Collected the car today

[Lexman8]

Originally Posted by neon

Concerned about the PAII as this has been marketed as a big selling point on the car. It should not have any issue on our motorways, if it does it is pointless.

I've tried it twice on a stretch of Smart motorway between J39 and J41 of the M1. Being new, the lane markings are perfect. PA2 would be fine for a few hundred metres then throw a wobbly (literally). And at one point, despite the road markings still being perfect, it shut off without warning. Perhaps mine needs (re)calibrating.

Incidentally, a part of that section of the M1 has noise-reducing tarmac. The car rides well over it.

Any views Lexman on air conditioning performance and auto parking.

The performance of the aircon has been fine these last few days with the fan set at level 2. On fan setting 3 or above the noise can be fairly intrusive. This goes for the rear aircon too and having both systems on a high fan setting is pretty noisy (but probably unnecessary).

I've not tried auto-parking. I was in my mate's XC90 one time when we tried it. There was so much faffing around with it that he gave up. On returning to the car, we tried Park Out which is simpler but he intervened (rightly) when we seemed to get scarily close to the car parked in front.

[tem]

Originally Posted by neon

Yes my wife came out with it a few weeks ago and I cracked up.

Another quote from Glasgow about Edinburgh:
They know how to powder their nose's, but do not know how to wipe their ar**.

tem.

[Lexman8]

Originally Posted by tem

All fur coats and no knickers?
Old saying.
Glasgows thoughts about Edinburgh.

tem.

That takes me back. I went to Uni in Glasgow, many years (decades!) ago now.

[aab203]

Originally Posted by tem

Back to the door.
Other than a rejection of the car, a new door needs to be supplied in the correct colour.
Defiantly no re-spray.

Just curious to understand what the difference would be between the two options?

Wouldn't a new door achieve the same thing as a re-spray as there is no damage / dents to the existing door? I'd have thought a new door would be more likely to still be different to the rest of the bodywork given it would be produced in isolation and with some tolerance to colour variation. In my mind an on site respray would allow the door to be blended to match the bodywork.

This is not based on any experience, just how I personally would interpret the two options - hence my curiosity with the suggestion of going with a new door

[Usualwill]

Originally Posted by Lexman8

In no particular order, some quick thoughts on other aspects of the car:

