XC90 Aquaplaning
 

Anyone find theirs giving them a few scary moments? I'm finding it one of the worst cars I have driven for aquaplaning at fairly low speeds on the motorway and auto-routes (I do a lot of continental driving).

Have put it down to fairly light front end with the little 4 cylinder 2 litre diesel and the wide low profile tyres.

Am putting a set of winters on asap and will probably run them permanently as they deal with standing water so well in addition to snow etc.

Although I can’t help you with your question it has got me wondering how good my V90 D4 will be becuase I have come from a BMW 320 GT Xdrive which by far has been the best car I have ever had when it to driving in the rain. I never felt so safe in wet weather at all speeds.

Never had that problem in mine.

Mine has now done nearly 72000 miles over 2.5 years on Michelin 19inch tyres of various states of wear (On my 4th set of front tyres now and second set of back). I do most of my driving on the motorway in all states of weather. I dont hang about either. I have never felt that the car is ever anything else than secure and planted.....

Surely it’s the tyres rather than the car.

The P Zeros I had on the previous XC60 were not that great in heavy rain, but the CrossClimates I replaced them with, were superb.

Does OPs car have knackered tyre / shocks ?
Does OP drive like a maniac in the wet ?

I was going to say that too

I would strongly disagree with this one. ANY summer tire will handle aquaplaning much better than ANY winter tire (given the temperature is 10C and above..)

As for XC90 and aquaplaning- a “fairly light” front (2.5 tonnes is the lightest variant.. probably at least 60% being on the front axle..) is not at issue here.. as most people have said - I’d blame it on the tires..

What types of tyres do members recommend?

My XC60 is running on Continental ContiEcoContact 5.

I drive a V90 D4 and find it very sure footed. I ran it on winter tyres last year and will do so again when the temperature drops a little more, but even on summer tyres it’s very good in the wet.