Autopia

As my swedish cruiser needed its next service at 80.000 km on the odometer, ten days ago I decided to arrange a time and date by using the mailform at the website of the best-known and biggest Volvo dealer in Luxembourg. The first time I’ve heard of this possibility to schedule a service at their garage was sometime back in 2006 on a bill. At that time I thought that it would be easier to phone as an online form could not communicate but only transmit a request.

But because I waited quite long before finally deciding to fix a date and as I hate to make personal calls during my working time I posted my request on sunday 6th january, entering all the details in the form on their website. Above the form there is an indication that all requests be treated within 24 hours and that they would contact me by phone. After clicking on submit, I immediately received a copy of the informations I had submitted in my mailbox. As nobody called me the other day I first supposed that 24 hours had to be read as 48 hours, so I gave them another chance – in vain because still nobody had called me back or sent a mail even the third day after making my request.

So I decided to try out a relatively new Volvo dealer situated in the valley of the Korn which is just about 10 to 15 minutes to drive from my working place which represents approximately the same time I need to get to the utopian service from my home. As two friends had already recommended this garage to me and it seemed by then that I had to fix a new date for my service anyway, I drove to the Kordall on wednesday after work to pay a visit to the showroom hoping to finally get a service date and a decent replacement car.

The receptionist welcomed me very politely and proposed me already the following tuesday as service day whereas I had to book my regular services at Autopia always at least one if not two weeks in advance. A replacement car would cost me 30 €, so I agreed without asking which model it would be as this price was almost 50 % cheaper than the price for hiring a C30 at Autopia last time I left my car for service over there. Because of this price difference I first thought I would get a Fiesta or Focus class car, as the Kordall dealer also sells Ford models, but in fact a beautiful C30 was waiting for me on monday evening when I left my V70 there. That was quite a nice surprise as I had never driven this Volvo before.

It turned out to be a good drive with its 2.0-D Ford engine delivering subjectively just the same punch as my 2.4-D5 Volvo engine. Partly because the little Volvo Coupé is lighter and handier than my cruiser, partly because of the well staged 6-speed-gearbox the throttle response generated much more driving pleasure resulting in a temptation to break the speed-limit which I had to resist reluctantly. Although the C30 pleases me, the lack of a decent luggage room and rear doors discards it even as a second family-with-dog car. So the next day in the evening I was pleased to climb back behind the wheel of the car that has fulfilled all my transportation needs in the last 4 years. Furthermore my V70 had been taken to the car wash at the garage, a service I have already read about in the british car magazine in the early nineties but so far never had experienced myself in a garage in Luxembourg. I think by now it seems rather utopian to imagine taking my Volvo back to Autopia.