New Year New Car (2013 Volvo XC90 3.2)
Discussion
Since moving to the countryside the Lexus has pretty much been parked up in the garage with the exception of some longer road trips. The lack of paved roads within the vicinity of the house and utterly appalling tarmac roads everywhere else we found ourselves taking the old dog bus and building supply transporter, Rock carrying Rav4 everywhere as it just worked so much better given the conditions.
Getting a bit fed up of travelling everywhere in a car that smells of wet dog we decided we should buy something a bit better for daily use.
Looked at the post 2013 Lexus offerings and couldn't live with the looks. Had a look at a few Mercedes GLK's however they all appeared to be clocked ropey sheds for our budget (around 19k GBP in English money) when we accidentally happened upon an XC90 D5 for sale at the local volvo dealer.
After a test drive my wife decided that we should buy one however I'm really not that keen on diesel and we travel quite often into German cities so didn't want to risk not being able to enter. + the one in the dealer had quite a steep mileage at 280k KMS with absolutely no warranty. + it had been crashed a few times.
Happened upon a company specialising in ex lease vehicles from the states (Not the usual crashed stuff) and he had just imported a 2013 XC90 Platinum (Summum in Europe) Full service history, 1 owner, all original paint etc and 75k on the clock so decided to buy it.
(it needs a bloody good detail but as its winter theres not a lot of point)
First impressions (Its actually been around 3 weeks) It feels huge, Even compared to the LS430 it feels massive. Quality of the finish is nowhere near Lexus quality however neither is the price. To drive its very floaty. It will sit happily at 110-120 MPH on the Autostrada and the seats are fantastic as is the stereo system. It was never meant to be a drivers car but its a nice place to sit.
A 10 seater dining table fits in the boot with ease
Having read Kaptainlangzaam's thread on his XC90 adventures I had an idea that they are quite heavy on bushes and tyres etc so installed new wishbones and a set of Toyo Snowprox winter tyres along with 2 front shock absorbers. Had it serviced and the gearbox oil changed too.
Need to get my hands on a copy of VIDA as all the displays are in imperial which is a pain and can only be changed via VIDA. Also the headlights need to be coded so that the inner lights come on with high beam (bulbs and wiring are there but they don't do anything) as opposed to just the bixenon flaps lifting. After a bit of reading Federal law restrict the brightness of high beam lights for some reason.
Next step is LPG. I know this stuff is hated in the UK however I think its fantastic. Its available everywhere here and at 40p a litre its a no brainer.
Tried to sell the Rav4 but decided to keep it, Lift the suspension and generally just use it for carrying stuff and a bit of greenlaning.
Getting a bit fed up of travelling everywhere in a car that smells of wet dog we decided we should buy something a bit better for daily use.
Looked at the post 2013 Lexus offerings and couldn't live with the looks. Had a look at a few Mercedes GLK's however they all appeared to be clocked ropey sheds for our budget (around 19k GBP in English money) when we accidentally happened upon an XC90 D5 for sale at the local volvo dealer.
After a test drive my wife decided that we should buy one however I'm really not that keen on diesel and we travel quite often into German cities so didn't want to risk not being able to enter. + the one in the dealer had quite a steep mileage at 280k KMS with absolutely no warranty. + it had been crashed a few times.
Happened upon a company specialising in ex lease vehicles from the states (Not the usual crashed stuff) and he had just imported a 2013 XC90 Platinum (Summum in Europe) Full service history, 1 owner, all original paint etc and 75k on the clock so decided to buy it.
(it needs a bloody good detail but as its winter theres not a lot of point)
First impressions (Its actually been around 3 weeks) It feels huge, Even compared to the LS430 it feels massive. Quality of the finish is nowhere near Lexus quality however neither is the price. To drive its very floaty. It will sit happily at 110-120 MPH on the Autostrada and the seats are fantastic as is the stereo system. It was never meant to be a drivers car but its a nice place to sit.
A 10 seater dining table fits in the boot with ease
Having read Kaptainlangzaam's thread on his XC90 adventures I had an idea that they are quite heavy on bushes and tyres etc so installed new wishbones and a set of Toyo Snowprox winter tyres along with 2 front shock absorbers. Had it serviced and the gearbox oil changed too.
Need to get my hands on a copy of VIDA as all the displays are in imperial which is a pain and can only be changed via VIDA. Also the headlights need to be coded so that the inner lights come on with high beam (bulbs and wiring are there but they don't do anything) as opposed to just the bixenon flaps lifting. After a bit of reading Federal law restrict the brightness of high beam lights for some reason.
