Discussion
After 8 months or so and 22k miles in a fiesta ST I’ve gone back to a Volvo, I thought we didn’t need a big car anymore as the wife was going to get the family car and the ST was great for me to drive to work and back in, she would get a bigger car and that was that.
She’s now declared she wants a small 4x4 and I need to have the big car, it needs to be 4wd as we live in quite a rural area.
Originally got down to a Subaru Outback as they make a fine country hack, but I just couldn’t live with the interior so upped the budget and went back to the usual suspects for a big luxo 4x4 and ended up with this, in my eyes stunning XC90.
The colour was the deal breaker for me, most Landrover products were another 10k on the budget and really limited with colours and the used stock is limited for what I wanted, Audi sales were just rude so they got ruled out just based on that, I won’t by BMW products so I was really left with Volvo, having had a V90 and a V60 Polestar before the ST i am happy with the cars.
So I picked this up on Saturday, 2021, Denim blue, Almond interior, all the toys.
It’s the B5 MHEV so far has managed a respectable 37MPG over its first 500 miles from collection in Downham market, to London and back to the Essex Cambridge borders yesterday and then the London Essex Cambs run again today.
It’s probably one of the most comfortable cars I’ve been in, cruises nicely, has enough poke to overtake, but you do need to give it advance notice about corners as coming from the ST that is like a go cart this really is like driving a boat.
If you don’t need serious of road capability and are considering a luxo 4x4 / SUV having looked at the Q7, Disco, Defender, RRS I would seriously recommend having look at the big XC, the infotainment is not as slick as the VAG product, and the engine is a little agricultural but as a package vs what I saved for the equivalent spec alternative I think you would be hard pushed to honestly see the difference in the other product.
She’s now declared she wants a small 4x4 and I need to have the big car, it needs to be 4wd as we live in quite a rural area.
Originally got down to a Subaru Outback as they make a fine country hack, but I just couldn’t live with the interior so upped the budget and went back to the usual suspects for a big luxo 4x4 and ended up with this, in my eyes stunning XC90.
The colour was the deal breaker for me, most Landrover products were another 10k on the budget and really limited with colours and the used stock is limited for what I wanted, Audi sales were just rude so they got ruled out just based on that, I won’t by BMW products so I was really left with Volvo, having had a V90 and a V60 Polestar before the ST i am happy with the cars.
So I picked this up on Saturday, 2021, Denim blue, Almond interior, all the toys.
It’s the B5 MHEV so far has managed a respectable 37MPG over its first 500 miles from collection in Downham market, to London and back to the Essex Cambridge borders yesterday and then the London Essex Cambs run again today.
It’s probably one of the most comfortable cars I’ve been in, cruises nicely, has enough poke to overtake, but you do need to give it advance notice about corners as coming from the ST that is like a go cart this really is like driving a boat.
If you don’t need serious of road capability and are considering a luxo 4x4 / SUV having looked at the Q7, Disco, Defender, RRS I would seriously recommend having look at the big XC, the infotainment is not as slick as the VAG product, and the engine is a little agricultural but as a package vs what I saved for the equivalent spec alternative I think you would be hard pushed to honestly see the difference in the other product.
aland75 said:
Nice car 
I have an older one... with the V8.
Interested in how you found the V60 Polestar - was it the 2.0 or 3.0 version?
I'm considering one as a replacement for my V70R.
V60 P* is an amazing car, I had mine for a couple of years and the only reason I sold it was because of the poor fuel economy, living in central London at the time my mileage went from out of town driving to all inner London and the 3.0 would only really return 12/14 mpg.I have an older one... with the V8.
Interested in how you found the V60 Polestar - was it the 2.0 or 3.0 version?
I'm considering one as a replacement for my V70R.
On a run I would I often see 30 mpg but most of the owners generally report around 25ish, the 2.0 is about the same.
Servicing is no more really than a general Volvo with the exception of the brakes (£1200 ish for front diss and pads) and tyres MP4SS are about £320 a corner.
I’m glad I had mine, it does everything a Volvo does with immense poke and a great soundtrack when you want it.
And unless you go to an owners club meet you will probably never see another one on the road.
The brakes are massive Brembo jobbies, and you really can’t buy them anywhere except a Volvo dealer or Brembo themselves, although that may have changed these days and there are no alternatives, or there didn’t used to be unless you buy from America and then your only saving about £300, I paid £1000 for front discs and pads on mine with a group buy discount from a Volvo dealer in Essex with the owners club, this was about 3/4 years ago so may well be even more now ! I think you should see around 25k from the pads and about 50k from the discs.
There is also a “bedding in procedure” for the brakes, that apparently must be followed, loads of owners have issues not following it and end up warping the discs. I didn’t and didn’t have any dramas mind.
Tyres standard affair, drive hard replace often, monitor pressures weekly as they are sensitive to that and will eat the inside of the tyres if the pressures are not correct, and rotate tyres every 4k to get good even wear, should see around 15/17k out a set of MPSS.
There is also a “bedding in procedure” for the brakes, that apparently must be followed, loads of owners have issues not following it and end up warping the discs. I didn’t and didn’t have any dramas mind.
Tyres standard affair, drive hard replace often, monitor pressures weekly as they are sensitive to that and will eat the inside of the tyres if the pressures are not correct, and rotate tyres every 4k to get good even wear, should see around 15/17k out a set of MPSS.
Gassing Station | Readers' Cars | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff