We're back! great trip & great car

[jst4fun]

Hello all...

Well no surprise to others that have gone, but it really was a great experience, and for those of you that might be a little hesitant about going to or driving in Sweden... don't be. It's much easier than you think. Here is a relatively quick write up... with pictures to follow.

Most Important: What I would do differently next time...
Spent more time in Northern Sweden. Denmark and Copenhagen were okay, but not great.
Next time will do a castles package taking me from Gothenburg, then near the northern lakes, and over to Stockholm, and drop car off there. Flight is better out of Stockholm, with no need to stop in Copenhagen.
Gotten a pin number for my visa card.
Made ferry reservations
Gone in August when the factory is open for the tour.

Also Important: What I would NOT change...
Rest 1 night before picking up the car
Pick up the car early
Spend 2 nights at first place you visit after getting the car (rest, relax, fully recover)
Stay in at least 2 fancy converted Castles.
The options I got on the car
Order in March to get current year pricing on next year's model.

Car Summary...
2004 XC70
Ruby Red
DSTC
Versatility pkg
Tinted windows
IAQS
Cloth seats
Rear sensors
Self level suspension
Got a moon roof for free somehow, not complaining
Added accessories at FDC: Front and rear mudflaps, vertical cargo safety net, and rear cargo side net.
Total without FDC accessories was $34,470 (2003 price that they honored due to ordering in March)

Trip Summary...
(8 days, 7 nights, ~800 miles of driving)
Flew out of Newark, NJ at midnight, Arrived 3pm Gothenburg, stayed 1 night at SAS Radisson Park Ave.
Taxi to FDC at 8am... Car delivered by 10am, lunch at 11:30, tour at 1pm
2 nights at Bjiertorp Castle, an easy 1 hour away.
1 night at a "manor house" in Genarp, south of Malmo, near bottom of Sweden
Drove over huge bridge/tunnel to Copenhagen
1 night at Hotel Danmark, did walking tour, and just walked around the city
Drove to western most side of island and took ferry to Arhus (northern part of Denmark)
Drove a little south to Sophiendal Castle for 1 night
Drove to northern tip of Denmark, and took ferry back to gothenburg
1 night again at the SAS Park Ave.
Dropped off car at 10am (this takes an hour if they are busy), bought accessories
Taxi to airport, flew back to California.


Noteworthy points about the TRIP... (Plus/Equal/Minus)

+ SAS business lounge in Newark, NJ. Good food, free drinks, couch, TV, etc. SOO much nicer than sitting at the terminal for 2 hrs.
+ Flying from East Coast... Good decision to leave from New York, and leave at midnight. Arrived in Gothenburg at ~3pm, and was at hotel by 4pm. SAS flight to Copenhagen (7.5hrs), and short (45min) flight to Gothenburg.
+ Sleep 1 night before pickup... Have heard some say to take 2 days, but if you arrive midday and fly from east coast, 1 night was enough. We actually bumped into some folks on the plane that tried to pick up the car the same day they arrived, and they were not happy campers. Due to luggage getting lost/delayed, they didn't get to FDC
+ "Limo" ride from airport... it was NOT a limo... just a Volvo Taxi, but it was very very nice to have someone standing holding up your name... no guessing where to go, etc. Same taxi came and picked us up next morning, and similar taxi took us to the airport after dropping off our car. No charge for any of the 3 trips.
+ SAS Radisson Park Ave... Hotel was good, location was great. Walking distance to many many restaurants, 7/11's, etc. They DID charge me for breakfast. ~$35 dollars for 2. Not cheap, but very convenient and nice.
+ The weather... was gorgeous.... no rain, clear sky, ~74 degrees. Could not have been better. Although didn't get a chance to put the AWD to the test.
+ Castles and More Castles... We really enjoyed spending the first 2 nights at Bjiertorp Slott (short trip gothenburg through volvo) It was expensive, but included a wonderful 5 course meal, breakfast, snacks, etc. We also booked other castles through Scantours.com, and enjoyed them all. I'll do a separate write up on that later.
+ Ferry from Denmark to Gothenburg... I thought it was a great experience. Would have liked to take the high speed ferry, but we took whatever we could get as it was the last ferry leaving that day. The trip is long and boring, but very cool to come into the Gothenburg bay.
+ Paperwork at FDC... very easy, sign about 2 documents when you pick up the car, and 1 more when you turn it in. They have this process worked out very well.

