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Comments
If you want more than 5 seats, there aren't many vehicles (if any) that compare to the XC90. True, I will be upset if my new XC90 turns out to be like armd's, but there's no way I am buying any of the other 7 seaters. So my decision would have to be to go down to 5 seats, and that is a worse alternative than having a 7-seater with a few problems that can likely be fixed if you scream loud enough. I like the ride/drive/safety of the XC90 over the LandCruiser, Suburban, Escalade, Denali, etc. etc.
More to the point, stars are class specific. A 5 star econobox is typically not safer than a 4 star barge for example. You can't compare SUV star ratings to sedans (you can compare things like bone impact loads but I don't think NHTSA publishes that yet - just EuroNCAP so far.)
Thanks.
-rollie
I agree with you to a point. However, with the following caveats:
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/testing/ncap/Info.html#iq6
6. Can I compare vehicles from different classes?
Depending on the weight of a vehicle, it can be compared to other vehicles in it's class. Since a frontal crash test into a fixed barrier is similar to a crash between two vehicles of the same weight, the frontal crash test results can only be compared to other vehicles in the same weight class and those plus or minus 250 lbs.
Side crash test results can be compared across all classes because all vehicles are hit with the same barrier and at the same force.
Rollover Resistance Ratings can also be compared across all classes.
Thus, the XC90's 4-star passenger rating in their frontal crash test, vs. the S80's 5-star passenger rating in the same test, is not directly comparable. However, it's easily implied that because of the XC90's higher weight, the "real" difference is definitely significantly less than "one star."
That makes the high IIHS and EuroNCAP scores for the XC90 all the more impressive, because the vehicle scores at the top of its class, and because that class is one of the heaviest classes. Thus a top score in the heavier class often implies more protection for occupants of the heavier vehicle, than the "same" top score in a lighter class. Not as good news for impacted cars beyond the front bumper compatability, but good news for occupants of the XC90.
Finally, there are other significant factors. Sure, the rollover potential in an SUV in general is going to be higher than a sedan. The XC90's RSC obviously helps here, along with its relatively good SSF. But the ride height of an SUV, and the higher height of the passenger also brings safety advantages. Side impacts from sedans tend to impart less damage to higher-riding occupants in SUV's (one reason most SUV's get 5-stars in NHTSA's side-impact test, which uses a barrier the size of a Corolla). Riding higher helps with side-impacts from other SUV's, by helping lower the aggressive impact point (further lowered by side curtains) below the head.
"Today, the washing system for the lights went out."
Are you low on washing fluid? When the fluid is low the light washers don't work. Conserves fluid for the windshield.
When my XC90 was delivered over a year ago, the washing fluid ran out not long after I got the car. I think they purposely ship it without a lot of fluid and the dealer forgot to fill it.
Sharon
Correct. It's a design feature that allows you to conserve your fluid once it gets below a certain point. Nice to have!
Can't be a shocker. It'll probably improve in a couple of years, just like the S60 and V70 eventually improved to "average."
Obviously on these forums you'll find folks with no problems and folks with a lot of problems. While CR's methodology is far from perfect, I trust it more than other sources.
Here is the summary I got from Consumer Reports.
highs: flexible interior, seven-seat capacity, safety features.
lows: fuel economy, transmission
But...if you haven't cleared the itinerary but turn off the nav before turning off the car, it will not come up until you ask it to.
Fwiw I have some info that may help narrow the possibilities. I am pretty sure that the reset happens when you start or stop the car. Today is the second time I noticed that when I started the car the trip counters had reset to 0.0. There were some idaes that the trip counter resets after a certain number of miles. I doubt that is the case because it is highly unlikely that on two seperate occassions I would have parked my car at that exact moment.
So this seems to be a random thing, or triggered by something that is unrelated to milage. Whatever is causing this, I am convinced that it happens when you shut the car off or start her up.
I tested it this weekend myself, since the Trip2 odo was near 620 miles. I left it on this setting and sure enough, when it reached 621, it reset to 0. My understanding is that Volvo has acknowledged as much and is working on a software upgrade.
Yes, the DVD Rear Entertainment System is available. My sale guy told me at the beginning of Jan. It costs $3000 even with parts and labor. First come first serve and not too many units are available though. Placed my order. All the parts were in last week. Schedule to install last Friday and was told just take a day. Since I was the first one (guinea pig), they run into problem, ... Finally, just picked up my car this morning. It is very nice. It integrated to the rear parking assistant. So if you put on reverse, the monitor flip it up. When put in drive, automatically put back down. However, the DVD drive is installed slightly behind the last row (3rd row) on the roof. So driver cannot change disc while driving. That's the only draw back to me. Hopefully I picked some movie which runs long enough so I don't have to stop in the middle of the trip to change it. It comes with 2 wireless headsets and a remote. So at least I can control while driving. Also it is color code to the interior, in my case, taupe.
