Overview & Reviews

User Reviews:

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  kids, dog and I and the Volvo XC90 Momentum - 2017 Volvo XC90
  By Michelle - June 21 - 6:03 pm

  We needed a 7 seater SUV, basically to separate the two kids and give the dog some extra space. After owning the huge Mercedes GL, we decided on something a wee bit smaller but just as practical. The two contenders ended up being the new Volvo XC90 and the Audi Q7. We had an Audi Allroad which we loved to drive, but the back seat was becoming far two cramped for our nearly teenage son. We found the same to be true about the Audi Q7, as big as the car was, there wasnt a lot of leg room in the backseats. The Volvo XC90 had far more leg room in the backseats and was more comfortable to drive in for long distances. (SF to SD is 10 long hours.) And the third row was much more comfortable, according to our preteen. My hubby calls is it the perfect mom car, he drives an BMW X5 for reference, compared to his car I love the smooth comfortable ride and acceleration. The seats are comfortable to be in for long hours of driving and I dont feel like I need to see the chiropractor after going over continuous speed bumps or bumpy surfaces. He does find the find the contoured seats a bit confining at 64" with a bit a girth on the sides and it did limit us to getting the R version which I really liked. The only downfall is that our XC90 has spent a crazy amount of time in the shop. Not purely sure that is the cars fault though, as our garage gives a loaner, and sometimes I think it is just easier for them to get through the amount of work they need to get done on cars if they keep our Volvo a few more days. My husband does call me the Beta tester though. So far we have had our supercharger malfunction, which is always fun at toll booths that are slow down but please dont stop and accelerate like made when done. Our battery went before a year, if your car starts doing really crazy things it might be time for a new battery. And our USB port stopped working, not good when you have preteens. But overall, we have been really satisfied with the car. The only major complaint we have is that the back row is not electric, so it requires a bit of work to navigate the seats, including the middle row. We dont move the middle row around enough to remember exactly the sequence we need to work in to facilitate the seat doing exactly what we want. It tends to get stuck in sometimes crazy positions. At the end of the day, I have been really happy with our Volvo XC90.

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  2017 XC90 T6 Inscription - 6 weeks into Ownership - 2017 Volvo XC90
  By Mike - April 3 - 7:56 pm

  One of the irritations I have is the disconnect between the 2017 Owners manual and Volvos support. They list functions in the manual that just flat out are not there nor are available. Seems somewhat dishonest to me. For example, Volvo lists how to use the egress / ingress function for getting out of the SUV and into the SUV. However, when I contacted Volvo, they said this function is not available, never has been and maybe under development as a future software upgrade. Not sure how they can put the option in print when they dont even have it developed. Second example is the manual shows a 110v outlet in the center console for passengers in the 2nd row to plug in devices. However, that was only available in their 2016 model, again, according to the email I got from Volvo. However, the manual is titled "2017 XC90". I have found two other functions that are not available in the XC90 US model but available in Canada. One would think they would have defined that better up front. Thus, owners beware, Volvo isnt totally honest in what is / is not available in the 2017 T6 in the US. As for the car itself. I didnt get the 4 corner suspension (I ordered it but for some reason (either dealer or Volvo error) it didnt come with it. However, the ride is comfortable and about the same as in our 2011 Chrysler Town and Country. Gas mileage is ok, Im averaging around 22 mostly in town. Best gas mileage is in cursing mode. It really sucks the gas when taking off and probably is where it falls short a little. Does have some great safety features but also falls short. For example, the lane assist where it is to alert you if you drift to far left or right, is not reliable. There are times when it should have alerted but easily let me cross the center line either having no notification or late in notifying me. Hence a head-on-collision would have already taken place. My 2014 GMC 1500 truck has the same feature and works perfectly all the time. Not sure why a $75,000 vehicle doesnt have the same accuracy. Pilot assist works as designed. As long as the lane markings can be identified, it does auto steer the car up to 80 mph. You do have to interact with the steering wheel every 30 -45 secs however or it will auto disengage. The scary part is that there are times when the system, apparently, looses the ability to see the lane markings and just disengages without any warning to the driver. I would think, again, for this high end vehicle, it should alarm if the system is disengaging. Thank goodness I have not had to test the auto braking if a car turns in front or to avoid a rear end collision. Im assuming it will work when required. The active cruise adapter works well and you can set the distance (actually set the secs) within which you want the car to adjust the speed based on the car in front. The seats are very comfortable but getting in and out of the vehicle is difficult unless you retract and lower the seat. Im 5 10" and if I dont lower the seat all the way done, I will hit my head getting out. Climate controls work well as do the ventilated / heated seats. 2nd row seating is about as comfortable as in other vehicles. 3rd row quite frankly is limited to children. Very difficult for adults to get in and out of the back. Not adult friendly. As with reviews of the 2016 model the lack of USB ports is a glaring deficiency in a high vehicle in this price group. Overall, Im happy with the vehicle but would I buy it again, I dont know. I would look closer at the new 2017 Mercedes I think.