= Crash and Safety Center.... You go into the building, you watch a few videos and tour a room with some cutouts and 1 actual set of cars that were crashed. It's interesting but they admitted that they rarely if ever can take people into the facility itself, usually because they cannot let you see any results. They were testing an Aston Martin they day we were there, and apparently are testing other Ford products all this summer.
= Road signs... It is pretty difficult to actually figure out what the road name is, especially when approaching intersections. Instead, when approaching an intersection, they always have signs for the village down that street. So, when looking at a map, figure out what towns/villages are in the direction you want to go. They don't tell you N/S/E/W either.
= Actual delivery of the car... This was somewhat rushed. was very cool to have our custom delivery room, but they are pretty busy and did not spend that much time with us. Just a quick walk around and answered our quick questions. Time for 2 pictures, then drove it out. Whole process took about 10 min. I would have liked a more thorough walk through of all the features, mostly for my wife's benefit. But can get all the info from the manual. Definitely a good idea to try and be early in the morning, because it got busier later in the day.
= Free lunch... Not bad, just the main office cafeteria. You go across the street, past a volvo showroom building, then into the office building where you are directed to the cafe. You will have a voucher that did not seem to have any limit, just load up your tray with whatever drink, food, desert you want before going to the checkout.
= Side note: They actually do have small rooms and showers at the FDC delivery center in case you need to take a nap and clean up.

-- The actual factory was closed and assembly line tour was unavailable I had specifically asked William who checked with OSD primary rep and told me they normally close for July but would be open for the first week this time. WRONG. Instead they offered the "tour" of the crash and safety center. I was really not happy about this, but I wasn't going to let it ruin my trip.
-- Ferry Reservations... MAKE RESERVATIONS... going from Copenhagen area to Arhus we had no problem, showed up 5 min before it left and got on no problem, going from northern Denmark to Gothenburg we waited SIX HOURS in the "chance" line hoping to get a ride. Not fun. But we went for a walk and found a bunch of restaurants close by, so it was not a huge loss.
-- Make sure to get a pin number for your VISA. Don't just rely on your ATM card. At some places, such as gas stations, they don't take ATM's and they asked me for a pin number on my VISA. We had to drive out of our way to find a full service gas station where I could go inside and give card, sign receipt, etc.
-- 1 of every 2 people in Denmark smokes. This makes for very uncomfortable restaurants and even hotels. Sweden seemed better.

Noteworthy points about the CAR... (Plus/Equal/Minus)
(hopefully help some of you with your option choices)

+ Ruby Red... first time I saw it in person on an XC70 was when we picked it up. Very happy with it. Looks great with rear tints.
+ The dark "cloth" interior is way better than I thought it would be. It is 80% vinyl with little cloth inserts, hardly even know it was cloth. Good way to save money if you are stretching yourself to afford this wonderful car.
+ Moonroof... we didn't order it, and we didn't order any package that said it was included... but we got it anyway !!! Only thing I can think is that it got automatically added due to the Versatility package or the DSTC.
+ Rear window tints - very glad we ordered them
+ Rear backup sensor - very glad, helped parking in copenhagen.
+ Ride and seat quality... WOW ! Nearly 800 miles of total comfort. My wife had a hard time staying awake, she was so comfy (while a passenger of course)
+ Interior air quality system... did a great job of auto switching from internal to external air. Never smelled a truck or anything bad, and most importantly it ensures you get good fresh air as often as possible.
+ DSTC... didn't need it, but glad it's there
+ Seat/Mirror Memory... Don't know how we ever lived without this feature. No more guessing about returning to your optimum position after someone else has driven.

= Xenia wheels... wish they were bigger, but overall I like them
= The rear seat waste bin bottle holder... actually just allows the plastic from the rear center console to flip up providing a frame for you to put a garbage bag in. Functional but not great, I thought it would be self contained.

