Testing a D5 AWD Inscription this week

[RoyMacDonald]

Originally Posted by Kev78

I have a company car myself but not everyone does.

My point isn't down to cost. It is that I think the D5 for £62k (not the t8) sounds cheap and pales in comparison to it's german rivals.

I would also argue many company car drivers at that paygrade put power and refinement before saving a few pennies.

These 4 cylinder engines sound cheap in a luxury suv.

The D5 also struggles despite the 230bhp. It's all delivered at low revs like all small capacity turbo engines.

Not everyone dislikes the sound of the new D5 you know. I found it barley audible on my test drive and comparable in noise level to my 4.4 litre V8. As you have said it's probably down to noise legislation that V8's no longer sound like the V8's of old. The mpg use while I was sitting in traffic with a 4.4 liter engine was horrific to me.

[AndrewMG]

Originally Posted by basoom

Thanks AndrewMG for your report
You make no mention of road noise and I would be nice to read your view on the matter..

Difficult to remember from the big drive as we had a car full + music but I would say it was probably a comparable to the XC70 I drove earlier in the year. Definitely not the quietest thing I've been in.

[st4]

Originally Posted by I-S

By the time you match the spec, the BMW X5 is basically the same price in xDrive 25d form.

Which, oddly enough, is a 2.0 4-cyl diesel engine of 231bhp.

Does anyone actually buy these or do the get the readies for the larger engine?

[reggie59]

Originally Posted by st4

Does anyone actually buy these or do the get the readies for the larger engine?

Interesting thread. Our xc90 bought new is now 5 years old so starting to read this forum again to get some info on the new xc990

Did not realised prices were that high...had in mind 45k

So, would I buy a 60kvolvo?

1- our xc90 has been ok.. But quality, reliability, dealer support has been more Renault then premium. At 4 years old; the driver seat leather started to peel off. Volvo dealer who serviced the car including repairs would not agree a car that age should suffer this.. Volvo customer service is awful experience. Give me a dentist visit instead anytime



2- have they moved on ? Not sure reading this thread and others

3- the weedy engine is a worry too

[NewVolvo]

Just before Christmas i were in Sweden and as time permitted, i decided to pop in to one of the Volvo dealers in Malmö.

Got talking to a very nice saleswoman regarding the "weedy engines". She said that more and more customers (and plenty of potential ones) comment on the fact that Volvo only offer 4-cylinder engines nowadays and the terrible lack of power in the D5. She did say that the new 4-cyl T6 engine when fitted to the XC90 is the big seller at the moment and the T8 being the bestseller since launch (completely sold out until 2017!). However, people wants a 6-cyl in this kind of car.....Volvo are aware and she has "heard" that Volvo have made or are in the making of a VEA 6-cyl but of course no idea if it ever will be availbe to the public. She went onto say that her "source" mentioned that it would fit between the current T6 and T8 with around 320-350 bhp.

She also said that the new VEA D5 is expected to get a power increase....

[RoyMacDonald]

Originally Posted by reggie59

Interesting thread. Our xc90 bought new is now 5 years old so starting to read this forum again to get some info on the new xc990

Did not realised prices were that high...had in mind 45k

So, would I buy a 60kvolvo?

1- our xc90 has been ok.. But quality, reliability, dealer support has been more Renault then premium. At 4 years old; the driver seat leather started to peel off. Volvo dealer who serviced the car including repairs would not agree a car that age should suffer this.. Volvo customer service is awful experience. Give me a dentist visit instead anytime



2- have they moved on ? Not sure reading this thread and others

3- the weedy engine is a worry too

If you don't get on with the dealer go to a different one. Never continue to use a dealer you are not 100% happy with.

Agree about the seat leather. Ours was still fine after 13 years.

The car is still under consumer warranty so you are entitled to claim under the sale of goods act against the dealer you bought it from.

You don't say if you have test driven one?

[Keeno]

Hi everyone, first post...I recently test drove one and the engine is one of the poorer elements of the car, but i wouldn't say "poor" per se, and if 40mpg can be a reality than for 90% of the time this will be more beneficial than those 10% hooning it late to the station / dinner / kids pick up moments. I currently drive a 3.0TDI 2015 Touareg and in sport mode it can shift, its a V6 and has more of a growl although again it doesn't sounds like a proper V6 - in fact the sound deadening on the whole car is rubbish. A lot of folks seem to compare the XC' to a Range Rover Sport SDV6 or a 4.0d X5, but in all reality when specced up to the XC90 level, there is a pretty significant price difference. A basic RRS with an ok spec is £70k. I also think the XC offers different things; i've had a number of X5's over the years, from an original 4.4 2000 car to a 2008 3.5d - not all were great and the dealers were variable. I had several cracked alloy wheels with the run flat tyre issue and the general level of arrogance was often limitless. The XC90 is a family truck, it does the 7 seat thing like no other, its a practical, useful thing that has tried to step up a level in terms of luxury, tech and kit. I think its succeeded, and the sales figures and general reviews would suggest that. The downside of its success is that it is attracting RRS, X5 and Q7 owners, not something the old car probably would have done. It's now fighting with the big boys, people that want their SUV to be practical, useful, luxurious, quick and fun to drive, whilst having a prestigious badge. That's ultimately why these SUV's are so popular, their breadth of ability is better than any other type of car...
I salute Volvo for the engine choice, but its early days for the new engine architecture and the XC90 is the guinea pig. These motors will get better, will pump out 300bhp, gearbox software will improve, sound better etc. If your priority is performance and power, the XC90 is probably not for you - the Cayenne, X5 and RRS are more biased towards those dynamics. Personally, I can forgo some of the dynamics for the rest of the package, and I like the image, but I also have another car with 4wd and 450bhp for spirited driving, some people dont, and therefore their SUV has to cover more bases - i completely get that. Horses for courses etc etc!.