• This PowerPulse equipped D5 feels much better than the MY16 I test drove. Noticeably quicker off the mark and seems smoother overall. The first to second gear change is still ill-timed though. - I AGREE ALTHOUGH STILL A BIT OF LAG WHEN PULLING OUT OF JUNCTIONS, SO HAVE TO "PLAN AHEAD" MORE THAN I USED TO
• Happy with the 19" wheels and Pirelli Scorpions. There seems to be less intrusive/annoying noise than on the MY16 car. I wonder if they've slipped in some extra sound insulation. I AGREE - THE SOUND HASN'T BEEN AN ISSUE FOR US ALTHOUGH TO BE FAIR THIS IS THE FIRST "PREMIUM" VEHICLE WE'VE HAD SO I DON'T HAVE ANYTHING TO BENCHMARK AGAINST.
• Impressed with the Adaptive Shadow headlamps. Long range beam is better than any other car I've driven. The car is very quick to dip/adapt to other traffic. On a narrow, twisting country lane you can actually see the beams swivelling and the shadow changing shape as other cars appear. - AGREE - THIS IS A BIG PLUS FOR ME AND A VERY IMPRESSIVE SYSTEM
• Delighted that 4-zone climate comes with heated rear seats now; wasn't expecting that. I HADN'T REALISED THAT - WILL HAVE TO CHECK MY CAR TONIGHT
• Voice input/control seems to work much better than before. - YES ALTHOUGH ITS STILL NOWHERE NEAR AS GOOD AS SIRI WHICH IS INTEGRATED THROUGH APPLE CAR PLAY.
• VoC is good fun. Have used pre-conditioning a couple of times to blow air through the car when parked in the sun and like being told when I've left the car unlocked.
• Love the 360 camera but wish there was dedicated physical button for it. I AGREE - I STILL TEND TO FIND MYSELF HUNTING THROUGH MENU OPTIONS TOO MUCH FOR MY LIKING BUT I'M HOPING THAT THIS WILL IMPROVE AS I BECOME MORE ACCUSTOMED TO THE SYSTEM.
• Mudflaps are essential on this car, especially at the front. Mine aren't fitted yet and it's obvious muck is being thrown up onto the sides of the car. AGREE - WE HAVE FRONT AND BACK FITTED AND THEY SEEM TO BE DOING A GOOD JOB OF PROTECTING THE PAINTWORK
• As supplied the car's tyres were at their ECO pressures. I reduced them to comfort levels. - GOOD TO KNOW, PARTICULARLY AS THE CAR IS SET TO COMFORT MODE! I'LL CHECK THAT OUT TONIGHT
• Very happy with the standard sound system. A well encoded FLAC or even mp3 file on a USB stick sounds great. Videos play really well too. I'd still like to have top-down folder access though rather than relying on the files' meta-data. DAB works well. WE ARE ONLY USING DAB AS MUSIC STREAMED THROUGH APPLE CAR PLAY WHICH I HAVE TO SAY IS VERY GOOD. THE ONLY DOWNSIDE IS THAT WHEN THE PHONE IS CONNECTED TO APPLE CAR PLAY VIA THE USB PORT (WHICH IS MANDATORY FOR APPLE CAR PLAY), THE CAR WILL NOT ALSO CONNECT TO THE INTERNET THROUGH THE SAME CONNECTION. TO ENABLE THE CAR TO BE CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET (FOR TRAFFIC OR RUNNING A WIFI NETWORK FOR OTHER DEVICES IN THE CAR), YOU HAVE TO ALSO CONNECT THE PHONE VIA WIFI (PERSONAL HOTSPOT ON PHONE). WOULD BE MUCH EASIER IF CAR WAS FULLY CONNECTED THROUGH THE USB CONNECTION.
• The car's ability to read out texts is very cool and surprisingly useful.
• Not really checked out the satnav yet but my first impression is that the 'minimalist' map presentation is visually unappealing. I PERSONALLY DON'T MIND THE SIMPLICITY OF THE MAP LAYOUT. IT WOULD BE GOOD TO GET MORE INFORMATION ON THE DRIVER DISPLAY AS I FIND MYSELF REVERTING TO THE FULL MAP ON THE SENSUS DISPLAY SO THAT I CAN GET A PERSPECTIVE OF WHERE NEXT TURN IS OR LAYOUT OF A ROUNDABOUT FOR EXAMPLE. WHAT REALLY ANNOYS ME ABOUT THE SATNAV IS THE LACK OF DECENT REAL TIME TRAFFIC INFORMATION - IT IS JUST SO FAR BEHIND GOOGLE MAPS AND WAZE. JUST THIS WEEKEND I GOT STUCK IN TRAFFIC THAT, UPON CHECKING, BOTH WAZE AND GOOGLE MAPS WOULD HAVE ROUTED ME AROUND. I KNOW THAT I COULD STILL USE THESE APPS BUT THEY AREN'T INTEGRATED INTO THE DRIVER DISPLAY (OR HUD IF YOU HAVE IT). I FIND IT RIDICULOUS THAT A 50K+ CAR CANNOT COME WITH A SATNAV THAT IS ON A PAR WITH A FREE APP! WHEN WILL MANUFACTURERS WAKE UP TO THIS?
• I hate the key fobs. Tiny buttons on the narrowest side of such a large fob are just such a stupid idea. Definitely a case of form over function. AGREE - BIT TOO BULKY FOR MY LIKING
• Not sure I'm going to use PA2 that much. Even with new and perfect motorway lane markings it wanders around too much and gets worryingly close to adjacent vehicles. You end up steering it yourself but with the added inconvenience of having to overcome the extra steering resistance of the auto system. WE HAD A COUPLE OF REASONABLY LONG JOURNEYS AND USED IT QUITE EXTENSIVELY. ONLY ON A COUPLE OF OCCASIONS DID I HAVE TO TAKE CONTROL. I WOULDN'T SAY THAT I WAS MORE RELAXED USING PA2 BECAUSE I WAS CONSTANTLY ON EDGE WAITING TO TAKE BACK CONTROL BUT ON THE WHOLE I WAS PRETTY IMPRESSED.I THINK/HOPE THIS IS SOMETHING THAT WILL IMPROVE WITH FUTURE SOFTWARE UPDATES AS I BELIEVE ALL OF THE TELEMETRY IS SENT BACK TO VOLVO FOR ANALYSIS.
• By accident, I discovered that a long press on an interior light button allows you set a dimming level for that light. - AGAIN GOOD ADVICE - THANKS
• One real annoyance: I was taught to remove my seat-belt when reversing and after all these years I do it without even thinking. Try doing that in the XC with auto-parking brake engaged and the car refuses to move. Putting the seat-belt back on sometimes doesn't allow the brake to release even with a manual over-ride. Yesterday, while in a busy car park, in the end I had to switch off the ignition wait a few seconds and re-start. One 'safety' feature too far, in my opinion.

