XC60 Constant Faults

[XC60Owner]

In the 18 months I have owned my XC60 I have had faults with:

(1) Active bending headlights (refusing to turn off)
(2) Child Locks (regular service required messages)
(3) Windscreen washer tube (trapped in bonnet lid)
(4) Windscreen wiper blade (warped)
(5) Door card (warped)
(6) Alarm (mass movement sensor replaced twice)
(7) Dashboard (went crazy showing nonsense)
(8) Parking brake (error code)
(10) Recalls x3 - rising oil (was v.v. high), some engine bolt, tilting belt
(11) Wind noise (caused by wing mirror)
(12) BLIS (unit replaced)
(13) Plastic bits keep falling off

I'm so fed up with the car. We even had to get it fixed whilst on holiday. I've complained in writing but the garage have as good as told me to take a running jump and Volvo UK after a lot of letters and stressful phone calls have agreed to a 1 year extended warranty. I think the car is a lemon and want rid of it but what can I do? Can't afford an upgrade. Garage say too late for a rejection and Volvo UK just aren't interested. Plus garage keep messing up repairs and causing additional damage (which they deny and hence refuse to fix). What would you do at this point?

[r-designbob]

Probably seek legal advise.
Not good at all.

[Gravy]

Dont know how far you are located from Volvo UKs Ivory Tower, however England is a small place so this should not be too difficult.

I would go and park in the driveway of their establishment and refuse to move my vehicle until you have direct face to face dialogue with their EO. Alternatively contact your Consumer Affairs Authority and request their best advice on how to resolve your problem. Is there a "lemon car" policy invoked in the UK?

Drastic measures are sometimes required for the "little man" to obtain satisfaction.

[scotgc]

I have great sympathy with you, a new car should be a joy to own and be completely free from defects. It is however a very complex machine nowadays and some niggles can occur. It sounds to me as though the service you have received from the dealership has been substandard and this has added to your frustration. Have you tried to find another possibly more helpful and more importantly competent place in which to carry out repairs?

It's an excellent car and hopefully once everything has settled out you will have a more pleasurable experience.

Best of luck!!

[NewVolvo]

Pity to hear how you feel about your XC60. Legally you will have no chance, the garage is right that it is too late to reject and they (local garage/Volvo UK) have offered you an extended warranty which you, I guess, accepted.

The recalls concerned all of us but saying that, I have personally never had so much unluck with any car, even if not related to the car's fault by any means, that I have with the XC60.

3x Recalls (fixed)
Puncture + various scratches around the wheelarch 2 weeks into ownership (fixed)
Paint defects from factory (fixed)
Bluetooth software update = wiped all my details (fixed)
Throttle Response/ECU update/software = wiped all Sat Nat settings but car feels like new to drive
Long scratch down the offside rear door after som **** ran his bag down the side on ferry to Holland (waiting to be fixed)

Would I buy another? Probably.....

[155mph]

Not sure what your personal circumstances are, but why not cut your losses and sell your car back to the dealer? God knows there's pent-up demand out there for XC60s so you may end up in the money.

Buying a car is always stressful.

I know how you feel. My XC60 is only 3 months old and I regret ever buying it. Don't get me wrong, on the whole it is a great car; just more problems than I would expect for my £34K. Like most, I am too busy with life to be writing letters, making phone calls and driving up and down to the service centre. I simply want my car to perform faultlessly, but some here would argue my expectations are unrealistic.

Would I buy another? Probably not.

[irishcarfan]

That's disappointing. Based on my family's experience, I'd look into getting rid of it while the car is still worth a good amount.

[XC60Owner]

I asked about cost to upgrade and the dealership valued my car, which cost £35K 18 months ago at £23K, they priced a new one at £37K giving me a cost of upgrade of £14K. On the Volvo used cars site a load of similar age, spec and mileage cars are on at £30K . Drive the deal prices the same spec new at £33K, which includes a £1,750 trade in bonus which the garage didn't include in their price (or they did include it and failed to mention it to me). They told me that considering all the problems I've had they would give me a 'very generous deal'. But since then they have refused to pay for damage caused to the car in their workshop so there's no way I'm buying from them. I'm currently looking to see what I can trade the car in for via drive the deal. That said, do I want a Volvo? I'm not impressed with the dealership, Volvo UK or the car's reliability ... but I like the XC60. If I get one and it keeps failing like this one then more fool me!

[Wildoskar]

I think there are still some very good deals to be done if you negotiate hard and stand your ground. I managed to get over £7k reduction on a new XC60 as well as the 3 year free servicing (think that's finished now), back in mid May ( car still on order). I Originally kept my own car out of the deal until I was happy with the figures and then brought it back in at the end, dealer was not happy but agreed a trade in that I was happy with. Not sure if you would be financing but I managed to beat the dealers lease rates by thousands by shopping around and arranging my own finance lease. May be worth speaking to another dealer as yours may not be keen on having the car back if they think the probs could be ongoing. In terms of used prices, I found that the headline figures are over inflated and come down quite quickly under negotiation, saying that in my case new still worked out a better overall deal (I had originally planned on second hand)

[Dellsonic]

Originally Posted by XC60Owner

In the 18 months I have owned my XC60 I have had faults with:

(1) Active bending headlights (refusing to turn off)
(2) Child Locks (regular service required messages)
(3) Windscreen washer tube (trapped in bonnet lid)
(4) Windscreen wiper blade (warped)
(5) Door card (warped)
(6) Alarm (mass movement sensor replaced twice)
(7) Dashboard (went crazy showing nonsense)
(8) Parking brake (error code)
(10) Recalls x3 - rising oil (was v.v. high), some engine bolt, tilting belt
(11) Wind noise (caused by wing mirror)
(12) BLIS (unit replaced)
(13) Plastic bits keep falling off

I'm so fed up with the car. We even had to get it fixed whilst on holiday. I've complained in writing but the garage have as good as told me to take a running jump and Volvo UK after a lot of letters and stressful phone calls have agreed to a 1 year extended warranty. I think the car is a lemon and want rid of it but what can I do? Can't afford an upgrade. Garage say too late for a rejection and Volvo UK just aren't interested. Plus garage keep messing up repairs and causing additional damage (which they deny and hence refuse to fix). What would you do at this point?

Only problem I have had is compound from disk pads burning into alloys after 2 weeks of ownership.

Otherwise fine, but early days admittedly. Paint could be a weak spot.

McDell