In our age of energy transition, things indeed have to change. So with the (urban) emission regulations coming along, we had to give up 5 years ago a truly excellent car, our Volvo 850 Estate, with its marvelous 2,5 litre five cylinder petrol engine.
We had to part with our beautiful “as new” Volvo 5 years ago, due to urban emission regulations, for the price of 250 Euros…yes, EU citizens DO pay a MASSIVE PRICE for the energy transition…
Before parting with it, we took it on a last long trip,from the Volvo factory in Ghent to the Volvo plant in Swedish Torslanda, where the sedan version of the 850 rolled of the assembly lines. Just look at the links of these articles on our site:
https://autoprova.be/2017/04/11/our-cars-soon-we-will-drive-our-volvo-850-estate-from-volvo-ghent-to-torslanda/
And:
https://autoprova.be/2017/05/20/we-start-the-travel-with-our-1995-volvo-850-from-ghent-to-torslanda/
Last but not least:
https://autoprova.be/2017/06/01/our-850-volvo-visits-the-swedish-torslanda-factory-and-is-driven-on-the-assembly-line/
Before parting with our Volvo, we drove it to the Swedish Torslanda Volvo plant, where it was driven on the assembly line… note the difference in license plate. The original was stolen…
Where it was given its final control tag as a totally perfect Volvo!
We have to blame here our EU AND also our local politicians which make very one sided decisions away and above social considerations and consequences. The beautiful Volvo had to go, as it was now politically declared an urban outcast.
And despite its excellent ’as new’ condition, it fetched… 250 Euros, and that was it.
So go now, dear citizen! Go and enlarge your ecological footprint and buy a NEW BEV car! While the European electric grid still has to be adapted to the pan-EV reality, let alone the infrastructure, we have to plunge for this, with the EU and certainly global electricity production still being far from “clean”. Of course, we are still creating the extreme dependencies of raw materials and global markets as we did before…
Still going strong, and now not an “urban outcast”
But soon enough, we understood already five years ago, that the answer lies not (yet) there. Today finally even economy expert journalists admit that they did not see all the benefits of the hybrid solution which Toyota offered with the Prius now decades ago. The present market evolution now lets them see the light.
We were already convinced then, and therefore we shopped for a used Lexus CT 200h, and found a well cared for dark blue example. See https://autoprova.be/2019/01/25/we-collect-our-lexus-ct-200h/.
Right away we were very pleased by its comfort, mechanical refinement and stunning economy. See the reports about trips with our Lexus like https://autoprova.be/2019/04/05/our-lexus-ct-200h-continues-to-surprise-us/.
Further reports are found using the tag: https://autoprova.be/tag/lexus-ct-200h/
Just look at the excellent averages we achieve presently with our Lexus. Even in urban traffic, the consumption does not rise over 5 litres…
Now it is already five years with us, and it still hasn’t missed a beat. It passed the latest technical inspection with flying colors, and had last month its major service. It continues, as the photo shows, to consume well below 5 litres/100 km…
In urban “stop and go” and slow traffic, the Lexus runs very often on EV power…
On the last photo you see the remote “mouse” control for the functions on the central screen display, which we still find ideal…
Hans Knol ten Bensel
Autoprova - for the Connaisseur 