$ 3,000 Ouch that is pricey..my dealer told me they would install at cost since I had to wait so long..I wonder what that would be..
Can you confirm that the sound can be heard thru the xc 90 premium sound system and not just the headphones ?
I feel the same. I think I can have a third party to put a system for much less. When I checked around such as goodguys, circuit city, their price are very attractive. But as soon as they heard is a 04 model, they bailed. They just said there isn't enough data. Also, I like headrest monitor more than the roof mount monitor. And some local shop, the system just won't integrated into the existing stuff. So after a long debate between my head, I go with the dealer afraid of something screw up, it's still cover under the warranty.
I will try it out tonight, and let you know. But when I tried the system at dealer, the sound was going through the DVD speaker though.
So, in brief: 1)How would you rate your xc90 in reliability (I'm looking for an overall rating from across the board)? 2)Is it possible to negotiate better tires when buying (we have no space to store winter tires... need good all-seasons)? 3)What engine do you recommend? I'm thinking the V8 is probably a good bet... does anyone know if it'll be turbo-charged too, if so, is that a good thing or not? I've heard turbos can burn out. Lastly, is it a bad idea to buy the new engine in its first year, before it's been tested and had the kinks worked out?
Please share your thoughts! Thanks!
It has failed again. Another trip to the dealer and the saga continues...
adp3- no surprise here and Consumers' findings match my own experience.
I have heard great things on this board about the 2.5T. We bought the T6 because I have the T5 in my coupe and just made what I thought was a safe decision to get the 6 as the truck was obviously going to be heavier then the coupe.
From what I understand about the V8, it is a very solid engine so you shouldn't be worried about kinks (just filling up every 200 miles, instead of 300 for me and probably 375 for the 2.5T).
Reliability....3500 miles and no complaints. Have not needed to take it in for anything except an oil change.
No. Try all sort of things. It only come out in the wireless headphone and it's own speaker.
Look through the manual, it doesn't mention anything setup for the car sound system.
But in the brochure from the dealer, it does mention they are independent from your car sound system. The only thing it use is the backup light wire for flipping the monitor up when put in reverse gear. I know I should read everything before I order. Actually, it claims it is a good thing because the driver can enjoy whatever independent of the DVD. I guess it may be right since the front row can't enjoy it anyway and it's illegal in CA. But at least there should be a setting in the car sound system to select the DVD sound for a $3000 system. Definitely will ask the dealer about that.
My DVD system cost me $2,500 in Chicago and the installer put in a switch where I can tune into 88.7fm and flick the switch and it goes over the whole sound system.
Put in the "Life of Brian" DVD for my dad the other day and it really sounds good over the system.
:-)
It works fine but I have to tell you- you have to hook up the power cord and for me, 3 sets of headphones (with a splitter) and it really makes spaghetti with all the wires. You have to turn contortions to get from the front seat to the middle to change the disks. I have to pull over. I thought...wouldn't it be nice to have my kids with wireless headphones, no wires...and be able to change the disk from the front. Just something to think about
Solution? The dealer installed a circuit breaker which trips instead of blowing a fuse. Great fix - now I have to find the circuit breaker everytime I want the front headlight washers to work.
WHAT A PIECE OF CRAP!
As soon as I can dump this car for something well made, I will. Am already taking a huge hit on the depreciation. Can't wait for the Lexus hybrid...
Update - picked up the car today and noticed that the Left front foglight is cracked. Coincidence? Perhaps, but all of the crap with the suspension has been occuring on the Left front side. Dealer denies any culpability and I'm stuck with a $185 fix and another trip to the dealer.
My nearly weekly trips to the dealer are getting pretty old. I'm told that they are going to stencil my name on a private parking space.
Never, ever encountered this number of problems with my Hondas, Subarus, and yes GM's.
In all honesty, likely not a design flaw, but an assembly anomoly. Were it design related, there would be more than one or two people on this board having problems.
Any washer motor will burn up if water or insufficient mix of fluid and water is introduced into the reservoir, and it freezes. Happens quite often.
Pursuing resolving your problems through your state's lemon laws would be the best course.
It's unlikely that a trolling expedition by an ambulance chaser will result in enough people with similar problems.
Good Luck
Odd, I'm the polar opposite, as I have not encountered but 2 minor, easily fixed items with mine, but have had problems with my Mercury, GM, and Toyotas. Hmm.......go figger.;)
Thanks!
David
Have others experienced this intermittent warning message? If so, is it real? Any idea what is triggering the sensor to indicate this problem every so often?
The service department has been responsive and addressed the problems, though are short on explanations. The typical response is "Yah, we've seen that...)
I can't afford to bring this car in every (other) week for another problem. It doesn't surprise me that Consumers labeled the XC-90 as a "black dot" in terms of reliability. While the vehicle doesn't meet the rather strict criteria under my state's "lemon law", it is pretty clear that this XC-90 is a $45K hunk of junk.
