How is your ‘Satisfaction’ with your XC70 'Volvo'?

[XCovlov70]

After 12 months with our replacement XC70 (2008 Model) and 40 years of being solely with Volvo Cars I am now becoming very disillusioned with them, why?

Well it’s like this:

The car is a wonderful drive and has been since we got it, however thanks to the ‘Customer Service’ and total lack of communication certain things have happened in the past 12 Months which make me stop and think if I should continue to buy or run these cars, as cars by other manufacturers provide just as good a drive, safety and in a number of respects superior Customer Satisfaction.

• Tow bar was fitted to the vehicle and all was OK everything worked fine, then the car had to be returned as it had a ‘Glow in the Dark’ Radio that had a ‘fault’ in the display, so to try and sort it out the latest version of the ‘Management System Software’ was loaded which suddenly gave me pretty pictures on the Radio Display when reversing, but after 3 months of seeking answers I found out had disabled the Trailer Indicator Light as a Volvo Software Engineer decided that we the drivers/customers did not need it!
• I have also now found that the feature/facility to have Radio Text visible on the Radio Display which could be either enabled or disabled by the driver has also now been withdrawn/blocked by Volvo as they think we are a bunch of Nerds and drive looking at the radio display instead of the road!
• Whilst driving the car in Europe and using the Extortionately Priced RTI/GPS system I found that frequently I was ‘flying’ at around 200ft as we were up in the mountains, even though I was on a piece of Tarmac there was ‘No Road’ on the Map on the GPS?
• Several times on various roads I was also advised that there was ‘Severe Traffic Congestion Ahead’ but when we shortly arrived in the ‘Congested Area’ the road was totally clear? Had we taken the suggested alternative route it would have added another 2 hours to the journey.
• I also find that I cannot add Points of Interest e.g. Campsites to the GPS System but in my alternative TomTom GPS I have something like 11,000 Campsites for Europe, not to mention a whole host of other POI’s that I make full use of on different trips (Supermarkets, WiFi Hot Spots etc). However Volvo provide their system with very expensive Restaurants which cannot be deleted to make room for more useful POI’s and also not forgetting all the Volvo Garages which are as useful as a Chocolate Fireguard if you happen to breakdown and the nearest one is around 150Miles away!
• As I tour Europe quite extensively I have also found that I cannot enter more than 7 Destinations for any Itinerary whereas with the Removable and a hell of a lot cheaper TomTom I have currently 3 Itinerary’s with around 33 Destinations in each one.
• I was also very surprised to find that when I went to put some tools into the tray between the Emergency Spare and the Boot Floor Panel that the Vehicle Electronics Control Boxes had “FO-MO-CO” in nice letters on them? I really thought when I bought this car that it was a Volvo and not a Volvo made with parts supplied by the Ford Motor Company!
How nice and kind!

[Lotus99]

While most of your problems seem related to NAV, I would have to sympathize with you, as I've had nothing but problems with my car (just check my threads), and unfortunately, I feel this will be our last Volvo (unless the next 3 years of ownership are magically different than this past year, as that's when our warranty runs out).

Just last week, I had yet another problem, which I didn't post, as it's just getting tiresome... One of the rear windows just stopped working out of the blue. Thank goodness it wasn't raining with the window stuck open - luckily it decided to stop working when it was closed.

So I take it in, and it turns out it needs a software update. That must be the fourth one I've had between bug fixes and recalls.

And guess what? Now the one touch up and down on that window don't work... So I'm back to the dealer once more to get that fixed.

I must have had 15 to 20 visits to the dealer in the first year of owning this car. A few of which were the recalls.

Pathetic for such an expensive, supposedly well-made car.

[Forkster]

The challenge with all Volvo's is to find a good independent garage after the warranty runs out. Unfortunately, Volvo's dealer habits you see now are a mirror of Ford's - which is all about the bottom line, not fostering or nurturing client relationships. Ford, although they may be restructuring better than the their other two 'partners', are still the just a best of the 'bad lot'.

Indies know our Volvo's better than most dealers for some reason. It wasnt like tyhat before 'Ford'.

[ecbsykes]

I really like my 2000 V70XC. It's got just enough electronics to be useful, but not so many things that there is something broken all the time. Problem with Volvo is that they started drifting from their utilitarian roots and going for the more luxury aspect. Garbage like self-opening rear hatch, active-bending road lights, expensive nav equipment, lane departure warning and rain sensors is what's bringing these cars down.

