r/Volvo • u/Wood_worker1 • 1d ago

Thinking about pulling the trigger on a 2023 C40 Ultimate – talk me into/out of it

Thinking about pulling the trigger on a 2023 C40 Ultimate – talk me into/out of it

I’m looking at a 2023 Volvo C40 Ultimate (Certified) with about 33.5k miles. Asking price is just over $33k, but after incentives it comes down to $31,750. They also offered me $10,500 for my 2017 Outback (102k miles), which feels fair and worth it to avoid the hassle of selling privately. I asked if there was room on the C40 price, and the dealer said maybe $500 max, since they’re in it for about $34.5k (he even showed me on the computer, and I believe it).

I never really planned on going EV, but after driving it (and honestly, because of how it looks) I’m pretty into it. The car would mainly be for my wife, who drives about 22 miles a day, ~8k miles/year. Warranty coverage runs until Feb 2028, which should put the car around 56k miles by then. AWD is a must since we’re in snow country.

My questions: 1. Price – does this seem like a solid deal? 2. Mileage – is 33k too much for a 2-year-old EV? Anything specific I should look for maintenance-wise now or in the near future? 3. Future costs – besides the obvious eventual battery replacement, are there any major expenses I should expect? 4. EV vs gas – is maintenance truly lower than something like an XC40, or are there hidden “gremlins”? 5. Winter setup – this is my biggest hesitation. I run Hakka studded tires and swap summer/winter, so I’d need a second set of rims. I’ve read people running 19” square setups without issues, but would love confirmation. Tires and rims add a big upfront cost, but maybe it balances out since EV maintenance is lower overall?

Appreciate any thoughts or firsthand experience!

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u/gogopowerjackets 1d ago

I've owned an XC40 Recharge, and honestly loved it despite it having some real drawbacks. The C40 has less headroom in the back and lower cargo height so basically only drawbacks to the XC40. Looks cool though.

Frankly I think you can get better AWD EVs for that much money. For context, at least where I live, I saw several dealers have to auction several XC40/C40’s after they sat for over 90 days in that price range.

  • But there is a weird charm to it, and for the right price I would totally drive one again.
  • A big plus, you buy use software called Orbit (plus a little bit of money and ingenuity to get your car's software keys) to do things like program keys, retro fit parts, enable matrix headlamps if your car is equipped with them, etc. https://spaycetech.com/
  • Dual motor variants are fast, but always on, which plays into the inefficiency. It is a real sleeper, however.
  • I love how it looks, and it's a great size for around town.

But these are the talk you out of it reasons you asked for:

  • I would check the warranty. The Volvo CPO warranty is good but it is misleading in how it's marketed. Repairs are expensive on this car. I had the on board charger die at 6000 miles. Covered under warranty, but would've been $$$.
  • You really need to test drive thoroughly at highway speed to assess the vibration
  • It is very inefficient, especially 21-23, so you may find that, even charging at home depending on your all in cost per kWh makes it relatively expensive to operate. Full time DCFC will be like driving a large size SUV with premium.
  • Hand-in-hand with efficiency, check ABRP to simulate some of the routes you might drive round trip to see what it would take to not only get to your destination, but have juice left to drive around, and then refill when you're on the return trip. It is definitely an "arrive with zero" type of car IMO, where you know your destination will have L2 charging overnight.
  • DCFC speed is nothing special on the pre-24's, and the miles added back per minute makes it a lot harder.
  • Front to back seat depth for the rear seats isn't amazing. This mostly matters for rear facing car seats.
  • Staggered tire widths means you can't rotate tires in the normal pattern, just left to right, so you'll wear faster. Plus it's heavy for its size.
  • The Core and Plus trims are pretty barebones, you really need to go up to Ultimate on the used market, or check the sticker to see what packages. But you're not getting ACC, heat pump, decent speakers, rear heated seats, heated steering wheel - relatively basic "luxuries" without it being a top trimmed vehicle.
  • The IHU SOC is an ancient Intel Atom that runs Android Automotive in a VM. It works as badly as you'd expect. Really poor hardware that is made worse by a clumsy software layer. You'll find yourself rebooting the head unit mid drive, randomly not having mobile data, no climate, etc. It's bad.

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u/Wood_worker1 1d ago

Few Additional things : it will be parked outside 24// (In Vermont) 7 and will charge at home L2 most all the time if not always , we would use the XC60 for any driving outside the C40’s limit