My letter to Volvo USA.

[travelkids]

MPG worries with your line up.

Hi,

I love my 2002 Volvo XC 70 that we pickup in Sweden. I have been excited to pick up its replacement someday in the future. However, I can't stomach your new models coming out with more power and worse gas mileage. If I buy another car it will need to be reaching a minimum of 35mpg combined driving. It certainly looks like Volvo USA is somewhat lost in their direction providing more power, less gas mileage all with Premium gas required! I was happy with the power you delivered to me in my 02 XC, but later models became faster and less fuel efficient.

It might not be profitable to offer several engines for each model, but you need to redirect your efforts here in the USA as you are in Europe and bring this customer more fuel efficient cars to choose from.

I hope you offer better fuel efficient choices in the near future, otherwise you may lose this first time customer as fast as you earned him.

Regards

[gary]

Did you get a response? Worth sharing here?

[budrichard]

I supplied the same sort of information through the Volvo Website for Feedback and never heard a thing. Not really surprising. Why waste your time with a Customer you can't satisfy?
A Volvo XC will NOT be my next vehicle.-Dick

[travelkids]

I received my response promptly. However, it was the standard scripted response that states absolutely nothing.

"Thank you for contacting Volvo and for taking the time to write to us. Your comments and concerns are very important to us. They will be passed on to Product Development. Volvo will continue to work on developing more and more fuel efficient cars not just to meet the statutory requirements, but also because our customers demand them. If you have questions or need more information on our new models, please call the Volvo Personal Shopper at 1-800-550-5658 from 9 am to 6 pm ET, Monday through Friday."

I couldn't help myself, so I had to mouth off in my response.

"Volvo will continue to work on developing more and more fuel efficient cars not just to meet the statutory requirements, but also because our customers demand them"

Your XC70 has been develop to have less and less fuel efficiency from 2002-2008. Thanks for the "Canned" response, I guess I didn't expect much more. If you look at your European line-up you already have the potential to deliver better MPG, not sure why you decide to not offer those exisiting models here in the USA.

Time to look at other brands.

Thank you



What do most of you think? Are you okay with Volvo's MPG? Am I being too hard on Volvo? Their competition BMW xi wagon's, Audi, Mercedes, Saab are all getting similiar MPG.

What do you all think??????

[curtis]

I wouldn't say that I am dissapointed with volvo's fuel millage, I mean lets not kid ourselves. We knew their aproximate fuel consumption before we baught the cars! and if we wern't happy with the numbers we shouldn't have bought them.
Ive owned toyota's that were brilliant when it came to fuel consumption, And reliability. But they wern't luxurious, didn't handle as well, and mostly wern't as Safe as a volvo. I am a paramedic and have seen many motor vehicle accidents.. I won't sacrifice the safety of my family to save a few $!!!!
However I do believe volvo could do better with their avg MPG. Like others have said why don't we have diesel XC'S in north america. BUt take into consideration our XC'S are very heavy for midsize cars, and you get what you pay for. And when you buy a volvo you pay for safety. You buy a SMART car you save money on fuel. It's simply a matter of priorities.

[gary]

I have to admit that MPG isn't a big criteria for me. It never has been with any car I've had...although I can see that as I spend more of my $$$ on gas (and more of my $$$ on electricity for my home and groceries for my kids, etc, etc....) it is becoming a criteria that I am increasingly starting to pay attention to. Will it be a deciding factor in future purposes? Probably not.

Can Volvo do better? I think so.
Should Volvo do better? I think so.

I don't believe it's unrealistic for the consumer to demand better from a car company, whether that be Volvo, BMW, Audi..... At the end of the day, Volvo will listen to the majority of their consumers and make adjustments or those consumers will look elsewhere. And if enough consumers bypass the Volvo lineup, changes usually start to happen.....

