Automobiles

[72gmc]

Seeing new Volvo V60 wagons around here lately. They look so long and low in a world of crossovers.

[echappist]

It nails the Venn diagram of utility, luxury and performance. As does the A6 AllRoad and, to a lesser extent, the V90 Cross Country.

Last fall I tested all three. My favorite from the driver's seat was the A6. But my purchasing partner was captivated by the idea of that wayback. In this case for our yet-to-be-born grandkids. And honestly I think the Merc has more personality. It's both coddling and rarin' to go, and drives 'smaller' than it is.

So ours is scheduled for production next month. Watch this thread.

You know, my "dream car" as a teenager was a CLK coupe. This was before practicality entered into considerations.

Looking forward to seeing photos of your new wagon

Wagons are the ultimate in utility, until you have more than two kids. We have three (and a minivan) and I keep casting about for something "cooler" to replace my wife's Jetta wagon, but as we slowly age out of full-size car seats and head off in multiple directions on weekends, the VW is a perfect size for that need. The only thing I wish it had is a manual, like our old TDI wagon, but to do that swap lately we'd need to come out of pocket for something that would probably have more miles.

We are thinking of trying for and hoping to stop at two kids. Regardless, I've already "promised" the wife a Siena, possibly with AWD. I really don't like the concept of a minivan as it's such a porker (36 MPG with hybrid assistance), but I might just need to be resigned to it.

Driving a fun sport wagon ain't so bad, though I really would prefer our second vehicle to be a fully electrified/ plug-in sedan for my wife's commute.

Saw a Volvo V60 recharge hybrid the other day at the Bedard Brothers' dealership in Cheshire MA. Not an in-stock item but a customer's car in for routine service so I'm wondering if it requires a special order to get. Nice car. Looks bigger than my V60 - longer - but don't know if that was an illusion or not.

I thought the C40 SUV model didn't look horrible either. And a number of XC60. That seems like their bread-and-butter model up in Cheshire MA. Priced $20,000 less than the hybrid V60. That's a lot cheaper, but maybe you make it back in gas costs? Eventually?

The newer-gen V60 (the SPA ones) are about 4 inches longer overall. Not that big of a difference, but visually, I like how there's more stuff behind the rear wheel, as the older V60 looked more like a hatchback in terms of proportions. When we moved a month ago, we fit two large bike boxes + a TV box (each box about 55"-60" long and 30" wide) with the seats down, and still had a bit of room for other items. I'm sure the 1st-gen V60 would have carried all that with aplomb. Regardless, far cry from the days when I couldn't fit even one box in my Camry (ended up having to tie the trunk lid down with a shoe string and drive with one of the bike boxes for 2 miles).

As for pricing, I hear you. That would be the car to get if it were cheaper. The difference between a XC60 Recharge vs a comparable XC60 with AWD is ~$10k. With the tax credit, that's about $3000 worth of difference. At ~$56k MSRP for the Inscription trim, it's probably reasonable for a plug-in hybrid of that size and amenities. Unfortunately, they went whole hog for the V60, and it's available only in the Polestar trim. I really hope they'll release a comparably-priced Inscription-level trim for the V60 plug-in.

[j44ke]

...

The newer-gen V60 (the SPA ones) are about 4 inches longer overall. Not that big of a difference, but visually, I like how there's more stuff behind the rear wheel, as the older V60 looked more like a hatchback in terms of proportions. When we moved a month ago, we fit two large bike boxes + a TV box (each box about 55"-60" long and 30" wide) with the seats down, and still had a bit of room for other items. I'm sure the 1st-gen V60 would have carried all that with aplomb. Regardless, far cry from the days when I couldn't fit even one box in my Camry (ended up having to tie the trunk lid down with a shoe string and drive with one of the bike boxes for 2 miles).

As for pricing, I hear you. That would be the car to get if it were cheaper. The difference between a XC60 Recharge vs a comparable XC60 with AWD is ~$10k. With the tax credit, that's about $3000 worth of difference. At ~$56k MSRP for the Inscription trim, it's probably reasonable for a plug-in hybrid of that size and amenities. Unfortunately, they went whole hog for the V60, and it's available only in the Polestar trim. I really hope they'll release a comparably-priced Inscription-level trim for the V60 plug-in.

Aha - I see. I didn't realize they were only doing the V60 Hybrid in Polestar. That accounts for the out-of-line pricing. Just seemed weird that it was so much more. But maybe they are smart - knowing it has some Polestar genetics, I might almost consider it. It wouldn't pass a committee vote, but I'd like to at least test drive one with the committee in the passenger's seat.

[Tom]

I bought one of those XC40s 15 months ago and just crossed 5000 miles. I went all-in on options figuring at the rate I'm driving the thing it'd be the last car I buy. This year I went "Doh!" for two reasons. First, it occurred to me that somewhere in the next twenty five years I'm going to have to convert it to burn alcohol that I can make myself because gasoline won't be available no more.

And I saw one of those new V60s and thought that thing just looks badass and beautiful. Of course, there's no way I could be flush enough to afford one with all the bells and whistles so I'll just admire it from afar.

[vertical_doug]

The Beck Spyder replica.
http://www.beckspeedster.com/general...eckspyder.html

[sbornia]

So ours is scheduled for production next month. Watch this thread.

OMG so cool, happy for you.

-wagon lover

[j44ke]

Polestar does make it kinda varoomy looking.

[one60]

one of a kind Mini....actually built/owned by a family member of John Cooper. Its been converted to a rear drive Tesla powered rocket, making for an exhilarating ride-along. Not quite finished as the roll hoops are missing and some other bits....

[sk_tle]

Just convert one of those to electric powertrain.

