not as good as some manufacturers so you could be looking over your shoulder down a slip road to see that you're going to pull onto a Motorway and a little thing will ping up going hey pay attention and this exactly what you're doing so there are things you may want to switch off but you can select a sort of shortcut button on the steering wheel to bring you to the right menu to do it as long as you accept that and I can this is a really nice car the Hyundai Kona longrange Advance is £ 43,4 which can be had with a £1,000 manufacturer contribution and £ 3.9% interest for a monthly rate of £432 it has 215 horsepower a 65 KW battery and a range of £282 miles now we've always liked Hyundai and K for that matter uh buying and ownership experience the long warranty the good value and that sort of thing these days they combine that with a really feel- good interior and a pleasant Driving Experience too making it all round a very compelling proposition so the Jeep Avenger bit like voxal Astra perhaps but I mean both stellantis vehicles maybe it's no surprise that some of the technical aspects to it in terms of the range recharge speed given the battery size and everything else not outstanding in any given area it's pretty sort of bang average all the way through this is towards the upper end of our price limit but there are reasons that the Avenger one car of the year last year and that is it is a pretty funky package it's not very spacious in the back but it's a pretty cool looking thing inside and out it feels good and it drives relatively nicely there is a little underlying firmness in the ride some of the other cars here are a bit softer and everything else and the steering is light and arguably a little bit remote given the sort of slightly keyed down semi- sporting nature of the chassis but it is a pleasant enough car to get along with the Jeep Avengers Summit lists at £ 38,6 45 but Jeep will put in a hefty £45,000 manufacturer contribution to get monthly payments down to £388 a month the interest rate though is relatively high at 7.9% the Jeep is a 154 horsepower car with a 50.8 KW battery and a range of 245 mil I sometimes think a manufacturer needs to give buyers a really good standout reason to buy a car and I think in the Jeep's case they do yet a lot of the tech technical aspects are fairly straightforward but when it comes to the way this car looks and feels there are a few which have the same level of showroom appeal the konero is is a pleasant easy car to rub along with it's got a very functional interior it's got some sort of separate buttons as well as a screen it's got decent range Kier and hyai always get a decent range out of their batteries this doesn't charge as quickly as some of the some of the really quick stuff but it's very spacious it's good value you can have it in like a three specification which is around about 38,000 there's one that is cheaper mechanically they're the same so it's just kit inside the two variant of the Kia Nero is £ 36770 has 2011 horsepower and a 65 KW hour battery for a strong 285 mile range the residual value is also good and APR 2.9% which with a manufactur a contribution of £1,000 means a monthly payment of £338 it's quite well finished it drives reasonably nicely it's a bit more lumpy than the Hyundai and it is the Hyundai that gives this car I think its biggest problem cuz if you just drove this in isolation you go this is nice I like this you look around you go yeah this is pretty good and then you get into the Hyundai which is mechanically very similar and it just does things that little bit better all the way around but this is a nice car this is a good car this is Comfortably upper middling car and there are very good reasons why you should buy one now there are various different mg4 you don't have to have this x power fast one but even if you do it is Comfortably under our sort of £40,000 limmit if you go for one which is kind of competitive on range and power and charge speed and battery size with the other stuff that we have here the mg4 is just like since s fairly mind-blowing value one of them costs £30,000 it's £1 a month on a PCP less than most of the other stuff here and that is really hard as a lot of buyers are finding to look past you know mg is one of the fastest growing brands in the UK for those reasons this is the xow mg because it's the only one they could offer us on the dates of our test but even though it has 429 horsepower it still comes in at just £ 36440 and cheaper versions are available with a 62 K battery it has a 239 M range they will do % Finance but with a big customer deposit of $7,300 for A320 9 monthly payment but a poorer than average residual value now to drive it is all right I mean this one's really quick the others are not you know the the Lesser versions are not the same as that but it's pretty firm it feels a bit a a bit noisier than some of the other stuff here you know with in terms of road noise feels a bit more brittle in this quick version you kind of excuse that a bit because it just goes so fast but in the Lesser versions I think there's less of a excuse for it but whatever you think about it it is hard to overlook the value which is fairly Sensational and it feels fine inside not troubling the stuff at the top of the class but it's far on away far from the worst one here too the mg4 is a really compelling EV the Rena Manan is I think a really likable car to drive it Corners flatly it steers really accurately and pleasingly with a nice weight there is a reason we put this in our uh fun EVS test which you can find Elsewhere on this channel and it did quite well it's not pitched as a sporting car but it is a pleasant car to drive it's also nice inside it's got a pretty functional usable interior of course there is a touchscreen with stuff on it but there are some physical other controls too it's very easy to work your way around some of the sort of lower cabin materials are a bit a bit hard but the upper cabin surfaces are really nice this is a nicely designed nice to drive goodlook car some early eagans did not have uh a heat pump on the battery so they were not getting the range anything like the range that they were supposed to in cold weather that is now less of an issue this