[travelkids]

I wouldn't say that I am dissapointed with volvo's fuel millage, I mean lets not kid ourselves. We knew their aproximate fuel consumption before we baught the cars! and if we wern't happy with the numbers we shouldn't have bought them.
Ive owned toyota's that were brilliant when it came to fuel consumption, And reliability. But they wern't luxurious, didn't handle as well, and mostly wern't as Safe as a volvo. I am a paramedic and have seen many motor vehicle accidents.. I won't sacrifice the safety of my family to save a few $!!!!
However I do believe volvo could do better with their avg MPG. Like others have said why don't we have diesel XC'S in north america. BUt take into consideration our XC'S are very heavy for midsize cars, and you get what you pay for. And when you buy a volvo you pay for safety. You buy a SMART car you save money on fuel. It's simply a matter of priorities.

I must agree with you that safety is priority number one. I don't think many people would disagree with you there, but let me refer to the fact that from '02 to '08 the power as improved at the expense of fuel economy. My 02's power is just fine, why make a family wagon faster and faster?!?!

If you have time pick up a "Top Gear" magazine at an international stand, check out the back. It lists all models and combined Mpg. It is unbelievable!!

I must say that instead of improving performance from 02 to 08 models, maybe they should of used that technology to improve Mpg.

I must say in 02 25mpg was looking pretty good, gas being 1.74 a gallon, but now it is double and an 08 is getting no better!!!

[travelkids]

And if enough consumers bypass the Volvo lineup, changes usually start to happen.....

Honestly, I hope Volvo doesn't fall in the trap of being reactionary in customer wants as the US auto industry has mastered!

I hope they are proactive and act sooner than later. I would hate for them to lose some of their customer base before they act. I think over the last 7 years they have come along way in the USA regaining customers.

I am just concerned when I see them bring a new car that being the 08 xc70 with the worst mileage of that line up in recent years. Turbo gone, normally aspirated Premium gas drinker!

I don't see ever people abandoning their thirsty SUVs, so MPG it is obviously a concern for many Americans, but IMO I think the trend is starting to change, best to be ahead of the trend than playing catch up.

[budrichard]

We have owned Volvo's from 1987. the 1987 740 GLE was chosen in the non-turbo version to avoid having to replace the turbo later in life. WE still have it at about 290K miles. It is slow to about 50mph where the power comes on and good enough. It gets about 26 around town. The 1999 XC gets about 24 and the 2003 XC about 22. The 2003 Xc at a steady 70 mpg can get about 27 mpg.
Each succeeding generation of Volvo has decreased the gas mileage and the 08XC is the proverbial 'Last Straw'. I have stated my belief that Volvo is presently making decisions based alomst solely on marketing and cost. No Turbo, different engine, save money. Its as simple as that. Volvo used to design vehicles for Swedes who want things to last, as pointed out to me by Ben and his wife, who had come here from Sweden and ran an independant Volvo shop. Not sure what's going on in Sweden today but I can assure you that the Ford influence is in place.
Anyway, vehicle manufacturers have made large strides in safety which is the area that attracted us to Volvo originally. There are many other good vehicles out there today and I for one will not reward a compnay that does not meet my needs and refuses to listen!-Dick

[philosophicaldreamer]

Volvo used to design vehicles for Swedes who want things to last, as pointed out to me by Ben and his wife, who had come here from Sweden and ran an independant Volvo shop. Not sure what's going on in Sweden today but I can assure you that the Ford influence is in place.

I do agree with you about MPG. Volvo should do much better in this regard. Sticking an eight-cylinder engine into new Volvos is somewhat silly to me As far as the longevity and reliability of Volvos go, the reliability research on new Volvos matches exactly the reliability of previous generations. If you look at Consumer Reports from previous years, you will see that old Volvos were no more reliable than the newer generations. As a matter of fact, I remember people who owned 240 Volvos complaing that the platic dash and other accouterments in those cars were cheaply made and had tendcy to crack or break off. The newer Volvos rarely have these problems. It is an urban myth that old Volvos were trouble-free. My XC is definitely less troublesome than our 240 or 960 or S90 were. What Volvo should really do, however, is to attend to the quality of service that its dealerships provide.

Ta-ta, j.