Or those if you want to install a huge bike rack on top of it and paint it in mavic yellow or your favorite team of the time. Peugeot, Mercier, whatever you decide.

[vertical_doug]

one of a kind Mini....actually built/owned by a family member of John Cooper. Its been converted to a rear drive Tesla powered rocket, making for an exhilarating ride-along. Not quite finished as the roll hoops are missing and some other bits....

seriously cool.

[echappist]

Polestar does make it kinda varoomy looking.

Get it in "Thunder Grey". It exhibits a predominant blue hue in the sun, which is much better than the previous Osmium Grey, which exhibits a predominant blue hue only in really cloudy conditions.

Also, since the other member of your committee travels a bit, perhaps worthwhile checking out if Volvo has these Polestar editions more readily available in Europe? After all, there are all sorts of variants unavailable stateside.

[SeanEasley]

I was recently looking to trade my V60 in on an outback, assuming the value retained in used cars would work to my advantage, but was not pleased with the trade offers...so I decided to 'love it' and had polestar software installed on the volvo. I can definitely feel it in dynamic mode--which is now called 'polestar engineering' on the center display, but not sure if anything changed in comfort mode. At the end of the day its still somewhat of a porker so the engine performance is perhaps wasted on that chasis. I have T5 FWD, so it probably isn't the best platform to take advantage of it.

[echappist]

I was recently looking to trade my V60 in on an outback, assuming the value retained in used cars would work to my advantage, but was not pleased with the trade offers...so I decided to 'love it' and had polestar software installed on the volvo. I can definitely feel it in dynamic mode--which is now called 'polestar engineering' on the center display, but not sure if anything changed in comfort mode. At the end of the day its still somewhat of a porker so the engine performance is perhaps wasted on that chasis. I have T5 FWD, so it probably isn't the best platform to take advantage of it.

If yours is a porker, my T5 AWD is surely an obese porker. I think an additional 200 lbs.

I am looking to add Polestar optimization though, as it biases more power toward the rear axle.

One other note, though it seems moot now. Dealers invariably give offers worse than what Carmax would provide

[SeanEasley]

If yours is a porker, my T5 AWD is surely an obese porker. I think an additional 200 lbs.

I am looking to add Polestar optimization though, as it biases more power toward the rear axle.

One other note, though it seems moot now. Dealers invariably give offers worse than what Carmax would provide

Ahh, well more power at the rear sounds like a worthwhile effort. I wonder if your dealer/installer tech was able to explain it in full? The ones at mine seem clueless and don't really care either.

And yea, I shouldn't be surprised about the trade offer, though I expected a bit more from an actual volvo dealer than just anyplace. I may list it for private party sale locally and see what happens.

[rwsaunders]

Sean…try Carvana for a trade offer and see what happens. Several friends have had so-so offer from the dealers on trade-ins and Carvana made an offer that got their attention and they picked up a check on the spot. That tells me that Carvana is not a place to buy a car…

https://www.carvana.com/sell-my-car?...SAAEgK_t_D_BwE

[robin3mj]

I would definitely sell on Carvana but not buy. I think the company is on the skids and there are rampant stories of poor diligence, representation of car condition etc.
I guess they get away with it because they claim to be just a middleman.

[j44ke]

I was recently looking to trade my V60 in on an outback, assuming the value retained in used cars would work to my advantage, but was not pleased with the trade offers...so I decided to 'love it' and had polestar software installed on the volvo. I can definitely feel it in dynamic mode--which is now called 'polestar engineering' on the center display, but not sure if anything changed in comfort mode. At the end of the day its still somewhat of a porker so the engine performance is perhaps wasted on that chasis. I have T5 FWD, so it probably isn't the best platform to take advantage of it.

Mine is a T5 FWD too. The body roll and float is a bit more than I'd like, so I'd say the car would benefit from some suspension tuning more than anything. However, I wouldn't want to lose any clearance height. In fact, I'd rather gain another notch - not much, just a bit for winter. On acceleration, there is a lag but it will go pretty well once enough gas is getting into the engine. I pretty consistently lightfoot the car though, because I like the routine 31mpg it gets. Anyway I don't know if a fancy set of coil-over struts/shocks would do anything real or if the car would just feel rougher over bumps.

The car did drive best with a pair of snow tires on during summer after I forgot what was on the car, but that was an expensive brain-defect on my part.

[SeanEasley]

Sean…try Carvana for a trade offer and see what happens. Several friends have had so-so offer from the dealers on trade-ins and Carvana made an offer that got their attention and they picked up a check on the spot. That tells me that Carvana is not a place to buy a car…

https://www.carvana.com/sell-my-car?...SAAEgK_t_D_BwE

I would definitely sell on Carvana but not buy. I think the company is on the skids and there are rampant stories of poor diligence, representation of car condition etc.
I guess they get away with it because they claim to be just a middleman.

Yea, I never got the idea of buying something like that site-unseen. You'd end up with a clapped out formal rental car.

As for selling to them, I could look but I'm leaning toward just keeping it and buying a new forester or outback for my wife then giving her older RAV4 to the two teenagers to trash it out. At that point no room in the driveway for anything else.

[echappist]

Damn you, TdF; just saw the team car of DSM, and now I'm contemplating whether I should add racing stripes to my V60 CC.

The thought of getting roof racks also briefly entered my mind (had a chance to grab them for $250), but then I remembered as someone who really care about aerodynamics, I should stick with the hitch rack.

[72gmc]

If you do add stripes, be picky and do it right. Someone around here has a Vantage with an ill-considered, too-narrow red stripe dead center on the hood. A wider stripe, perhaps off center, would make all the difference.