Comfortable Cruiser - 15,000 Miles now completed

Past few days I have had to cover 800miles across Europe - which clicked the car to 15,000miles within 6 months of ownership.

Despite the few niggles the car has had in this time - when you are on this sort of journey - you really feel the right decision was made to buy this car.

The Volvo XC70 really comes into it's own as a super cruiser - it's quiet - very comfortable and feels powerful enough for keeping a steady speed on the autoroutes and autobhans. All of the navigation system works perfectly and seamlessly across Europe - as long as you don't need to type the address in you can use just the UK DVD. I like how it welcomes you into each country as you cross the border.

I also had to pass down some really rutted farm tracks to view some property - the ruts were filled with water - and when you are in the XC70 you don't have the same level of trepidation that you would in a typical estate car. The only thing you need to remember is to turn off the front parking sensors as the water splashes keep setting them off.

The average fuel consumption for this trip was 37miles per gallon. If I had kept to UK speed limit of 70 - I think it would have been closer to 40... you notice the next 10-20mph on the motorway really starts to use some heavy fuel.

Whilst I was in Belgium, I was speaking to an owner of an Audi A6 2.7Tdi Quattro. automatic This was the saloon model. He bought his Audi at a similar time to me after coming from a Volvo S80 - so we have both switched marques. He said he was generally happy with the Audi but it was pretty heavy on fuel - he drives quite quickly so was seeing perhaps 31-32mpg - however considering his car is permanent 4 wheel drive and automatic - and the speed he drives.. not bad. He also preferred the Volvo interior and said it was better than the A6. The A6 is however a bit dated now I think.