Well, three years are almost up and the V90 goes back to Volvo at the start of Jan.
A mainly positive experience. T6 Recharge petrol plug-in hybrid in Inscription spec. 2 litre turbo petrol FWD with c.253bhp, plus 87bhp electric RWD = 340 combined. Quite a lot, but it's a big heavy car.
Amusingly I had colleagues in the car in Germany telling them I was going to get it up to it's top speed on the autobahn and they were terrified. They didn't know that it's limited to 112mph... Get's there quickly though.
Comfortable seats (a million miles better than in the E220d that came before) and the best SatNav of any car I have driven. It's Google Maps and you can have it so it's the satellite view of wherever you, are just like the same on Google maps. Fascinating to explore your surroundings like a moving photograph, and it updates and warns of issues brilliantly and is a significant step up from the old Sensus system in pre-2021/2022 cars. Brilliantly informative for choosing the right lanes at complex junctions too.
'Over the air' software updates almost always improved things, with the map screen in the middle speedo screen having been upgraded a couple of times (for the better).
The boot is not as practical as the squared-off Volvo estates of before (V70 and back) but it's still a good size. Rear seat space generous and comfortable. Engine powerful but a bit gruff and the gearbox likes to have a think about whether you are serious about flooring it, or whether you might want to change your mind. A bit sluggish....
Extremely quiet cruiser though. Near silent on the motorway. Economical too. A full battery charge never offered more than 25 miles and you could hit that with cautious driving. Stated electric mileage from new was 35, but the screen never showed that was even possible ("They all are like that sir"). Fuel consumption on a long journey just on petrol is normally 33-35mpg. Not bad for a heavy turbo petrol that gets driven in a spirited manner on occasion. My old 2 litre Mondeo estate wouldn't do that
Dislikes? Not many.
Sometimes the infotainment screen would not wake up (so no radio / satnav, etc). A reset normally fixed this. Rain-sensing wipers were supposed to be on it but were missing and that was annoying as they are brilliant. No doubt missing chips post-covid that also delayed it's delivery. Memory seats often got forgetful. The panoramic roof is great for those in the rear, but the driver was barely under it so a bit pointless other than for keeping the car a bit brighter. The Harman Kardon sound system was underwhelming
I was going to try and buy it after the lease ends, but they won't let me, and looking at 2-3 year old versions the 2nd hand price is really high (over £40k fr low mileage) so I will say farewell to Volvo for the foreseeable future, but would certainly recommend a V90 to anyone.
It was also the most attractive car I have ever owned, up there with the 2005 S60 I had 19 years ago.
Not so long ago I was stopped in a Tesco car park by someone raving about what a stunning looking car it was. And it still is in my mind.
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>>V90
Glad you liked it.
I looked at a run out model when shopping for a new car some time ago now (not hybrid) and there were some amazing deals but I decided against it as my job at the time had me parking in some tiny car parking spaces and it was such a long car.
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I guess it was a PCP or lease SFD?
What are you replacing it with?
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>> I guess it was a PCP or lease SFD?
>>
Must be a lease if the won't let him buy it.
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Lease - I missed the paragraph. 1 month out of the office and my attention to detail is up the spout!
Last edited by: zippy on Wed 11 Dec 24 at 10:22
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Yes, 3 year lease via Lings (great company) and car came from Volvo themselves.
As lease cars are far from the bargains they were and my mileage much reduced I am going back to what we used to do in the company and buy a 1 - 2 year old car (lose the worst of the depreciation) and then drive it until it is no longer economical to repair.
The only affordable option really was a BMW 530e hybrid (company car tax). Volvo & Audi significantly more expensive for the age / miles and will not have a Merc due to the unbearable seats (for me).
It was interesting that almost every 5 series is an M Sport. Harder suspension, silly size alloys and on UK roads that just won't be nice. Sports seats which are probably great on a race track but for hour upon hour driving to Frankfurt for example are probably not ideal
Out of 249 x 530e's in the UK (dealer network and <2years old there was just one in SE spec.
One.
So I have bought it :)
Comfort seats, 18" wheels (hardly small), comfort and tech pack (means little to me) but HUD will be interesting. Haven't driven it but test-drove an 530e in M-Sport just to confirm my thoughts.