is an easy EV to recommend I think it has a lot going for it the Techno plus version of the Ragan is 36,43 9 it has a 215 horsepower motor and a 280 M range from its 60 kwh Battery a small manufacturer contribution and 7.9% interest means that it's £ 474 per month the pricing is good the range is good it's got a fast charge speed it's Pleasant inside it's nice to drive there is quite a lot to like about aagan this is the Smart hashtag one number one hash one one the smart one I think it's funny it's on the same platform as the Volvo ex30 if you open the Bonnet and have have a look underneath at the actual structure you can see where the structure is the same but they feel so different it's a much taller car you could wear a top hat in here and get away with it it's also the Volvo is a really nice car to drive right this is just strangely lumpy strangely weirdly not nice to drive if you look at the the stats in terms of what it comes with in terms of it charging speed and terms of it range and everything else it is there or thereabouts the smart in premium spec costs 38950 lb has a strong 268 horsepower and will go 273 mi from its 62 KW battery on relatively low interest Finance it will cost £467 a month but it just drives really bad the Volvo drives really nicely this just doesn't it's just clumsy it's got loads of of what you what we what Engineers sort of call head toss in that the the body moves around a lot and your head moves around a lot it never quite settles it's never quite comfortable it is a curious car it's a funky car welld designed I like the look of it inside I quite like the feel of it inside you've got to sort of accept that it's a bit blingy but I don't mind that there's some funky Graphics a little too much has gone on the screen quite a lot too much has gone on the screen but there are some shortcuts there are worse basically it's not the best but there are worse Allin it's fine if you like the look of it and you don't mind a bit of slap and Bong about the way it drives it's fine but it is not going to win in the competition it finds itself up against today so it's the Tesla Model 3 which is a Tesla it's appealing in many ways it's fast it's responsive they still do Battery tech very well they do range very well they do charging speeds very well and I think the supercharger network is still something one shouldn't underestimate I really think it's you know the the standout charge Network in the UK I think it's a really good thing the model 3 rear wheel drive comes in at just under 40,000 lb and has 279 horsepower and will go 318 M from its 57 .5 kwh battery Finance deals will let you do 10,000 m per ROM more than the other deals here but with a 9% APR payments come in at 633 a month also the highest hit do I have issues the ride is a little bit firm but it's fine cuz it's a responsive car it's okay steering is direct and quick I don't mind that either the interior is very clean it's a spacious car actually this is a big car in the context of this test this offers a lot of space uh and value for the money do I have a problem with the screen stuff and the steering wheel stuff and the lack of stalk stuff yes I do the the wind screen might sorry the indicators are particularly DED because they have now moved one upon the other onto the steering wheel even when you're familiar with it it is not as easy to use as a stalk and it's an indicator I consider that a safety critical device it's it's clearly developed by somewhere where they don't have many roundabouts cuz in the UK you're halfway around roundabout and you want to go the uh let's signal cuz I want to go off there and it's one switch just above the other it's not that clear Ferrari moved them to the steering wheel but at least left them on opposite sides of the wheel it's not I'm sort of slightly stagger that it's allowed because it's that bad um otherwise the Tesla screen has a lot of stuff on it as they do but the layout is not bad it's better than the Volvo I think Volvo have clearly benchmarked that ex30 against a Tesla they've gone yeah we can put everything on a screen CU people love it when Tesla do it the layout here is still superior to the Volvos but let's not get ourselves still not good enough I don't think the speedo should be small and over there I think it should be large and in front of me I don't think the windscreen wipers I've got a sort of on hit wipe on the steering wheel there but I don't think it's good enough to hide the other wiper buttons If I push that it brings up a little submenu which I mean it's good that it br brings it up but that menu is not big enough it's silly that other light stuff is all it's it's not good enough I don't think it annoys me this sort of thing more than it annoys some other testers and clearly more than it annoys some buyers but if you can look beyond that I struggle to many people do then actually there is a car in here which is really good over long distance quite good fun quick steering responsive Dynamic agile spacious competitive in all of the key areas in terms of buying has a great Network supporting it I mean there is a lot of it you can't argue with so welcome to the Vox all Astra electric which is fine I'm not sure fine is good enough in this company uh anymore what are the compelling reasons you would buy an Astra there are not that many to drive it is okay it's a little bit lump it steers quite nicely the interior is not that special but it is more usable than some of the other cars here to its credit but by the time you go through all of the aspects involved in terms of its pricing its efficiency the maximum charge rate the range and everything else the astr just comes up in a sort of Fairly standard not particularly special rating in basically all of those areas there's no one area where it stands out and says yeah you must buy an astro this is really why I want you to buy one of these cars the GS Astro electric is £ 4,145 and it has 153 horsepower it's 51.5 KW battery will take it 259 Mi voil will put in a £ 35,000 manufacturer contribution and with a 4.5% interest rate monthly is come in at just under £500 it's agreeable it's acceptable there are more physical buttons than there are in some Rivals and I personally like that but beyond