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Comments
One other thing, if you place two car seats in the second row, access to the 3rd row is blocked. We tried it and you cannot pull either outboard seat in the second row forward.
We will have one child in a booser seat in the middle of the second row, one car seta in the second row and one car seat in the thrid row.
I figure the car will be good for us for the next 8 years or so but it definitely is not as spacious as it could have been. Just 2-4 inches wider in second row would have made a huge difference.
Nothing beats a minivan for egress and ingress of kids and adults, but it is the old safelty factor that really seems to speak for the Volvo with children.
If you need full-size 2nd & 3rd rows then you'll need a full-size SUV, maybe a Honda Pilot, or a minivan.
As a interior size comparison, I tried out the GMC Envoy XL. This car has a 6 cylinder, 270 HP engine with similar rated gas (regular) mileage to the XC, but the length is about 16" longer. This is not the monster Yukon XL (Suburban) that is 16" longer, yet.
Not trying to sell you on the car, but the second and third rows were much more comfortable. Actually has theater-like seating. I sat in the back seat and had a clear,comfortable and unobstructed view. Although I am 5'10", GM says that a 6'2" person could sit in the back row comfortably. Middle seat in second row was cushier, too.
My size concern is for the transportation of more than four middle schoolers, teens or adults passengers.
Obviously, there are many more concerns than interior size, but you may want to check out an Envoy or a regular GMC Yukon (same size, but V-8 means lower gas mileage)just to gauge this specific factor.
Actually, I do notice it and it's not just on the T6 but the 2.5T as well especially if you're tall and/or need move the driver seat way back where your head is right next to the B pillar.
Like my Solara, I'm planning to put in those 3" blind spot mirrors which should help during the day, but at night, I'll probably have to move my head forward and look left before making a left lane change.
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/NCAP/Cars/2003SUVs.html
you will see the crash test results for SUVs.
I have 2 Britax Roundabout car seats. If I place one in the 2nd row driver-side outboard position and the other one in the middle of the 2nd row, will access to the 3rd row (via passenger-side) still be blocked?
surfer454 - Safety is my main concern now too. Much like yourself, I would probably not look at vehicles with 3 star crash tests.
http://www.shedrives.com/scholar.asp?Loc=RS&scholar=2300
"George Platzer, an engineer and member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), studied this issue, which he calls "The Blindzone Hazard," and concluded that adjusting your mirrors in this new method makes for safer driving and helps eliminate headlight glare at night. Safety is improved because the new adjustment requires only a glance into the mirror, versus a full turn of your head which causes you to take your eyes off the road for about 100 feet at highway speeds and completely eliminates your view in the direction you are traveling. Headlight glare is eliminated, Platzer says, because the nearby car's headlamps are not visible until the vehicle moves into the blind spot and, at this point, the brightest portion of the beam does not hit the mirror. "
I just left Volvo Irvine and had a test drive of a XC90 T6 AWD while I was there. The only blind spot I had was the annoying invoice sticker on the window behind me (which makes me wonder if it was a distraction because it was simply in my periphery or if I normally look around the B-pillar and through the glass behind me?) I'll have to take note of this later.
Thanks.
-rollie
Steve, Host
Works great, if the mirrors empty you can change lanes, if its not don't.
Really does eliminate glare too.
Just checking in to see if there's any information indicating when the FWD version of the XC 90 is scheduled for production. I can appreciate that Volvo might not be in a hurry to produce the FWD since the AWD's are selling so well but all the same I'm interested in the availability of the FWD...
Thanks
Thinking about it, hip room is something like 54 inches in the middle row. Divided up something like 21 inches per outboard seat and 12 inches for the middle seat does not leave enough room for two seats without blocking the other outboard seat from flipping forward. (Each roundabout is about 19 inches or so I believe).
I just had my third child today! I really have not figured out how to make it until April when our car arrives. We have two cars that each only hold 2 car seats which is a problem as I work hours that preclude me from helping get the kids to day care. I just might get an Oddysey this weekend, purely out of desperation, and leave my XC90 for somone else in the Seattle area.
That is why we will probably have two britax roundabouts in the third row and an infant seet in the middle row.
I believe you're the one who previously brought up the fact that there are no top-tether anchors in the third row? And that Volvo "discouraged" carseat placement there but wasn't totally conclusive? Did you find out otherwise?
Thank you.
The tethers are not a huge problem as my wife is quite certain that she can rigidly attach car seats back there even without tethers.
Happy Holidays
I wish Volvo would have some sympathy for my situation, but at the dealer level they seem to not give a hoot (and always bring up the "list" of people waiting). But when I ordered this car last September, they had no problem essentially guaranteeing delivery by the end of the year. Of course it was never in writing but my wife asked them about 5 times (as she was highly skeptical) whether this would really happen and they seemed quite certain. We both heard it and we are not dumb and we were not 'hearing what we wanted to hear'.
