Looking at joining the Volvo family

[ZenBass]

Hello,

Been lurking for a while in the background so thought I'd better register and start asking all the questions that car dealers cannot.

I am looking to swap my Skoda Superb L&K Estate for something a bit different as I have had 3 of them in the past...time for a change.

A rather nice Volvo V90 CC Pro D4 has come across my bow, it's a 67 Plate with most of the bells and whistles on including the B&W system..it doesn't come the Pano roof which is a bit gutting.. It does have the 21 inch open 5 spoke wheels on it (Polestar upgrade ?) which may have to be swapped out depending on how much they detriment the ride.

I have a viewing booked on Sat at Volvo - Doncaster but there are a few questions I 'd like to ask before heading on in.

1, I've heard the gearboxes are a bit hesitant and tends to either hold on to the gears or refuse to kick down when a burst of acceleration is needed, is this actually true ?, I come from a 7 Speed DSG which uses wizard like choices

2, The D4 vs D5 ? , is there a massive difference in performance ?, the PowerPulse technology should spool up the Turbo's quicker but from what I've heard fuel economy is not particularly good in the D5 and I should expect low to mid 30's around town and around mid 40's on a long run. True or not ?


3, Boot Space, okay so I've looked at a few and tbh nothing on the road (in Estate form) is bigger than a Superb. The V90's boot is wider and longer than the Superb but noticeably shallower. I have 2 large dogs (GSD and a Lab), bar trying to persuade a dealer to let me thrown them in the boot..do we think it will be large enough considering they love sitting up and watching the world go by out of the back window?. Difficult to gauge really

4, Those Wheels, although they look lovely I guess they pretty much ruin the ride and would cause crashing and shimmering on Pot Hole'd and uneven road surfaces (so that's pretty much all roads near me). I would also assume they make the ride fidgety. Test drives are often performed with Rose tinted glasses on and the day to day niggles don't become apparent until you actually live with the thing. My Superb runs on 19s but does have Adaptive Dampers all round which I don't believe the CC has unless they were spec'd as an option , thus no luxury of turning on 'Comfort' mode to soften the ride out.

5, Anything else I should be looking out for ?

Here is the link to the beast

https://www.riversidemotors.co.uk/vo...s-and-wilkins/


Any advice would be greatly welcomed and thanks for reading my rambles

[Beavis]

Originally Posted by ZenBass

Hello,

Been lurking for a while in the background so thought I'd better register and start asking all the questions that car dealers cannot.

I am looking to swap my Skoda Superb L&K Estate for something a bit different as I have had 3 of them in the past...time for a change.

3, Boot Space, okay so I've looked at a few and tbh nothing on the road (in Estate form) is bigger than a Superb. The V90's boot is wider and longer than the Superb but noticeably shallower. I have 2 large dogs (GSD and a Lab), bar trying to persuade a dealer to let me thrown them in the boot..do we think it will be large enough considering they love sitting up and watching the world go by out of the back window?. Difficult to gauge really

welcome, i cannot comment on most of your questions, but can add a couple of bits.
i too had a Skoda Superb SE-L estate 190 model which i got rid of last year due to quality issues and appalling customer service - a failed steering rack on a 2 year old 20k miles car was met with a reply "if you're worried about driving it, don't do the journey!!".

my response was to cancel the PCP contract i was on.

I'd previously had 10+ years of Volvo models and whilst my local dealership is pants, there is a good one a few miles further on, plus Volvo UK was very good on some issues i had on a 4 year old XC90 a few years back.

So whilst i was considering my next move, i went into an old school Audi A6 V8 estate for a few petrol thrills.

i had the Superb 190 diesel DSG model, and it was fantastic - particularly in sport mode - handling and acceleration very good for a diesel estate.

i wanted a petrol car as i do low miles, plus i'm worried what will happen to diesel fuel costs in the future, and the cost of my petrol T4 is £100pm less than the same D4 model. i am due to take delivery of a new T4 momentum plus on Monday. My initial impressions on viewing it is that is it is more "barge like" than the superb, bit more wafety and leans more in bends, but overall i thought i nicer place to be. i'd have liked the extra torque of the D4/D5/T5, but they all came in over £100pm more than the T4 - i'm sure i'll manage for the next 2 years, although as a petrolhead it was something which crossed my mind.. :/

i almost bought the V90XC last year, but chickened out at the last minute as i thought the boot was very shallow, and i too have a dog which i put in a cage. The boot floor is flat, whereas the Skoda dropped down around 2 inches from the boot sill - so it was a bit taller. overall, its only around 5-10 litres smaller than my A6, which was slightly smaller than the superb. i've got over the size and only time will tell about how it works. i've got this new car for 2 years, at which point i'll probably get fed up and change again (i usually change every 1-2 years - usually going for a 2nd hand car, but this new model came in at a price too good to refuse.

i'm going with 18" wheels - my current 19"s on the audi are too firm even when the suspension is in comfort mode - and thats will air suspension which is usually a bit more giving than normal shocks/springs.

the auto boxes on my previous volvos were not as good as the DSG - usually a bit hesitant - i've not tested the v90 one long enough to make a definitive decision, but i'm sure it'll be better than the last generation volvos i used to own.

good luck in your viewing and making a decision.

