Finally drove an 08 today

[JRL]

Short drive, about 10 minutes.
I may have some time tomorrow but being a Saturday they may not want me to take it for an hour.
Not bad. It felt better than a comperable S80 3.2. Seemed to shift better but Volvo still has some problems with tranny software as the engine and the transmission don't mesh that well together and some of the shifts are "strange, not really bad mind you just "off"
In this day and age everyone in this price range offers a car that shifts perfectly with a perfect shift algorithim.
Why Volvo can't seem to deliver a car with a "matched" transmission is puzzling and has now become annoying at this point.
Otherwise I found it extremely pleasent if not a bit detached from the road in a different way than older P2 XC's.
Very solid feeling vehicle, nice seats, annoying S80 interior but this is the way Volvo has gone with their design, like it or leave it but at least it's different.
They MUST get a proper tan leather, this cream colored interior will get very dirty very quickly. It's uninspiring and that light cream steering wheel and column is not my taste. I would like to see this two tone that's being offered
The liftgate was awesome.
I'll give a full review after I have some real seat time with it but in general if I had to sum it up in a couple of words...

Generally a very nice wagon, very SOLID, much more so than a P2 wagon.
It's not as slow as I thought it would be and if someone gave me one I would be proud to own it
(after some serious mods)! Volvo, if you read this, you MUST get your act together with these AW trannies.
I'm sure the transmission, in general, is fine, but the software and interfacing with the rest of the drivetrain is awful and embarrasing for you to let this out in 2008, you can do (much) better.
I've driven S80 V8s and it seems to work OK, why can't you match it to the I-6?

[griso4r]

quite interested in your impressions, did you have the possibility to test the brakes? hopefully improved, but i seriously doubt about it.
volvo is going to adopt a kind of dsg transmission on the 2.0 v50 diesel in europe, i think it wil be extended also to the 70 in a near future. in few days i'll have my test on the '08 and i'll let you know.
ciao

[budrichard]

Most dealerships will give you the vehicle for the weekend if you are serious about purchasing. Pick up Saturday, return monday morning. Only way to really get an idea if you like the vehicle.-Dick

[UmpireHerb]

I took one out for a quick ride and found the lower end to have more torque than the older 5-cylinders (0-30 mph), but the power band not as strong without the turbo so the car felt lagging from 30-60 mph getting on the highway. the overall ride was not much different than my '01. So for now I will keep my older one.