General: New XC90 Owner for 9 Months - Report

A few people write here asking for views on the XC90 so, I hope this might assist them.
In November of 2005, I picked up my new XC90 Executive D5 6-speed Geartronic and can report the following at 11,000 miles:

1. It has not caught fire...!

2. The SatNav works perfectly. In January we used it to take us on a trip to Dover-St Omer-Brussels-Luxembourg-Cologne-Amsterdam-Colchester. I spent ten minutes programming all the hotel stops the night before and I have to say I was stunned by the capability of the system compared to others I have used..once I got used to it.

3. The tyres have not worn away unduly quickly

4. The best mileage I have returned is 32mpg on the Autobahn

5 The worst mileage I have returned is 28mpg

6. There is no "lag" when pulling away from junctions etc.

7. The only problem occured on the day I picked it up....it broke down. Complete electrical failure 10miles down the road from the dealer. Apparently, the altenator was faulty. Volvo UK compensated me by offering a free first service which is at 18000 miles.

I can honestly say that this car is the first I have ever had where I believe it is truly "fit for purpose". That includes, in recent years, a new Jaguar XJ8 and Porsche 911, both of which disappointed on a regular basis.

The car is comfortable on long journeys, safe for us and other road users and environmentally more acceptable than many others in this group.

In summary..as you can probably tell, I like the car.

[tj101c70]

Yes, have to agreed with the above,,
Now on my 5th XC, the 6 speed box does seam to improve the power take off somewhat!! but then most of mine have had the ECU re-programed, so was never a previous problem !!



On my 5th, so i must be pleased with mine ??

[perussell]

Oh, you lucky man! You seem to have got one they finally got right.

Yes, I really like my XC90 and may well replace it with another one but they are far from faultless.

Last week, whilst barrelling down the motorway I suddenly got the message 'SRS Service required - Urgent' and the airbag warning light is now permanently on. Try concentrating on your driving whilst wondering if you are going to get a face full of airbag any second! Apparently, no chance of that but it seems yet another design fault whereby the airbag impact sensors and wiring loom in the front bumper have been placed right where any rain water from the tyres impacts the body resulting in corrosion of the parts (now awaiting replacement under warranty) and apparently re-positioned on newer models.

As for the SatNav I just returned from a long weekend in Wales where it functioned perfectly because nothing more than a 40 mile journey was being programmed at any one time. The system will work perfectly on long routes providing you stick only to major roads, because it doesn't see anything else. I still laugh at the time the A1 was blocked near Leeds en route to Newcastle and it told me to go all the way back across the Pennines to Manchester and up the M6 to Carlisle rather than to York and up the nearby "minor" road i.e. a major dual carriageway A19. If it is perfect why has it been so comprehensively changed on the new model to a hard drive system rather than DVDs "in response to customer complaints" (quote from dealer). The functionality is fantastic, the long distance route planning away from major routes is not. I have even heard it suggested that somebody has approached the Consumer Association to complain about the system.

The lag is there - I have learned to live with it but never try racing starts out of junctions these days.

The tyres lasted 24,000 miles but the rears both needed changing, even though one had 5 mm left, because one wheel was out of alignment

Oh, and I managed 35.5 mpg from my D5 Geartronic on my way back from Wales, not bad!

A good car, yes - superbly practical but in common with my 2 previous Volvos, A V40 and a V70 it has suffered a few too many warranty glitches.

Very good, but certainly not perfect!

[yatesspud]

A quick question in response to the lag pulling away. I haven't tried it myself yet, but would this still happen if it was in the steptronic mode ?

[Arianne]

Adding my feedback:

11,000 miles since D5 SE (185bhp) was new on 31st March 2006. This includes a 2,700 return trip to the Austrian Tyrol from Scotland.

Problems
- CD player jammed after 3wks. Probably my fault as I was playing home CD's with paper labels - Oops. Fixed under warranty by dealer & no questions asked.
- Rattle in drivers door. Spotted by dealer and fixed under warranty.
- Rattle in both front seatbelt when passenger or driver move slightly. Dealer is about to try and resolve this for the second time and has requested to keep the car for two days (for parts) and is supplying courtesy car.
- Suspension a bit clumsy on winding Border's roads - but hey, it's no Impreza.

Good things
- Mine has not caught fire either!
- MPG better than expected at between 33-35mpg, but we are light on the throttle.
- everyone else thinks the car is beautiful which makes us feel even better.
- no grief from German autobahn drivers when we were in outside lane unlike our previous Galaxy, despite often being at the same speed of 110mph.
- AWD and build quality keep inspiring confidence.
- Really excited about our forthcoming winter ski holiday and just hope that there is a lot of snow to try out with the XC90.
- Dealer is a delight and has exceeded our expectations - Clellands of the Borders, Galashiels. John Clelland is the owner, he of Rally fame.
- Car magazines keep writing fab reviews.

Thus far, a joy to drive and own.

Arianne

[patl]

I'll also add my feedback ... 6 months, 7000 miles, D5 185, no fires to date

Problems

1. Supplied with missing bit of trim in rear bumper ... dealer posted trim for me to fit myself.
2. Trim in driver footwell started coming loose ... dealer fixed at 3000 mile checkup.
3. Computer does not register MPG correctly (see post on subject). Mentioned twice to dealer, they forgot to look at it first time and the second time when they had it foir 2 days they didn't attempt a fix, just told me the computer would get more accurate if I didn't reset it. Obviously makes no difference. Will ask them to look at it when it gets serviced.
4. CD doesn't like CD R/W, but happy with CD R.

Observations

1. Great car, lot of features and looks superb, really happy with it.
2. Great space, use the 7 seats regularly and can still fit in luggage.
3. Can take 70 inches of sideboad in the back.
4. Town MPG is 25 and about 30 on the open road (heavy right foot).
5. No lag.
6. Glad my wife persuaded me to buy it (we fight for the keys now).