New Volvo XC90

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edstrom76 said:
High up on my shortlist come replacement time (which probably coincides with the XC90's mid-life facelift lol): http://m.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/new-volvo-xc90-revealed

Be careful build quality on the current Volvo's is rubbish I've had 16 Volvo's in my driving career the current build quality takes them back to the DAF era. I definitely won't be getting another after this V70 unless it's a five or six year old one when build quality was spot on

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As an aside, we have a family friend who's a on the board at Volvo Cars HQ.

Fascinating tales of running multi-national production teams and how the different nationalities work together.

The French, he said, like to thrash everything out in meetings with everything decided before they leave the room. Whereas on the other hand, the Swedes (and I've seen this in my own family) will nod and seemingly agree to everything, only to lobby one on one at the coffee machine during breaks.

But the funniest has to be an experience he had with the Brazilians. a multi national team left a meeting in Gothenburg with an agreement that the next phase of the 'project' would be ready by the end of summer. Come the end of summer, the Brazilians it seemed were late. So off went our friend to Brazil to enquire why they were late. Only to be reminded that in Brazil it was just coming up to spring and that they would indeed be on time when the end of summer arrived. Clever!
 
Seamster15 said:
Back to a P2 ?

P2 platform was a winner for Volvo and strangely enough just been talking to my neighbour who's a traffic cop. They are still running 7 year old Volvo t5 petrol traffic cars around here which are gradually being replaced with BMW 530 or 330 diesels and there's always a squabble who gets the Volvo's and not for the reason you think

Everyone wants the Volvo's as they say they are the better all round car I meant to ask what mileage these cars have after 7 years of motorway patrol will ask next time I see him but it must be huge

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When you read that Geely started off making refrigerators the new shape starts to make sense. While the XC60 is a good looking vehicle this is reminiscent of a large brick.
Thomas Ingenlath what were you thinking!
 
I think my XC60 is very well put together, with a sublime D4 / 8 speed auto combination. Not sure the outside of this does a lot for me, but you don't look at that when you're driving. A D5 or hybrid version will be high on my list in three years time.
 
Around this time last year I had an XC90 on loan for a couple of weeks. I really liked it, and I recently discovered that seven seats can be really useful.

There were a few things that let the old girl down slightly, such as the D5 engine (very narrow power/torque band), the annoying buttons for the sat nav and needless to say the overall dated interior, however the seats were sooo cosseting.

There seems to be something about the way Swedish car seats are designed - the only car that comes close is my old Saab 9-3, which also had very comfortable seats, although not a patch on the XC90.

Personally, I like the looks of the current XC90, of which the new model looks to have evolved. There is something very reassuring about a relatively slab-sided design. That said, the rear isn't too dissimilar to an XC60.

I like the uncluttered interior, but will refrain from passing judgment on the multi-function touchpad until I've tried it in real-life conditions i.e. whilst driving. Hopefully it's not just a pretty fascia.

As to (perceived) build quality, I think this is something I'd be conscious of and holding off for a couple of years would probably make sense, until initial inevitable teething issues have been addressed.
 
the Swedes (and I've seen this in my own family) will nod and seemingly agree to everything, only to lobby one on one at the coffee machine during breaks.

As a born and bred Swede, the above made me reflect on my own behaviour and I think I've got traits of it. Not the lobbying bit so much, but going off and doing things in a different way to what might have been discussed/agreed.

Never appreciated that this was a cultural thing - you learn something new every day, and on a good day that new thing relates to your own self.
 
There seems to be something about the way Swedish car seats are designed - the only car that comes close is my old Saab 9-3, which also had very comfortable seats, although not a patch on the XC90.

The seats on my XC60 are flat out brilliant. I suffer from the odd back twinge if unsupported for any period, but on a 500 mile run back from Germany a fortnight ago, after 10 hours driving my back was as fresh as a daisy, even BMW comfort seats felt poor in comparison. They enable me to set aside some ride imperfections that the XC60 has.
 
As a born and bred Swede, the above made me reflect on my own behaviour and I think I've got traits of it. Not the lobbying bit so much, but going off and doing things in a different way to what might have been discussed/agreed.

Never appreciated that this was a cultural thing - you learn something new every day, and on a good day that new thing relates to your own self.

I think his comments, like all attempt to categorise nationalities, can in many cases, be taken with a pinch of subjective salt.

In saying that, I have a deep affection for Sweden and its people and it's very likely that I will be a permanent resident, as opposed to 50/50, very soon.
 

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