Next step is LPG. I know this stuff is hated in the UK however I think its fantastic. Its available everywhere here and at 40p a litre its a no brainer.
Tried to sell the Rav4 but decided to keep it, Lift the suspension and generally just use it for carrying stuff and a bit of greenlaning.
idiotgap said:
I bought a 2013 D5 XC90 last month and loving it so far, will be keen to see how you get on too.
My ex-FIL bought one brand new in 2002/3 in Executive spec and it's a lovely comfortable thing. He's done nearly 200,000 miles in it with only one big bill, which was £1k for something relating to the AWD system. I think they had it pretty much sorted after a decade of the XC90 and nearly 15 years of the P1 platform!Performance wise Its never going to set the world alight and I would describe it as very similar to my old BMW 728i. 0-60 is about 9 seconds from memory however its a heavy old thing to get moving.
There is enough power however the bulk of it comes in at around 4000 rpm as a such we barely ever use what it has available (Everything is covered in snow now) It cruises at 100MPH at just under 3000 RPM and the 40-70 MPH acceleration is pretty good. It feels slightly quicker than the D5 we tried however it doesn't have the wave of torque the Diesel has. The i6 makes a fantastic sound and to my ears sounds like an old school BMW i6.
Fuel economy isn't that tragic either. we are getting 25MPG regardless of how we drive it or what we use it for (mix of crawling along country lanes, Driving through fields and motorway work) On LPG in money terms at 40p per litre this will work out as a theoretical 45-50 MPG which makes for cheap motoring.
As a thing from getting from A to B, Carrying furniture (not the dog) I really can't fault it at all. I'm a lot more confident with my wife driving it around as I know its safe compared to the Rav4 and the local drivers are pretty mental.
There is however an irritating rattle from the tailgate. Anyone else experiencing this? I think taking the internal panels off and applying foam tape on the edges should see to it.
Really must wash it at some point. Was thinking about having it ceramic coated as all of our vehicles are constantly filthy.
There is enough power however the bulk of it comes in at around 4000 rpm as a such we barely ever use what it has available (Everything is covered in snow now) It cruises at 100MPH at just under 3000 RPM and the 40-70 MPH acceleration is pretty good. It feels slightly quicker than the D5 we tried however it doesn't have the wave of torque the Diesel has. The i6 makes a fantastic sound and to my ears sounds like an old school BMW i6.
Fuel economy isn't that tragic either. we are getting 25MPG regardless of how we drive it or what we use it for (mix of crawling along country lanes, Driving through fields and motorway work) On LPG in money terms at 40p per litre this will work out as a theoretical 45-50 MPG which makes for cheap motoring.
As a thing from getting from A to B, Carrying furniture (not the dog) I really can't fault it at all. I'm a lot more confident with my wife driving it around as I know its safe compared to the Rav4 and the local drivers are pretty mental.
There is however an irritating rattle from the tailgate. Anyone else experiencing this? I think taking the internal panels off and applying foam tape on the edges should see to it.
Really must wash it at some point. Was thinking about having it ceramic coated as all of our vehicles are constantly filthy.
I've got the same car/engine combination, quite rare here in the UK. Didn't want a D5 and found this one with an LPG conversion, wouldn't have considered it without one! I get about 20ish mpg so you're doing well at 25. The cost of LPG is higher here so I think we average an equivalent of 30-35mpg which is as good/better than the D5 from what I've read. If I had the cash I'd probably replace with the same car but maybe the newer model in T8 guise!
Got pretty fed up with looking at a dirty car so spent around 5 hours polishing and sealing the Volvo the other night.
It came up pretty well however there are still a few swirl marks. Used fusso soft99 which seems to work quite well.
Works well in the snow on Toyo Snowprox winters.
On the lookout for some OZ canyon wheels for summer tyres however have a bathroom to remodel so house takes priority.
So far so good. Very impressed with the car. Very comfortable. Seems to go everywhere we need it to and apart from being a bit thirsty all is good.
It came up pretty well however there are still a few swirl marks. Used fusso soft99 which seems to work quite well.
Works well in the snow on Toyo Snowprox winters.
On the lookout for some OZ canyon wheels for summer tyres however have a bathroom to remodel so house takes priority.
So far so good. Very impressed with the car. Very comfortable. Seems to go everywhere we need it to and apart from being a bit thirsty all is good.
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