that this is a car that in this company is one of the also Rams I think the ID3 has quite a lot going for it it is really competitive in all of the areas that matter in terms of its charge speed and its range its battery size and it pricing is pretty good this one feels nicer inside cuz it's speced up to actually comfortably over £40,000 but they feel good even at a slightly lower spec to this Pro vers of the ID3 costs £ 37,1 15 it has 2011 horsepower and has 266 mi from its 58 Kow battery the mileage limit on this Finance example is only 5,000 perom but if that's okay then 0% APR means 462 on the monthly repayments there are some problems with the infotainment the fact that the temperature Key don't light up at night is a bit silly there are things which frustrate about it but it is a pleasant car to drive drive goes to the rear wheels which means the steering doesn't have to worry about torque steer or anything it's just really nice and smooth I think if a cpra born wasn't here we would probably look even more favorably on the ID3 but there is a lot to like about what is a very cool and one of the first practical family EVS so several months on from the first time I drove this car still conflicted and torn about the ex30 right cuz I really like the way it drives I really like the way it drives especially in this rear motor form the four-wheel drive all singing all dancing Flatout one is a bit is a bit much but this is just such a really Pleasant car to drive and it's got a nice interior I think it looks great on the outside and when you look at the numbers the ex30 single motor extended range plus is £ 38585 it has a strong 268 horsepower and a fine 296 M range from its 64 kwh battery the APR is high at 9.9% which makes for the second highest monthly payments of 551 even with the £ 750 manufacturer contribution and it's a lovely product beautifully finished really pleasant but the frustration I had with it I still have with it now in that so much is given over to the touch screen and not all of that is that straightforward when you get there and there are some other frustrations like the Kia sorry like the Hyundai sorry Volvo's interpretation of uh the latest safety rigs you just have to do a pre-flight check before you set off because otherwise if I go to change the temperature the little thing we'll see up here that I'm not looking straight out the window and then it starts flashing and going you know what you should really pay attention to the road and I just think to myself if you just had a button I could pay attention to the road well enough that I wouldn't have to look away from where I'm going to try and change things and you wouldn't then bong at me like it does like it has just done doing that and I think that's unforgivable for Ev Volvo in particular I don't think it's forgivable in general I feel the same way about the Tesla in fact you know because so much of that including its ridiculous indicators have gone to the steering wheel or to things that are not buttons and it's such a shame it bothers me more than it bothers my colleagues and this being a very Collegiate uh kind of event where everybody has their say I will accept wherever the Volvo lands uh with good Grace but I personally would avoid one for the reasons I've outlined but if it doesn't bother you if those aspects of it do not bother you and I know some other testers who it doesn't bother so much this is a really lovely car so here is the finishing order and this is not just me this is a summary of what six separate testers all think after 2 days of solid testing remember these are the best 12 cars and there are more than two dozen in the market so even the smart hasht one sort of in last place is comfortably in the top half of this segment it has practicality and lots of power but also a high price and is an unen discing drive at 11 is the voxal Astra electric a mild-mannered mainstream car which is surprisingly pricey even allowing for some okay Dynamics the Avenger at 10 has some lackluster interior refinement and a slightly coarse ride to undermine its excellent showroom appeal at 9 the BD dolphin has some weird flaws undermining its quite likable demeanor otherwise at 8 is the Volvo I love the design of this car and I like the way it drives but that cannot overcome some crucial ergonomic shortfalls in both convenience features and more importantly critical driving controls at 7even is the very likable Volkswagen ID3 a good car recently made better still but still lacking the latest remodeled infotainment system available on other ID models the Tesla Model 3 is in six but it's deceptively pricey and let down for some testers by some infuriating ergonomics I don't think those indicator switches have any place on a car on sale and in the coming years Euro encap will not award five stars to a car with those switches this would be a top three or four car otherwise fifth then goes to the renom mean etch which drives and rides well if falling a little short on efficiency and interior space and in fourth is the the Kia Nero EV a spacious comfortable and easygoing Kia which ticks a lot of options if having less flexible Finance than the related highend ey cona in third place is the mg4 evx power which offers range performance and value Beyond its Rivals reach it has decent packaging and if you buy the right version tidy handling too second is the Hyundai Kona electric which has really convincing passenger and cargo space and a great range and efficiency which make it a compelling rational purchase if you want maximum EV metal for your money but the winner of this test is the ca born the unanimous choice of all six testers for bringing desirability and Driver appeal to the affordable EV scene but also having practical qualities and a competitive price all things taken into consideration then the excellent value of the mg4 puts it in third place the all round spaciousness and comfort of the Kona sees it second but nothing comes close to the completeness of the cpra born so thank you for joining me there's more over at autocar.co.uk if you agree or disagree you can write to us at autocar heym market.com and you can find this feature plus our entire 129e archive over atth magazin shop.com see you next time\n"