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  great SUV but not atheletic - 2017 Volvo XC90
  By SKA - December 5 - 4:37 am

  We have very limited options for 3 row luxury SUV. Mercedes GLS is too big, BMW X5 3rd row is unusable. It boils down to XC90 and Audi Q7. Me and my wife both loved the exterior/interior of XC90. Eventually we ended up buying XC90 T8 Inscription with all possible options (MSRP was 85K, but we got good deal). Car is very quite and drives really nice and my wife swears for its handling. However I feel driving is boring. Acceleration is no where close to my Mercedes E350. May be I should not expect that but I want to let you know that dont get foll by 400hp rating. It is big/heavy car and you will notice it. It has about 15 miles electric only range and my wife loves electric only mode due to quietness (I feel it is sluggish in electric mode). in last 4 months I had to visit dealer twice. Once engine light came up and second because there is some rattling noise in center console. Dealer fixed engine light thing, but noise issue has not gone fully (it comes back only at certain speed). I feel it is due to air suspension and I have to live with it. I dont expect such thing in 85K car. If I have to buy again, I would buy T6, since it is 400lb lighter so will have better handling. T6 will be 15K cheaper too. Now it has been one year since I have this vehicle. It has made two trips to dealer for various issues. One for temp sensor gone bad and another for battery cooling pump gone bad. It was also making creaking sound at center console which dealership fixed by putting some extra insulation. Now I hope everything is sorted out and just regular servicing will be needed in future. I have grown used to its driving characteristics. Driving experience is best at Sports mode. Everyone gives compliment for its looks.

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  Volvo Buying Back My 2016 XC90 Plug-in Hybrid - 2017 Volvo XC90
  By Lynn - November 14 - 8:18 pm

  My first indication of problems to come was the check engine light was on when I purchased the car. It took two days to resolve originally and then it recurred several more times, which required a visit to Volvo each time. I have a love/hate relationship with this vehicle. I love, love, love the interior design and features. There is great mood lighting, an excellent sound system, comfortable seats, classy styling, touch screen, AUTO PILOT (the best thing ever in Southern California traffic - Ill never buy a car without this feature again), parallel parking assist, second row seat adjustment for larger/smaller passenger leg room and much more. Twice my car auto braked and likely saved me from accident, so thank you Volvo, but many other times as I am driving in a residential street it dings loudly with an orange bar code. It falsely alerts me and sometimes even breaks slightly, that I am going to hit a parked car that I am no where near. It scares me each time it does this. My moon roof poured water in the second row of my car when I took it to the Costco car wash. This fix (replacing the moonroof and making adjustments) took about a week. I have had multiple issues with temperature control systems, both requiring extended visits (about a week each time) at the service shop, while they ordered parts and made repairs. My seat belts, seats or whatever squeaks as I am driving down the road. Its like nails on a chalkboard. Ive been in several times for this and now I just give him. My quiet Volvo riding experiencing now has me twitching at the sounds. I have continuous issues pumping gas (they made a repair for a check engine light on a fuel related issue, just not this issue) where the pump clicks off and I cannot tell if my tank is full. Im scared to keep pumping as gas will spill out, so I stop and fill up at another gas station or another occasion. Volvo offered to buy my car back and it has been a very smooth process, so much so, that I will be purchasing a 2018 XC90 Plug-in Hybrid. I am hoping they have worked out some of the glitches. Fingers-crossed... Update, 1/8/18!!! I have been in my new 2018 Volvo XC90 Plug-in Hybrid Inscription for several months and I reached 3,400 miles before my check engine light came on. What a huge disappointment! As luck would have it, my thermostat needs replacing (a 3-5 day repair estimate). This is EXACTLY the same issue as on my 2016 XC90 Plug-in Hybrid. You can’t make this stuff up! Buyer beware of the mechanic/computer problems on this car. They are real! My service advisor told me that they haven’t seen this issue on other 2018 models yet (I am one of the first buyers in my location of this model year).

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  Tried to lease from many dealers and failed - 2017 Volvo XC90
  By Manny Fernandez, Jr. - February 21 - 6:55 pm

  The dealerships are not very aggressive in selling their vehicles. They seem to have little to no wiggle room when it comes to leases. While the Volvo Corp website listed lease deals for the hybrid no one I contacted was interested in getting the car for me. It was what they had on their lot. I was really surprised at their kind of caviler attitude. The car is definitely interesting but not an inexpensive lease. Again I asked several times at more than 5 dealers if they would get me the car that Corporate was advertising and the answer was we would have to search. I would never hear back..... Must be nice!

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  High Tech on Wheels but Keep Eyes on Road - 2017 Volvo XC90
  By Bookman - August 25 - 11:22 pm

  This car drives great and is as comfortable as my living room but the tablet-like controls are a challenge. It requires eyes off road to scroll through the dozens of options; the driver mode default selection does not work, it always starts in Comfort even if you choose Eco or Dynamic (I saw this complaint in a review from 2016 model) and in order to switch between the modes you have to find the roller ball by the gear shift and turn it just right; should have a button or voice command to switch cause when youre getting on a highway and need Dynamic the last thing you want to do is fish for it. Finally learned that you can control climate with voice commands so thats really cool and helpful b/c again eyes off road to change fan setting or temp. A few times I turned fan up at start and it didnt catch, wondering what thats about. Totally dont understand the auto climate feature. And the navigation is terrible. My former XC70s nav was amazing but this one asks for Street Number, Street and City in one command and then cant understand what you say and gives a crazy place back. Should ask for each one individually like the XC70 did. I am hoping all the technical stuff in the car lasts and no glitches develop with software. Positives include the driving assist that helps keep me in the lane-very effective, and the media system offers lots of options like favorites, etc. which is fun. So far the car is a total joy to drive and ride in and it looks great.