Some pics of my XC90

[Quacker]

I've had a good look at a new Discovery5 this afternoon. All £68,000 worth of one. Lovely vehicle I have to say.
Anyhow, with particular reference to its sills. They are far more compact and covered by the doors low down than the XC90's, so much easier to step out of the seat. It had running boards which were indeed useful as steps to aid exit and entry, so I'll need to look closer at this option for the XC90

[neon]

Nice but too much £££.

Surely Volvo noticed the issue with getting in and out of the XC90. The Mother-in-law cannot get in or out without help, always a silver lining.

[Quacker]

Originally Posted by neon

Nice but too much £££.

Surely Volvo noticed the issue with getting in and out of the XC90. The Mother-in-law cannot get in or out without help, always a silver lining.

Am I the first person to mention this? Obviously I'm not the first to notice it.
Not something that bothers me unduly but the contrast with the Discovery5 I saw today is marked. Like you, my mother has a problem with it and I've bought a solid little four inch bathroom step, which helps a lot but she still has to manoeuvre inwards quite a way. She is 89 though and up until the last six years she would have skipped into the seat.

[neon]

Originally Posted by Quacker

Am I the first person to mention this? Obviously I'm not the first to notice it.
Not something that bothers me unduly but the contrast with the Discovery5 I saw today is marked. Like you, my mother has a problem with it and I've bought a solid little four inch bathroom step, which helps a lot but she still has to manoeuvre inwards quite a way. She is 89 though and up until the last six years she would have skipped into the seat.

TBH I had never had a SUV before and just thought it was normal with such a beast of a car until I started to have issues with the leather creasing and peeling on my front seats.

[Quacker]

Obviously, from the video description of the XC60, they have addressed this issue on that model, which is presumably just as safe as the Xc90, so the massive protruding sills can't be essential.

Its not something that particularly concerns me but I do wish that it was more like the Discovery and the XC60 if I had a choice. So it is an issue with the vehicle, yes, it must be for many people.

Don't get me wrong, this is an absolutely lovely car and I've driven it nearly a thousand miles since Friday and enjoyed every minute of it. Its a pleasure to own and drive.


Apart from the stop/start, which is no different to any other current automatic car's.

[clarkgable]

Originally Posted by Torshen

See attached pic for sense of scale compared to the car - I'm a pretty large chap so unlikely to have much trouble reaching anything with my legs

For the others though, I think they're putting their feet onto the running board first whether entering or exiting, so the point is that they don't put their feet straight down to the ground (or straight into the car when entering). The running board is a halfway house to break up the manoeuvre.

Did you get the subwoofer instead of the B&W in the end? What is the subwoofer sound like on top of the standard system? I have ordered the same, so hope it's good?

[Torshen]

Originally Posted by clarkgable

Did you get the subwoofer instead of the B&W in the end? What is the subwoofer sound like on top of the standard system? I have ordered the same, so hope it's good?

Yep, I've got the subwoofer and I don't have the B&W as was too much extra to justify.

I like it and I'm glad I've got it. As others have said, it's quite subtle - even with the slider up to max and an EQ profile that bumps up the lower bands it's not an in-your-face type of bass sound. You'll probably never be rivalling any Max Power hatchback owners at the traffic lights when pumping out the tunes, but for me that's fine.

Do remember that audio from a phone sounds a lot better when connected via USB cable rather than Bluetooth. Not just clearer but also louder at any given volume setting, which I don't really get because both are digital, so both are just sending ones and zeroes, so signal strength wouldn't affect volume, but whatever the reason that's been my experience.

And I've found that certain tracks sound a lot better than others, which isn't new to be fair, I had the same thing in the previous car too. I've started a playlist specifically for the tracks I find that sound good and bassy, to gather them in one place.

[aab203]

Originally Posted by Torshen

Do remember that audio from a phone sounds a lot better when connected via USB cable rather than Bluetooth. Not just clearer but also louder at any given volume setting, which I don't really get because both are digital, so both are just sending ones and zeroes, so signal strength wouldn't affect volume, but whatever the reason that's been my experience.

Although they are both digital, it comes down to compression of the audio data, as far as I understand. With bluetooth, the aim is to reduce the payload as much as possible so that the traffic data is quite light (balanced with trying to maintain a decent audio quality). When plugged in, the available data throughput should be greater and so less compression needs to be applied.

This isn't based on fact, but just my assumption of how these things work

[Torshen]

Originally Posted by aab203

Although they are both digital, it comes down to compression of the audio data, as far as I understand. With bluetooth, the aim is to reduce the payload as much as possible so that the traffic data is quite light (balanced with trying to maintain a decent audio quality). When plugged in, the available data throughput should be greater and so less compression needs to be applied.

This isn't based on fact, but just my assumption of how these things work

Cheers, yep, I understand compression pretty well being a digital video bod by profession. But that shouldn't impact volume to a great extent, beyond simply having a few frequency bands missing.

So while I'd expect a difference in the sound clarity and warmth, and perhaps a small corresponding difference in perceived loudness as a result of some bands being stripped out, I wouldn't necessarily expect a very noticeable drop in overall volume, but that's what I see happening so there must be a reason for it. Just not sure what that is.

Anyway it's largely a moot point as I pretty much always plug in via USB for anything other than short trips.

[aab203]

Originally Posted by Torshen

Cheers, yep, I understand compression pretty well being a digital video bod by profession. But that shouldn't impact volume to a great extent, beyond simply having a few frequency bands missing.

So while I'd expect a difference in the sound clarity and warmth, and perhaps a small corresponding difference in perceived loudness as a result of some bands being stripped out, I wouldn't necessarily expect a very noticeable drop in overall volume, but that's what I see happening so there must be a reason for it. Just not sure what that is.

Anyway it's largely a moot point as I pretty much always plug in via USB for anything other than short trips.

Oops. I read too quickly and didn't spot you were only talking about the volume, not the quality

On a slightly related note... do you / anyone know how I can have the iPhone plugged in (i.e to charge) but have the audio still come out of the phone. I regularly use Google Maps to complement the Sensus navigation but whenever I plug it in I no longer get any instruction / audio