I like and use everything in the 2000, and I don't think I ever wish that I had much more. Extra stuff to break seems like a bad idea...

[Lotus99]

Problem is my car has had its fair share of mechanical problems too, not just electricals that I could blame on the car becoming too fancy with gadgets. I had my driveshaft replaced because it would shudder when reversing, had the front subframe rear bushing replaced (which almost half the forum seems to also have had done), etc.

I'm totally for finding an independant shop after warranty (and did so with my last car, my Audi A4), if my complaint was how the dealer treats me when I visit them. But my issue isn't with the dealer, it's with the car itself, and I don't want to be in the shop with the car all the time. Post warranty, it would just mean that I'd end up forking money over to the independant shop instead of the dealer.

Reliability is the main issue I've got with this car, not just the dealer experience. What good does it do me to end up still having a car with lots of issues, post warranty, only it would cost me less to fix them all at an indy shop?

[XCovlov70]

Maybe looking at the replies we should collect all the replies and send them to the CEO in Gothenberg VCC HQ, to see if he is prepared to provide any answers?

[XCovlov70]

I think looking at the majority of answers on the Forum I could be in for some rough times ahead as my XC70 has so far only covered 29k Miles.

Having said that it was not really the 'problems' with the RTI/GPS System that hacked me off it was the number of times that I had to go back to the Volvo Dealer to get other 'problems' sorted out like the Duff Radio, Broken Wiring Harness in the Power Tailgate, Trailer Indicator Light removed, Alternator bearing 'squealing' (So they replaced the bearing and the belt at 27k!)

My previous 1989 V70 TDI (Volkswagen 2.5TDI Engine) gave me NO problems in 125K Miles and was chipped to provide 163Bhp as opposed to the 140Bhp it came with.

It had no 'Bells & Whistles' like the XC70 but after seeing what happens with all the Software that Volvo stuff in their cars that can and does go wrong. I am glad nothing is classed as 'Safety Critical' as I would not trust it!

[Matters]

We are completely satisfied with our 09 build XC70. It's fantastic. It has zero issues so far, albeit with only 6000 kms travelled.

However, our car has no high tech options like NAV or radar cruise etc. Which may explain why we've avoided any electrical drama.

Formerly, we have been a fundamentalist Toyota/Lexus family. I am so happy with our XC that I'm considering an S80 when the lease on my ES finishes at the end of next year.

[Nuke]

My satisfaction is not so good right now. The first week we had the 09, the "check engine" light went on with less that 100 miles on the vehicle. Misfire in all 6 cylinders. The vehicle has been to the dealer multiple times for this. First time, they just turned off the light and sent it home with me. Light came back on. Then they tried to fix it by increasing the fuel pressure, then by replacing all the spark plugs, and finally by replacing all of the fuel injectors and fuel rails. No good. The dealer also pissed me off by putting over 400 miles on a brand new vehicle for "testing" without telling me.

Volvo has now told me that they intend to replace the 09 with a 10 model. No further action on this yet; we're still driving the 09 with the yellow light shining in our faces.

I'm not interested in court as long as they follow through. Iowa has very strict lemon laws (up to 3x damages), so I think everything will ultimately be OK. The only hitch is my 09 was a base model (white with no options), so they have to build a new one and ship it here.

I'm becoming more than little troubled with Volvo since we also have an 00 V40 which went through the brake vacuum pump fiasco (whoops....no brakes in the morning!). It also has a big rust hole in the in front of the passenger front door, but it's way out of warranty. Rest of the car is rust free. My 97 Z28 with 160K miles has better reliability than these cars.

[dlmielke]

I've now had my 2008 XC70 for two years and am at 29K miles. So far, so good. I do have the navigation system and lots of creature comforts, but passed on BLISS (or whatever it's called). Having owned (and still do) the 1998 roll-out of the XC70, I was a little nervous about the redesigned 2008. My 1998 has had no end of repairs - early on it was warranty work, with time it became wear-and-tear, regular repairs (out of MY pocket). That said, it is still serving us well at over 140K miles and is now in the hands of our teen drivers. A sympathetic fellow customer overheard my repair estimate on the 1998 one visit and strongly recommended the extended service contract. I did take it on the 2008, so it will probably go strong forever! Hope your problems are resolved!