-- Manual mirror dim... I was hoping they would put in a different/smaller mirror when I did NOT order the auto dim mirror, but it's the same mirror, just with a flip switch on the bottom. No big deal, I still prefer the manual.
-- Center console storage... Not crazy about the open storage. Works great for CD's but not really a good place to throw receipts, glasses, etc. Also no place for change (I know they have a change storage thingy you can get, but I don't like loading coins, prefer a pile

[AutoMonkey]

j4f - thanks for the great trip report!

Glad to know you enjoyed it - looking forward to the pics. If your main complaint about the car is the central storage bin, you must be a happy camper indeed... Congratulations!

AutoMonkey

[xcrubygal]

just4fun
so glad you had a great time ! Isn't Ruby the perfect color ! I would never buy a car another way except FDC!! The reason you got the free sun roof is on '04's you must get the sunroof with all colors except black and white. So another '03 order, '04 cost savings.
After you said you left from Newark thought you were a fellow NEaster, but sounds like home is CA. Hope your Ruby arrives soon too !
PS we agree on northern Sweden, Bohuslan area is fantastic !!
cheers
  Ruby

[barrysharp]

jst4fun:

Thanks for that extensive trip report.  ...and welcome back.

...same as AM looking forward to your pics.

[jst4fun]

Okay...  I must be doing something wrong. It won't let me log in to upload a picture.  It let me upload to the GUEST area, but not in an album.

any pointers to the instructions ?

[barrysharp]

Yes -- that's the process. Upload to Guest area and then Taylor/costal will at some time move them into your album.

[jst4fun]

WOW, gotta love this forum.  Answers to questions so quickly.  thanks barry for the pic upload info.  And huge thanks to ruby for the info on the moonroof.  I didn't realize that it was required for non-white paint jobs.  another huge score for getting 2003 prices !  My savings vs. MSRP just went up to over $6000.  $3500 below invoice !

Anyway, I posted a few pics to the guest area. these are just the photos I took with my cheap digital cam. haven't developed or scanned the ones from the real camera yet.

Let me know if anyone has any questions.

Forgot to mention... WATCH OUT FOR HOTELS with "parking garages". in bigger cities, that often means that they take your car keys and take it down an elevator into a place where you don't get to see how it is parked. I did not trust the place in Denmark to do it, but I did trust the Radisson park ave, and did not have a problem. Ask for the Volvo discounted parking rate for their garage. They put your car away, and you can have it pulled out and waiting for you when you want to leave the next morning!

The guy joked with my wife that he has only wrecked 3 cars in the garage.... she laughed and then looked at him seriously and said... DON'T tell my husband that joke !

[mrb]

I agree about parking--at Radisson Park---they suggested I park my own car--you can pay them and park behind them in the theatre parking lot (outdoors but safe) and yards away from hotel) At the Diplomat Hotel in Stockholm, I paid and they took keys and parked car(I learned from parking valadation they left) in outdoor parking along the water inlet across the street and down 200 yards. Charged me 2900 kronins and ticket showed paid 1200 kronins---my sugesstion is to not pay hotels but go to outdoor parking where everyone parks and pay reasonable rates by just using their pay-park machines--at the Radisson Park paying a little more was worth it and reasonable because my voucher allowed me to come and go as ofter as I wanted for same price. Merv (oops) forgot to mention--Williams might have been correct on tour--I picked my car up on July 1st(a Tuesday) so the closing was probably just the day before you arrived--glad your experience was great otherwise--

[Seabee]

jst4fun, thanks for the excellent report.  I'm just starting the process.  Picking up XC70 in late September.  Look forward to any other experiences/suggestions you had/have.

[jst4fun]

Hi SeaBee...

Feel free to post any questions you have to this thread and I will do my best to reply.  happy to pass along help, as many here have definitely helped me.

The process isn't over for us yet.  They told us the car would leave on the next SUNDAY.  we had dropped it off on monday.  But I'm pretty sure the car sat there for 2 weeks, as the boat/shipping company did not have any boats leaving for the west coast.  The boat sailed yesterday from gothenburg, but their online tool does not yet register our car on board yet.  I'm hoping it just takes time to update their system (fingers crossed).

anyway, i've yet to see anyone really describe the whole shipment process, so I will plan to write it up once we get through it.

take care.