2.4D DRIVe SE Lux

Not as good as expected.

First of all I'll start with the bad points, of which unfortunately, there are a few. If you're thinking of buying one of these based on its fuel economy figures, think again. I have the so called economical 2.4 DRIVe version of this car and I can tell you it does no where near the official economy figures...not even close! Its been averaging about 32mpg which I feel is a bit on the poor side. Admittedly it does do a lot of short journeys but even on a long run, the most I've seen is 46mpg, but that was with an average speed of less than 40mph over an 80 mile run. Other points of note are the high resonance vibrations through the steering wheel at about 1500rpm (which annoyingly equates to roughly cruising speed), which over a relatively short distance is enough to make my hands tingle and go slightly numb. Then there's the constant rattle from somewhere in the rear view mirror and the little clicking noise emitted from the drivers seat belt into my right ear every time you go over a small bump in the road. INCREDIBLY ANNOYING, especially on a £30k+ car. Ride quality I feel is harsh. The car crashes through larger holes in the road and doesn't ride particularly well. Wind and road noise, contrary to what most tests say, is actually quite audible (especially wind noise above 65mph). The standard radio is of the lower quality sound wise. The Seats and Driving Position, for me at least, are not great, often leaving me with neck and shoulder ache after quite a short period of time. There is also no block to rest your left foot on. Steering is quite heavy. The windscreen takes forever to clear when fogged up and, ironically for a car from Sweden, has no heating element for those cold winter mornings. There is no Dipstick so engine oil can only be checked electronically and there is also no Engine Temperature Gauge which I find strange. Another slightly annoying thing is that you cannot lift the windscreen wipers of the glass to wash the windscreen, as they are slightly enclosed underneath the lip of the bonnet. Build quality is generally OK although I have had to plug the wiring loom harness back into one of the rear doors as it fell out making the car think that a door was open and not allowing the car to be locked. The opposite door had also started to come out. Volvo should not be pitching their cars as Premium Vehicles as, I can tell you now, they are not in the same league as any of their German rivals, and that includes Volkwagan. Nor are they as good (in my opinion) as Toyota and a million miles away from the quality of Lexus. Good Points...It looks quite nice and the Bi-Xenon lights are good. Not a lot else I'm afraid. You might be wondering why I bought the car after noting all of these bad points. The truth is, I wish I hadn't. I Wish I had kept my Lexus! MUCH better car! Sorry Volvo, my first and last from this manufacturer.

Update after nearly 1 year of ownership. Fuel economy has increased to, what I feel is a good figure if driven sensibly. I now get mid 30's on average and about 50mpg on a good run. I've since fitted a towbar and can confirm that the car tows a medium sized (1450kg) caravan pretty well and returns about 27mpg whist doing so. Be aware that if you're purchasing one of these cars to tow with, the manual 2wd version has a towing limit of 1500kg and a low towball nose weight limit. Not great for a large vehicle! The rear view mirror noise has now stopped, and I no longer notice the steering wheel vibrations. It did develop the most irritating knocking noise every time the accelerator or brake pedal was pressed. This was tracked down to the floating centre console. A 1 hour repair at a Volvo dealer fixed this. They did, however, break the mount for the gear stick gaiter in the process. This now fall down into the cutout that it comes through! 7 Year service has been completed at a cost of £280. This didn't include a lot of the things that would usually be included in this service due to the low mileage (58000) of the car. Most annoyingly, the windscreen has started to come away from the car in the top left hand corner resulting in soaked passenger foot well carpets. Be aware that if you buy one of these from around the 2009 - 2011 era, it almost certainly WILL develop this problem. A quick search on google will verify this. The remedy is to remove and reseal the screen which may result in the screen breaking. This would result in the owner having to pay for it. Quite expensive I would imagine! I had a dealer warranty with this vehicle but was told the windscreen problem was not covered. I emailed Volvo and told them about the problem, but they was not really very willing to help. The most worrying part about this is that the windscreen is a structural part of the chassis, meaning the safety of the car is essentially compromised. I personally feel that this issue is worthy of a recall from the manufacturer. I should add at this point that this was a Volvo Selekt Vehicle purchased from a Volvo Main Dealer wit full Volvo service history.

To summarise, I'm still not a massive fan of the car and wouldn't buy another one. I like the look of the new XC90 but it costs a fortune and I simply cannot imagine it to be in the same league as other cars in its price range. For that reason, I still don't think I will buy another Volvo of any kind when the time comes to change.

Further update as of 23/2/16. Since the last update, the windscreen problem has become worse with water falling from behind the glove box like a waterfall on occasions. I have also had to remove substantial amounts of water from the boot where the spare wheel sits on two occasions. I cannot see where this can possibly be coming in, other than where the wire for the towbar electrics pass through the bottom of the car. This, however, should not be the case as genuine Volvo parts were used and installed to their specifications. The door stay on the rear offside door also came loose and had the be tightened and the knocking noise from the centre console has started to become audible again. Whilst cleaning the car the other weekend, I discovered that the mechanic who had looked at the centre console whilst the car was in for service, had left several trim panels undone/incorrectly re-fitted. Doesn't distill confidence in their level of workmanship, does it! I've also discovered that the doors freeze solidly shut when the mercury reads 0 degrees or below. So solid, in fact, that the door flexes when trying to get it open. Last of all (for now at least) is that the paint on all four wheels has stated to bubble and flake off. This is the second time that this has happened as they were like it when I viewed the car and were supposedly reconditioned before I bought it. Obviously a poor job was undertaken by the Volvo dealer that I purchased from. I cannot tell at this point if the paint is cracking around the valve hole on the front offside wheel or if this is indeed, hairline cracks in the wheel itself. I shall be keeping a very close eye on this! The longer I own this car, the more disappointed I'm becoming with it.

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