So, basically, I'm really happy with the car apart from the paint issue.

Hi Lexman,
I've shared my experiences from your car's "twin" this weekend. In addition to your comments the only other problems I've had are:
1. The VOC app was stating that my car was unlocked when in fact it was not. It was showing tailgate open but upon checking the car everything was locked and secure. My son had locked the car from the button on the tailgate so I wonder if that was the reason? Something for Volvo to iron out in a future update. I love the fact that I can send a destination to the SatNav from the App - definitely saves time.
2. Upon checking the car this morning all of the menu settings seem to have reverted to their default settings. I'm wonder whether this happened when I set up my profile and linked to key fob at the weekend but am going to set them up again and will see if they are saved this time.

Overall though we are hugely impressed with the car. My best friend who is a committed BMW man was equally impressed and said that they build quality was on easily on par with his new X5 and his wife's convertible.

My only other "gripe" was with the car handover process. This is the absolute highlight of the buying experience but, for me it was just too clinical (sort out paperwork/finances, walkthrough of car basic, handshake and drive off). My local dealership is just going through a massive rebuild and they'll be introducing a "handover" room at which time they'll be able to do the "big reveal" etc which is becoming much more common but it wouldn't have taken too much effort to provide a little extra touch, for example a case of wine or nice bouquet of flowers for the wife. Its these little things which in my opinion make the whole experience much more pleasurable and memorable.
Now I don't blame the Saleperson for this because he has been outstanding throughout the whole but either the dealership or Volvo themselves need to step up their "client experience" game.

[tem]

Originally Posted by aab203

Just curious to understand what the difference would be between the two options?

Wouldn't a new door achieve the same thing as a re-spray as there is no damage / dents to the existing door? I'd have thought a new door would be more likely to still be different to the rest of the bodywork given it would be produced in isolation and with some tolerance to colour variation. In my mind an on site respray would allow the door to be blended to match the bodywork.

This is not based on any experience, just how I personally would interpret the two options - hence my curiosity with the suggestion of going with a new door

I would hope that a new door direct from Sweden in the correct colour, would be a better option than the existing one being re-sprayed.
No matter how good the re-painting will be, it will not have the same paint thickness, or finish that a new door will have from the factory.

One question.
If the car left the factory in its current state, how did it pass the QA and inspection stages?

tem.

[tem]

This is copied from My Volvo:

Painted in the colour of your choice

When the body is completed it is transported from the body shop to a phosphatising process for pre-treatment to get good primer protection. After this, the body is taken to our dust and dirt-free paint shop to be painted by around 80 robots in one of approximately 20 beautiful colours.

The paint shop is considered to be one of the cleanest in the car industry and features a unique air filtration system.


How could "one door" be painted a different shade of colour?

tem.

[gaby]

[QUOTE=tem;2145183] How could "one door" be painted a different colour?[QUOTE]

I think it can't, although this is not about a different color.
But I now that it is possible (for a decent paintshop) to spray paint a door without
any (visible) difference. Unfortunately I know this from my own experience.

[AB-UK]

[QUOTE=tem;2145183]This is copied from My Volvo:

Painted in the colour of your choice .... one of approximately 20 beautiful colours.

Would be nice if buyers the top of the range model - the XC90II - the most expensive models Volvo have produced - could choose from the whole range of colours.

[tem]

[QUOTE=gaby;2145185][QUOTE=tem;2145183] How could "one door" be painted a different colour?

I think it can't, although this is not about a different color.
But I now that it is possible (for a decent paintshop) to spray paint a door without
any (visible) difference. Unfortunately I know this from my own experience.

Added - A different shade of colour.

tem.