So in the end I guess it is a free market and we either need to somehow wait it out (have not figured out how to do that yet) or get another car.
happy holidays!!
Hey, another one is to wait off the shore of England and buy off a salvage operator for a salty XC90!
ps: how about Andrew? That's our backup for the little one in the oven if she's a he
The answer is an emphatic no. There is no way to have 2 Britax roundabouts in the second row and still have access to the third row. That is why we will probably have two britax roundabouts in the third row and an infant seet in the middle row. By the time we receive the car it should not be too long until my oldest can be in the front booster seat. Then we could have one other seat in the middle row and still get to the back.
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Not sure if this would work or not, but if you move the 2nd row middle booster seat foward, you should be able to fit another roundabout Britax seat on the left or right.
But others in the NE, midwest and south are getting their pick with immediate delivery. I would take any light colored T6 or 2.5 with a versatilty package and preferably xenons, not too picky.
Anybody know of any of these closer to Washington State than Arkansas?? At this point my choice is to get a car that I really do not want or possibly fly somewhere to pick up an XC90.
Desperate in Seattle with a wife thinking I am nuts for not going out and picking up an Odyssey. They just don't get it.
No buying and selling on the Town Hall boards!
tidester, host
Buy where there's availability, then ship. The taxes will be your local taxes since shipping out of state. They do this on eBay all the time....
1. Narrow down areas you're willing to drive/fly to.
2. Get all email addresses of the dealers from:
http://new.volvocars.com/retailer/
3. Email with all your requirements. Try to be flexible with colors and options.
In early Dec, I sent about 40 emails to dealers in the west coast and within 1-2 days, got about 10% replies from dealers in California, of which about 4-5 dealers had what I wanted. Finally I narrowed down to 2-3 dealers that had one coming in before Dec 31. 2 weeks later, the XC90 was parked in my garage.
Might be harder now, but I still have a few dealers in the west coast calling me about some availibilities.
Hope you get yours in time...
We lost one.
Also, the cars arrive on the East Coast first because its alot closer to Sweden.
Some dealers do have cars that are available due to cancellations.
We had one just the other day.
My advice is to call around and get yourself on as many lists as possible in the hope that someone will have a car for you.
No buying and selling on the Town Hall boards!
tidester, host "
Tidester:
I must have missed the buying and selling..which post were you responding to?
It appears the item was removed by its author! :-)
tidester, host
As stated in several posts above, we blasted emails to almost every dealer on the East Coast within a 200 mile radius to us. We actually received responses from most, with a majority telling us to give them a deposit and we'd receive a car by late March/April. Since that is what we had been hearing locally, it didn't interest us much. However, we received four calls from dealers who had openings within the next several weeks. One car matched up exactly with what we wanted, and drove off before December.
Now, the performance. I will first state that we are VERY happy with the vehicle so far. It rides fabulously, and is really very luxurious inside. We've put 1200 miles on it so far, and here are a few observations:
Highway gas mileage with a full car (2 adults, 1 baby, one large dog, luggage to match) is around 17.5. Not quite what we'd like, but if you are overly concerned with gas mileage you really aren't in the right vehicle category.
Road handling is excellent, and we think the engine is plenty strong. Granted, we're coming off of an early model INfiniti QX4, which was quite slow, but we are very happy with acceleration and passing power.
One slight complaint is how it fared in deep snow. We received about 2 feet of snow, and the XC90 had a little trouble extracating itself from a snowy patch while an Audi A8 did not. Only two of the wheels were spinning on the XC90, and we needed to push it out. Once out and driving around the car handled the snow well, but we did have trouble getting it out initially....
Steve, Host
In case you don't already know... when driving in the snow or rain especially if the road is extra slippery, Volvo recommends you drive in "W" (Winter) mode. This can be activated by pressing the "W" button on the gear box right next to the shifter.
We had three SUV's at our place (located in the mountains) this weekend- the XC90, a Hummer H2, and the Land Cruiser. I must admit that the other two seemed more sure-footed, but that's what they're known for- as well as being about $10k more expensive apiece.....
I have always driven 4wd and can count the times that I could not get out of snow patch (not ice) without much effort.
I understood that the 18" wheels were an option only on the T6.
I have Continental 4x 4 Contact tires on my 16" wheels. They are doing ok in our Albany, NY snow.
The larger 17 and 18 inch wheels have lower profile tires, so all have a similar diameter. But those 17 and 18" wheels sure do look nice.
Good luck with you suv. - Eric
KB