[NewVolvo]

Just thought I post my 2c here after coming back from a trip to Sweden and a "proper" ride in the XC90 lasting 4 days and over 500 miles.

Started with being upgraded by Hertz to the new XC90 D5 Inscription (from a V60, via XC70). Very nice indeed. The XC90 is HUGE, much bigger than I thought of on my previous testdrive back in December.

Seats are nice, but I personally found them to be too wide on the Inscription version. Clearly I need to eat more!!

8-speed auto is a gem. Works just as good on the XC90 as it does on the rest of the range when fitted to the D4. Very smooth. But, when "Dynamic" drive was selected one could certainly feel the gearchanges. I am guessing this is programmed like this by Volvo.

The new VEA D5 is actually quite a nice engine. When cold, it does sound like a rattly and noisy tractor but once warm, one can not feel it nor hear it very much. It does sound a bit "screamy" when pushed to high revs though.

The new XC90 might weight 2.1 tonnes, but the XC90 is soooo easy to drive and happily increases progress to loose your licence speed....in fact I am really impressed by how fast this thing really is. Makes you wonder what the T6 and T8 feels like!

Quality is well made indeed but there are areas where they have been cheap. One of them being some plastics. I also found that the shiny black around the steering wheel and on the centre console to be nasty or tacky. My opinion of course.

Noisy....yes. Car was fitted with 18" Conti winter tyres. Looked on the Swedish Volvo page and "Laminated Glass" are an option. This would help keeping the noise down.

Fuelconsumption....avg 7.6 litres/100 kms = 37 mpg. Not bad considering the size and the speed I was doing (mainly 95 mph with stints upto 130!).

The rental had the normal stereo and as per Volvo norm, it's boomy but very powerful (ie unable to sit in car when turned up).

It also had the Head up display which I am especially fond of since my own car have it. A great invention.

The iPad screen is fantastic. But does take your eyes of the road.....safety thinking from Volvo?!

Love the Swedish flag sewn in on the side of the passenger seat.

Had some passengers front and back who were all very impressed by the size and comfort of it

Would I buy one. No. Way to big for me/us + I am not so keen/fond of the SUV thing. However, if I did, I would rather go for the T6 or even T8 version due to the diesel engine being only a 4 pot. No matter how smooth it is, it's still sounds like a rattly 4-pot diesel (especially so when cold).

Happy to answer questions if anyone wants to know more.








Minimized mode on Navigation.


Maximized mode.


Head up display.

[RoyMacDonald]

Originally Posted by Keeno

Hi everyone, first post...I recently test drove one and the engine is one of the poorer elements of the car, but i wouldn't say "poor" per se, and if 40mpg can be a reality than for 90% of the time this will be more beneficial than those 10% hooning it late to the station / dinner / kids pick up moments. I currently drive a 3.0TDI 2015 Touareg and in sport mode it can shift, its a V6 and has more of a growl although again it doesn't sounds like a proper V6 - in fact the sound deadening on the whole car is rubbish. A lot of folks seem to compare the XC' to a Range Rover Sport SDV6 or a 4.0d X5, but in all reality when specced up to the XC90 level, there is a pretty significant price difference. A basic RRS with an ok spec is £70k. I also think the XC offers different things; i've had a number of X5's over the years, from an original 4.4 2000 car to a 2008 3.5d - not all were great and the dealers were variable. I had several cracked alloy wheels with the run flat tyre issue and the general level of arrogance was often limitless. The XC90 is a family truck, it does the 7 seat thing like no other, its a practical, useful thing that has tried to step up a level in terms of luxury, tech and kit. I think its succeeded, and the sales figures and general reviews would suggest that. The downside of its success is that it is attracting RRS, X5 and Q7 owners, not something the old car probably would have done. It's now fighting with the big boys, people that want their SUV to be practical, useful, luxurious, quick and fun to drive, whilst having a prestigious badge. That's ultimately why these SUV's are so popular, their breadth of ability is better than any other type of car...
I salute Volvo for the engine choice, but its early days for the new engine architecture and the XC90 is the guinea pig. These motors will get better, will pump out 300bhp, gearbox software will improve, sound better etc. If your priority is performance and power, the XC90 is probably not for you - the Cayenne, X5 and RRS are more biased towards those dynamics. Personally, I can forgo some of the dynamics for the rest of the package, and I like the image, but I also have another car with 4wd and 450bhp for spirited driving, some people dont, and therefore their SUV has to cover more bases - i completely get that. Horses for courses etc etc!.

Is a 0-62 mph time of 7.8 sec for the diesel or 5.6 sec for the T8 really that slow?

[Keeno]

I don't think the D5 is "slow", its just a little way off the best in the sector, and as I said perhaps better for it in terms of its other attributes. For some the D5 dynamics will be all they need, but for others, those <5% of times when they curse the lack of power / smoothness / sound / feel will be enough to pick the X5 / Q7 / RRS over it. Although I suspect subsequent model years will see improvements in the BHP output, software mapping etc..

I cant comment on the T8 as I haven't driven it.