2.0 D4 Momentum 5dr Estate

Comfortable and refined cruiser but system reliability is poor

I expected great things form this car having had an A6 Avant previously.

Sadly, the car spent 6 weeks off the road shortly after delivery with a seemingly un-diagnosable fault with the entertainment system which emitted a loud white noise each time the car was started or stopped or the stop/start system activated. This nearly resulted in the car being rejected under the clause of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 - 'the early right to reject'.

Eventually the car was rectified but it’s had pretty much every electronic unit removed and replaced to fix the issue. Volvo were very slow to act. It’s taken the gloss off what should have been a nice car to drive.

Now I consider it a comfortable workhorse that does a job, but nothing more which is a shame. When compared to the Skoda Octavia’s we have in the fleet it doesn’t’ feel that much more special and isn’t much quieter on the road. I certainly wouldn’t have another.

Software glitches still see the reversing system failing to start and the entertainment system crashing many times when starting the car.

Other negatives are limited range from the small fuel tank (Audi could manage 850+ miles on a full tank – Volvo limited to 650 at best). The boot, whilst long is shallow in height and the steeply raked rear when combined with an auto retract cover which doesn’t retract enough leaves access poor towards the passenger-seat end.

Positives are
- No AdBlue to worry about and no issues with DPF regen, which plagued the Audi toward the end of it’s lease.
- 8-speed auto is vastly superior to the DSG with no hesitation from standstill and a major improvement on traction from standing starts, feeling like a "proper" automatic with some torque-converter slip in lower gears. The gear-change is altogether more responsive, especially on A-roads where it picks up high or lower gears much more readily and smoother than the clunky DSG.

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