Colin Barnett
Page 39
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If this is what today's fleet driver gets to drive, it would be hard to knock the driving side of the job. Looking beyond the inevitable press fleet bells and whistles, the underlying package is impressive for what is effectively the entry level product. Standard specification is high in content and quality, with Volvo's traditional attention to detail as evident as ever.
On the right operation, there is little ill-effect from what is realty the baseline power-to-weight ratio demanded by today's market. You could trundle around the M25 and in and out of town centres all day without crying out for more power. Much of this is down to I-Shift, which remains the benchmark against which to measure automated manual transmissions. However, the driveline specification needs to be carefully matched to the operation. Our only reservation concerns the axle ratio of this particular example, which probably did the package no favours in terms of di-IN/ability and economy on this particular route.
For you, more power or a less gearing could provide the perfect package.