Highway 1, torrential downpour, XC70 review

[adamc]

AMAZING!

In the first extended outing with the car loaded with Wife, New Baby, Dog, and all other space filled with respective gear we headed up the coast for New Years...

Driving North on Highway 1 between Jenner and Gualala (for those of you that know the stretch) in the worst rain I've ever driven in, the XC70 performed amazingly. There was so much rain that I could only safely drive 20 mph at times to allow the wipers to clear the windshield on their highest speed.

The car handles beautifully around the corners, wonderful acceleration and stopping. Rock solid traction even when driving through low spots in the road kicking up walls of water on both sides of the car.

Boy, it feels a little like a scened from Star Wars traveling at light speed when those walls of water get kicked up and the bi-xenons hit them...

After a gas station stop on the way home I had to floor it to make it back into traffic from a wet gravely on ramp (or wait hours for a break in traffic) Amazing acceleration with a full car and no slippage in footing. My wife, who is often impressed by mechanical marvels, even let out an extended "wow" after the event... I didn't know this car could do that (and she's the primary driver, I just get to "borrow" the XC...

The only criticisms would be that I need to adjust the headlights a wee bit higher, and wish the highbeams on the xenons would raise up a bit more from their low beam position than they do (have had my wife follow me in the car and know that I have a bit of room to do this without blinding others). I also felt the A-frame upright between the windshield/driver side door was a bit restrictive of vision around a lot of the left hand turns. The natural tendency for my eye to follow the curve was often blocked directly by the upright more than other cars I've driven.

Happy New Year everyone!!!

Adam

[XC70MarinCA]

Hey here's an FYI from someone who was about to sell that car b/c of this exact issue after almost hitting about two dozen deer across three months on Mt. Tam - go over to Marin Volvo and tell them you want to have your Bi-Xenon's adjusted "up" - they did it for me and I've been impressed ever since - it makes a HUGE difference. BTW, maybe my expectations are/were much higher for my XC70 (after having driven an Audi AllRoad in Sun Valley for awhile), but do you really feel that this car handles like you say - especially in heavy weather - b/c honestly I'm not so "sure" of the thing in the rain (we haven't been in the snow yet unfortunately as I hear that's where these things REALLY rock).

[John@CdnRockies]

Adjusting Bi-Xenon's is very easy and is posted in other threads on this forum. Our dealer refused to do it, leading to some self-help maintenance on my part. It is the easiest and most noticeable change that I have made since delivery.

Enjoy your ride!

John

[adamc]

Oh, I've been adjusting the Bi-Xenons myself already, I was just commenting that they need a bit more upward adjustment. This was the first road where I could really test their performance in the pitch black on straight aways, around turns, and up/down hills. I really wish you could adjust the low beam high point and high beam high point individually. On a road like Highway 1, you want your high beams to light the road up like daytime.

Considering we are comparing this car to our old mazda 323, and '88 BMW 5-series, it performs amazingly. I haven't had the luxury of testing it against the Audi All-Road.

Similarly, I can't wait to drive 'er in the snow either! With a newborn, it's unlikely that we'll be taking any ski trips this winter, but I'm trying to find a good excuse to drive 4 hours to test 'er out in a winter wonderland...

[Art]

Can’t comment on the bi-xenons but, like Adam, we also went through a similar experience a little over a year ago as we drove through a July rain torrent just outside of Cochrane, AB. This one was particularly bad as it was laced with tiny hail stones. Thankfully, there was no damage to any parts of the car. Even though I felt a natural tendency to slow down, the XC remained as stable as the Queen Mary and throughout the ordeal we even managed to crack a confident smile or two. :)

http://www.xc70.com/pics/albums/userpics/Rain%20Storm%20outside%20of%20Cochrane.jpg

Winter driving here, on the other hand, is solely dependent on the driver and can be treacherous if one isn’t cautious. Take the photo below for example. Red Deer City emergency crews are seen removing the body of a 52 yr old woman from the wreckage of the SUV that she was driving. This accident happened just over the weekend and was blamed on an icy bridge deck which caused her to lose control and drive off of the bridge onto the frozen river below. :(

[Bluegrass-XC]

I have to agree with adamc and Art when it comes to driving in torrential downpours. I had the same experience in southern Alabama on I-65. I was doing almost 80 mph when the sky opened up. The XC handled wonderfully.

As far as snow - I got to experience that on Christmas Eve in the Ohio valley where Louisville got 9 inches dumped on them. The "SUV's" looked to be the most impotent.

[XC70Geo]

When driving in rain the car is so stable, you even enjoy when your right wheel crosses and kicks up water and the car runs straight if nothing happened.

In snow the handling mainly depends on your tires, and the Scorpion STR is not a snow tire. Beware, at low speed you feel it very safe, but there is a point when you can easily loose control, and even DSTC is not enough to get it back.