As far as the dealership is concerned, they have my cash and will faithfully continue to service the vehicle for as long as the warranty requires. Still, this seems pretty inadequate and one would have expected a higher standard of quality and responsiveness from Volvo N.A.
Since you seem to have so many major issues I would get rid of it in favor of an AMC Pacer. I think I read a few posts back that someone found their old Pacer had significantly less defects.
Good Luck!
Predicted reliability: NEW
I think one should put a lot of weight into it. I have now taken the XC90 and T-reg off my list for a new vehicle purchase. Volvo needs to learn that reliability is ALSO a safety concern.
Here are a few events, I think probably true, where reliability equals safety:
(1) Car stops in middel of street. Guy gets out of his car and starts to push it toward the side of the road and tears his tendon on his foot's heal -- his muscle is hanging by a thread.
(2) Bill Cosby's son murdered by Russian immigrant while changing a flat tire (run flats would have prevents this).
Quality has many factors. Some are: (1) reliability, (2) maintainability which ia a function of cost, frequency of failure, and down-time to repair, (3) service-life predictability which rolls into maintainability, and (4) low variation, (5) delighting the customer, e.g., saying one will be so many miles per gallon and getting much less, as is the case of XC90 city MPG -- reference C.R., is not delightful.
Volvo seems to me mainly satisfy 'passive' safety. Volvo XC90's are perhaps recommended for lazy drivers that eat and talk on cells phones while driving and want to be protected when they hit someone. Of course, the way things are going, its a war out there with every one trying to get higher and higher and bigger and bigger. Well, at least that's more money that goes to Suadi Arabia and the Royal family there takes 30 to 40% of the oil money for themselves and fund, ya you got it, jihad aginst the West (reference the New Yorker Magizine of several weeks ago titled 'The Silent Counrty') --oh, that's you. Thank you Ford, and Volvo, and you lazy gas guzzeling drivers.
Quite possible, though first year vehicles typically have market-entry problems. If people look at these boards and see the small number of complaints (versus large number of owned vehicles of that model) and they make broad assumptions these vehicles are overall pieces of trash, then the same could be true of the Toyota Highlander.
Numerous complaints about brakes and other components would lead someone (using the skewed logic noted above) to assume Toyotas (that bastion of reliability you refer to) are pieces of crap as well.
Volvo seems to me mainly satisfy 'passive' safety. Volvo XC90's are perhaps recommended for lazy drivers that eat and talk on cells phones while driving and want to be protected when they hit someone. Of course, the way things are going, its a war out there with every one trying to get higher and higher and bigger and bigger.
Boy, talk about a statement made with little or no reasoned thought put into it. This asinine statement essentially says that any vehicle with a 4 star safety rating or better is targeted towards lazy drivers who eat and talk on the cell phone. Personally, I do not like to eat when I drive AND I utilize a hands-free cell phone and headset when I need to use my phone.
Volvo XC90 bumpers are designed so that the bottom portion of the bumper lines up favorably with the bumper of passenger cars. Therefore, the idea is to minimize one-way impact damage seen in most SUV-passenger car accidents.
It seems your rant is better suited to the "I don't like SUV's, why do you?" board.
I have yet to get a response from an earlier question regards to how Consumer Reports, J.D. Powers, etc. obtain their information regards to vehicle ratings. On one forum a person wrote that CR sends surveys to its subscription holders. If this is accurate, this seems hardly scientific in that it is only a very small fraction of owners.
Don't forget about those of us that like to do shots as well. A lot of us think that eating and talking on cell phones isn't a challenge anymore so we've branched out.
Good point on Volvo's low bumper to help protect other drivers.
I think it should be obvious when I make a general statement, there are exceptions. Most of my obsurvations I really reiterated from a 'New Yorker' acticle on SUVs.
It appears auto manufactures are attempting to convince people they need to get bigger and higher, in various reptilian ways to over-ride our cognitive thinking. XV90s are very different from F-150s and Excursions.
I will say the b-pillar is badly placed on the XC90 so as to reduce vision to the side, but makes one feel safer since people looking at you from the side will not see your face all that well as one hides behind the b-pillar.
Let's not forget the fight aginst terrorism and buying more gas only helps fund it. I am a solid Bush supporter but I would have thought a good and cheaper way to fight terrorism is to take away their money they get through oil, and that means using less oil which really bothers me about Bush -- of course Clinton didn't do much to make us less dependent on oil. So at the moment I am waiting to see what Kerry has to offer along this way of thinking and might just change my vote.
tidester, host
I know that my complaints have continued on like a soap-opera saga - but I've never owned a car with so many defects. The latest, while absolutely minor is just too much to pass up.
The lugnuts are rusting. That's right - after 7 months of ownership, never having touched 'em, they're all rusted and staining the alloy wheels.
Geez, my 9 year-old Subaru's lug nuts aren't rusted.
My analysis:
Volvo = Ford = Fix Or Repair Daily