Bride's new ride - Volvo XC60 T8 PHEV

DriveHard

DriveHard

Joined
Nov 24, 2003
Messages
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Location
Middle of Iowa
Well, the Kia Sportage was short lived...

My bride and I took last week off to spend the week together (staycation). On Thursday we had lunch plans, then some shopping, etc...just bopping around town. She mentioned looking at cars, which I would NEVER turn down. Just to look of course, as she just got a new Sportage back in April. She has previously owned an X3 M-sport, ML350, and Alfa Stelvio...so I was kind of surprised she even considered the Kia to begin with. Anyways...we started cruising the lots. BMW has lost their mind in front end styling...the dive through their lot was quick. The Mercs still leave a bad taste in her mouth from the poor reliability we had with the ML, so while she did like a couple, they were just too soft. Jags...hummm...nah, not really. Acura and the Lexus' she thought looked like aliens...then we browsed the Volvo lot. Now...I never in a million years thought she would take to a Volvo...but she demanded we stop the truck and get out and walk around. She totally took to the classy lines of the XC60...and when WE learned there was a 455hp version PHEV with a real Auto transmission...we got a little more excited.

Finished the day just browsing...then went and sat for a chat that evening. She decided the next day we would go take a drive to look again, and maybe take one for a spin. Well...we took two for a spin, and of course they made an offer for her Kia on trade. The '24's had a nice cash off incentive, plus $1k Costco discount, and another discount from ABB (her employer) who provides technology for the hybrid system. Meant it was actually darn hard to turn down. We went home to think about it.

Well, Sat. morning we were off to get the new ride. Not many impressions yet. The power is immediate...and fun. It is spirited, but very composed. Suspension is tight enough to make me happy, but soft enough that my bride loves it. Very quiet. The service we got from the dealer was amazing...best every when buying a car. Everything went super smooth and quick...plus a good thorough overview of the car and help setting it up. It was supposed to be fully charged when we picked it up, but we were 30 minutes early. Because it was not charged the GM gave us a free top level inside/outside detail service to use at a later date. Overall super impressed with Volvo and the dealer so far.

I will post a better review when we get some more miles on it. Right now she is averaging 39 mpg. These PHEV's seem to be the best step in efficiency without going full BEV...which proved to be a PITA for us.

1721654602671.jpg
 
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Kia background...that did have a heavy hand in the trade.

I changed the oil and filter early at roughly 3K miles. I used 0w-30 Mobil hybrid oil, and Fram filter. About 4k miles it started knocking...sounded like pretty bad piston slap that did not go away. Visited the service center that said it was normal...they were loud engines. It persisted, and got louder, to the point it was almost embarrassing to drive it. It didn't go away when warm like piston slap I was accustomed to with GM engines. It was constant. I made another service appointment and the service tech I talked to said I needed to get used to it because they were just loud engines. This didn't sit well with me, and certainly did open our minds to looking for something to replace it.

I can't say that engine was for sure going to die. It still was using no oil, but it sure didn't sound right.
 
Nice car!! Keep us posted. I’m very interested in what you think. Test drove a ‘23 XC90 and loved it.

That’s our plan for a next car, but her Volvo only has 300,000 on it, so, we aren’t in a rush… 😎
 
After you 3 previous cars, I don't see how you could go to a Kia. A friend's vehicle is a small MB SUV and he was interested in getting a Highlander. When he drove one he said no way. Highlander is a very nice vehicle but when you are used to a premium car, it's tough to change. I have a full sized ML and rode in a neighbors loaded Telluride and immediately saw and felt the cheapness.
 
Congrats on the purchase!
Many folks on the Volvo forums love 'em!
These new 4 poppers from Volvo are nothing short of astounding!
I'm certain it'll give you many miles of trouble-free service.
(y)
 
DriveHard said:
Well, the Kia Sportage was short lived...


Well, Sat. morning we were off to get the new ride. Not many impressions yet. The power is immediate...and fun. It is spirited, but very composed. Suspension is tight enough to make me happy, but soft enough that my bride loves it. Very quiet. The service we got from the dealer was amazing...best every when buying a car. Everything went super smooth and quick...plus a good thorough overview of the car and help setting it up. It was supposed to be fully charged when we picked it up, but we were 30 minutes early. Because it was not charged the GM gave us a free top level inside/outside detail service to use at a later date. Overall super impressed with Volvo and the dealer so far.



View attachment 231661
Click to expand...
Check to see if your car has the adjustable Ohlins dampers. I am fairly certain that all the T8's have them. Lots of adjustability to get it feeling just how you will like it

Don
 
Dadillac said:
Check to see if your car has the adjustable Ohlins dampers. I am fairly certain that all the T8's have them. Lots of adjustability to get it feeling just how you will like it

Don
Click to expand...

I'll check, but I don't believe it does. You have to get the Polestar edition that was quite a bit more $$$
 
DriveHard said:
@Astro14 - care to comment on this one?
Click to expand...
I doubt a Modern PHEV Volvo has much in common with Astro's current fleet.
60-70k pricetag besides being an OUCH.. puts it in competition with some pretty nice vehicles.

I really like those , but the price was out of my range.
 
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Rand said:
I doubt a Modern PHEV Volvo has much in common with Astro's current fleet.
60-70k pricetag besides being an OUCH.. puts it in competition with some pretty nice vehicles.

I really like those , but the price was out of my range.
Click to expand...
The new Plug-in hybrid XC-90 that we drove last year stickered at $88,000. It was a really nice car. It had all the options. Top of the line.

My wife and I both loved it.

I can’t comment on how well-made the new ones are, though the fit and finish, the materials, all seem top notch. Certainly the driving experience was very nice, as well.

But yes, $88,000 gets you into a regime where there are a lot of really nice cars with which Volvo is competing. I’ve driven some of them, like the new MB GLE 450, also a really nice car and the BMW X7, also, really nice. From a consumer perspective, they were all in the same league. Similar in luxury, fit and finish, performance, and features.

We are sold - our next car is going to be an XC-90.

But you can get a better deal through patience, as the OP did, or by doing an overseas delivery, as we plan to do.
 
Rand said:
I doubt a Modern PHEV Volvo has much in common with Astro's current fleet.
60-70k pricetag besides being an OUCH.. puts it in competition with some pretty nice vehicles.

I really like those , but the price was out of my range.
Click to expand...

We were over $10k below your range with the discounts we found. They also offered us within $3k of what we bought the Kia for to begin with, so we drove it ~6K miles for $0.50 a mile...only adding gas and one oil change (which was supposed to be free, but they wouldn't change it as early as I wanted).
 
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