After 2 months of driving the XC90 T6

[kwsailnj]

Well I picked up my XC90 T6 in early January after selling my XC70 and have had the opportunity to experience the following issues with the new XC90. Some of my vehicle's issues have been addressed and others I understand I just have to live with.

1) Picked up the car from the dealer with all of 8 mi. on the odo. - brake squeal noise noticed when coming to a stop and only lightly pressing on the brake pedal. The problem was a minor annoyance for the first 30 days, but became a real problem last week when the sound changed to a loud squeal like grinding metal on metal. With only 1,000mi on the car, I ended up just parking the car until the dealer had a chance to take a look at it. The dealer looked at the car and mentioned that he has had to address the issue on several XC90s originally there wasn't a fix announced from Volvo, but they recently sent instructions to fix the problem. The dealer has to sand the front pads and lubricate the brake pad backing plates. Evidently solving the problem for most customers. I picked up the car after the repair was attempted. The problem seemed to be fixed, but two days later the sound is back... not as strong, but it is there. I will mention it again when I bring the vehicle in for its next oil change.

2) I noticed on my drive home from the dealer the day I picked up the car that the vehicle pulled to the right.... It only took one quick appt. the following week to have the alignment checked and adjusted.... Now the vehicle drives straight down the road.

3) Out of the show room the passenger seat had a scuff mark on it, evidently from someone sitting down in the seat with a screw driver sticking out of their back pocket. Waiting for warmer weather so the seat repair tech can attempt a repair. If I don't like the repair, I'm just going to request a new seat surface to be installed.

4) I also found a great new feature to go along with my High End stereo system... my driver door has a clicking sound that works in concert with every bass sound coming out of the driver's door speaker. Evidently there is something loose behind the door panel.

5) The gas mileage sucks for this vehicle. I am getting nowhere near sticker advertised mileage. I actually get better gas mileage out of my A8L 4.2 V8 than I do with the T6. With poor gas mileage it would have been nice if Volvo provided a bigger gas tank with the vehicle. It is almost impossible to get 300 miles on one tank of gas. I guess it is the price of ownership.

Updated: 02/24/04 I forgot to mention:

6) Another interesting experience, I was driving down the road one evening last week and all of a sudden it felt like the ABS was engaging rapidly on the front two wheels at any speed above 40 mph, but the vehicle wasn't slowing down due to the ABS engaging. Very Odd... I didn't have my foot on the brake either. I pull over to check the vehicle, start out again and the problem is still there. I pull over again and turn off the vehicle. The problem goes away. So, I start driving home and about two miles later the problem is back. Pull over again and restart the car and the problem goes away. I haven't experienced the problem since. I have no idea what the problem was.

7) Lastly, this problem falls in the you have to live with it category. The twin turbos on the T6 make a very interesting sound with my vehicle and at least each of the T6s I test drove at the dealer. Right around 1,800 RPM under partial throttle, you can make the engine hoot like a small owl - the description provided by my dealer's road test mechanic. The sound is very pronounced and can even be coaxed to warble over and over in this RPM range. The dealer knows about the turbo sound issue as many T6 owners have complained about the issue to the dealer, Volvo says the noise is from the turbo air inlet or related air inlet vane. A fix is not available at this time. Not a big issue, just a concern. Definitely an odd noise to hear from a brand new vehicle.  

Lesson learned - evidently you need to wait longer than two years for a company to work out basic build/design issues or resign yourself to having to deal with these type of issues.

Other than the above problems, I would say that I like the vehicle. I hope the rest of my ownership experience is a non-event.

Kevin

[IAFM]

Hey, I'm with you bub.  Maybe we should form a support group where we can try to deal with the mind-warping problem of driving a "rushed to launch" vehicle and also loving the moments behind the wheel when something doesn't break.