Well after 7 hours driving and and hour or so of test drives I'm back home.
First up the hybrid in deep blue and ochre interior. Generally good condition though needed a deep clean a trim piece replaced and some swirl marks removed. Loved the external colour and the interior but it did make it feel a bit old at first glance.
Performance was more than acceptable, fake noise and gear shifts made it feel like a video game, which isn't a bad thing. The 'box felt a bit snatchy at times and for a 2017 car the interior seemed well worn (the paint steering wheel controls was coming off). Rear seats are a joke but at a push it could get my youngest in there. One thing that did suprise me is how much I could feel the car move when the engine came on, I had a similar experience in my leggy 400h but assumed it was down to worn engine mounts. Clearly it's a feature of the power unit.
Then I drove to Coventry to see a V8 in red with a black interior. The change in interior colour made it feel more modern, serious even. I wasn't blown away by the noise, it sounded nice but after electric cars there is some aspect of it just being exactly that, noise.
As mentioned above my Tesla does 0-60 in 3.1, so whilst the sound was something I don't know if it was a game changer for me. It also felt like there was more road noise compared to the hybrid. The gear box was indeed faster and more precise but again, not sure if it's enough to make a difference for me.
Overall both drivetrains are excellent, and testing one with the HUD really made me miss it in the other.
Whilst I won't likely buy that example of the hybrid it certainly wasn't the open and shut case I had expected. The V8 being in red (future paint damage and colour matching scares me) and lacking the HUD probably counts that one out.
Great fun though.