[badonkadonk]

I find the gearbox very hesitant in normal mode, but a lot better in dynamic mode. Give it a shot and see what you think.
Personally I would be more woried about the 21" wheels, and their ability to avoid pothole damage to wheels and tyres.

[Zebster]

Lovely cars in general, however I'd strongly advise against buying a 2014 to 2018 Volvo diesel... loads of reported EGR problems and a current 'recall' (no fix yet!) for an intake manifold problem which may result in the manifold deforming or even catching fire. Apparently the used values are dropping off a cliff-edge.

[MOzS90]

Originally Posted by Zebster

Apparently the used values are dropping off a cliff-edge.

I’d love to know what evidence you have to back up this utter bull**** statement!

I also think the recall you refer too is for non-SPA cars. Your sig refers to one of those models doesn’t it??

[mr rusty]

Re D4 D5. I haven't driven a D5, but the D4 is 190hp - how much do you need? I find D4 more than adequate. Enough to always prompt significant other to ask me to slow down every time I push a bit.

[Zebster]

Originally Posted by MOzS90

I’d love to know what evidence you have to back up this utter bull**** statement!

Wow, why so abusive... do you actually talk to people like this when face-to-face, or does it bring out the keyboard warrior in you when confronted with speculation about the possibly falling value of your car? Prices have definitely been dropping since the recall, here's a couple of recent posts on the subject...
https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showp...postcount=2191
https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showp...05&postcount=9

Originally Posted by MOzS90

...I also think the recall you refer too is for non-SPA cars...

May I politely enquire whether you have any evidence to support this?

[MOzS90]

Originally Posted by Zebster

Wow, why so abusive... do you actually talk to people like this when face-to-face, or does it bring out the keyboard warrior in you when confronted with speculation about the possibly falling value of your car? Prices have definitely been dropping since the recall, here's a couple of recent posts on the subject...
https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showp...postcount=2191
https://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showp...05&postcount=9


May I politely enquire whether you have any evidence to support this?

Not abusive at all. I merely stated your sentence was bull****. Just a few posts up an S90 owner has pointed out his surprise at the high value of his used car. My S90 is also worth much more than I expected having recently enquired - with this in mind was I supposed to agree with you? I didn’t buy my car brand new so the depreciation I’ve encountered in 2 years of ownership is minimal and less than expected.

And your two links to posts refer to older non SPA cars with disappointing trade in values. Not the cars this section of the forum covers.

And I know this as we also own one of the older inferior cars and have received the same recall letter.

And as a general rule of thumb - most cars lose about 50% of their retail value after 3 yrs with the vast majority of that in the first 6 months. It ain’t rocket science!!

[Beavis]

Originally Posted by MOzS90

I’d love to know what evidence you have to back up this utter bull**** statement!

I also think the recall you refer too is for non-SPA cars. Your sig refers to one of those models doesn’t it??

maybe its because you can get a less than 6 month old car for under £24k.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-sea...-categories=on
2019 / 19plate momemtum d4 models for sale with 4k miles at £23-24k - 40% off list price in less than 6 months. i'd say that is a pretty steep fall.
My Skoda - which i ended up despising due to the poor customer service only lost 50% over 2.5 years.

[St Evelyn]

Originally Posted by StuT4

maybe its because you can get a less than 6 month old car for under £24k.
https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-sea...-categories=on
2019 / 19plate momemtum d4 models for sale with 4k miles at £23-24k - 40% off list price in less than 6 months. i'd say that is a pretty steep fall.
My Skoda - which i ended up despising due to the poor customer service only lost 50% over 2.5 years.

But bargains such as this aren't a new thing - I bought my 67-plate V90 Inscription at 6-months old as a pre-reg with 93 miles on the clock from a main dealer in April 2018, over a year before the recall, yet paid £28K for a car with a list of £46K - that's also a 40% discount and certainly wasn't related to the recall. Personally, I don't believe the recall has impacted residuals at all, however, if you were to suggest that the continuing rhetoric and Government policy around diesels were impacting diesel values then I'd heartily agree.