That one had adaptive suspension that I thought could be a compromise and when I finally worked out how to get it into that mode it was OK, but the seat was just too body-hugging and the dealer seemed pretty disinterested (hadn't charged the battery, left at reception for 20 mins with no one to check in with, etc).
So the dealer I am using (at the other end of the country) is sending a driver to deliver the SE on Friday. Bless him. c. 5 hour drive and a train back on a Friday....
Hopefully this will be more reliable than the last 520d (manual!) I had from new in 2008 that was the epitomy of a 'Friday afternoon special'.
I am hoping
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Ahhh Lings, I'm sure many will remember a quite explosive run-in with them when we were on the "old site". I don't recall the ins and outs but she wasn't happy with HJ!
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>> Ahhh Lings, I'm sure many will remember a quite explosive run-in with them when we
>> were on the "old site". I don't recall the ins and outs but she wasn't
>> happy with HJ!
>>
Probably because their website makes people dizzy! :-D
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Didn’t realise Lings were still a thing!
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BMW Sounds nice SFD.
I agree with wheels getting too big (tyres too thin) for our roads.
Some years ago (2009 I think), I had a 3 Series automatic company car and enjoyed it but there was one quirk that I couldn't get sorted - when stopped with foot firmly planted on the brake, the car continued to pull forward. Apart from that small foible, I loved it.
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My G31 540i was ordered in SE spec, with 17 inch wheels. BMW's with run flats are hard enough thank you without removing depth of rubber making them harder.
"M" at the end* is a con, its no more powerful, you get harder springs, blue calipers (same brakes, just blue) and a badge. I did however spec adaptive suspension, which is fab and in sport mode, better handling than M springs.
Reliability? 7 years, 100k miles. New VAnos solenoids needed (its more or less a high mileage service part). Drive shaft donut coupling mangled, broken wire in air suspension is all its needed above servicing (12k oil changes not the silly 18k condition based /sealed for life rubbish). Its been driven hard.
Happy it will last another 7 /100k miles with servicing - tho it will need an x-drive transfer box rebuild in about 40k miles - this one is starting to chatter a bit on hard acceleration/split mu scenarios.
*M at the beginning is a different ball game, an M540 has 100 more HP than a 540M
Last edited by: Zero on Thu 12 Dec 24 at 08:30
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Interesting Zero. Sounds promising! A six cylinder would have been lovely.... :)
Lings is still going but I don't think that she's fronting it.
From memory she gifted it to her staff a few years ago and went to cycle round the world. You used to be able to track her journey on the website. She got quite some way and then I think covid hit and I heard no more.
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Zero have you done any servicing on your gearbox or sticking with the “sealed for life” promise?
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>> Zero have you done any servicing on your gearbox or sticking with the “sealed for
>> life” promise?
I have the ZF8 auto box. BMW say sealed for life, ZF say filter pack and fluid change at 80K. Had mine done at 80k with a ZF service kit (Basically its a new pan with filters, gaskets and correct amount of fluid). 380 quid inc labour at my BMW specialist.
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We were loaned a demo V90 back in 2019 2wd D5. An excellent car by any standard, but too big for us and ended up with the V60 T5 CC which was a great, not as good in too many ways to the 335d it succeeded.
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I nearly had a V90, went to the dealer with my XC70, took out the dog cage, wouldnt go anywhere near fitting in the back of the V90, so I left.
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Ah, I had a 2014 V70 two cars before the V90, and it was such a great square boot. Shame the engine block cracked...
The Merc E class estate that followed supposedly had a bigger boot, but the V70 was a better shape and somehow more practical.
I remember reading that Volvo told the press that people with big dogs that would be going into the boot of a V90 instead of a V70 would need to teach the dogs to look forwards instead of backwards because of the more raked rear end... Amused me at the time.
The V90 does look fab, it's just not quite as practical.. We will see what the Beemer is like, but I have seen that the boot is a lot shallower due to a raised boot floor to accommodate the batteries.
This would have been a deal breaker a few short years ago, but things change in life and for my needs now I am sure it will be fine.
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Our BMW shaped TransK9 Crate wouldn't fit in the V90 or in the V60, ended up flogging it and buying a V60 shaped one instead.
Current dog won't go in the Audi A4 shaped box...!, but he's fine behind the dog-guard (but doesn't go in the car voluntarily !)
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Volvo - Farewell (soon) my V90 - zippy
