Automobiles

[rmplum]

2nd Gen Chevy Volt is a great under the radar car if the form factor (sedan) works for you.

[nelzvelo]

I built this to drive my ambitions! Google Daddywagon.

This is how the Daddywagon looks nowadays. The Daddywagon project continues on. It now has Brembo front brakes. I have acquired a T56 6 speed manual transmission but I have yet to install it.

[nelzvelo]

I just purchased a 2017 Chevy SS. LS3 V8, 6 speed manual, 4 door sedan.

[Philster]

I just purchased a 2017 Chevy SS. LS3 V8, 6 speed manual, 4 door sedan.

Video, Please!

[rydesteel]

I sold these back in the day. Sweet cars, very fast and the 6MT is a rare Beastie indeed. Holden made a very nice Sedan, and Coupe in the GTO. Very under appreciated in the States.

[rwsaunders]

This is how the Daddywagon looks nowadays. The Daddywagon project continues on. It now has Brembo front brakes. I have acquired a T56 6 speed manual transmission but I have yet to install it.

I can envision led undercarriage lights and a hydraulic suspension for the Daddywagon and don’t forget the Fiamm Tour deFrance air horn.

[72gmc]

I really like that the hood scoop looks fake. I might like it even more if it is.

[claritycycler]

I have acquired a T56 6 speed manual transmission but I have yet to install it.

Quire the tranny, T56 info here:

[echappist]

Yea, going to test drive today. I have a feeling it will be hard to resist the urge to transition to an EV-capable car at this point. It's not just about the price of gas since I realize it will be years of driving it to recoup the difference in price but it just feels crappy getting 21-23 real-world mpg in a car I drive almost daily.

Related note: The V60 had yet ANOTHER trip to the dealer last week to figure out why a bunch of warning lights came on, and it had me stranded on the side of the road where the engine would start but not come out of park and the brake wouldn't release. FIrst theory proposed by the dealer was water intrusion to the electrical system from a blocked sunroof drain (never substantiated) and eventually they concluded that some main connector of a wiring harness just un-coupled. They asked if I had the windshield replaced at some point, which I hadn't, because I guess it's somewhere up there. Weird and somewhat disconcerting that the car basically stranded me because some wires spontaneously disconnected themselves. Yet another reason to hand it over to the wife (lol). Though in truth, she does mostly short trips near our house where I have an interstate work commute every day.

I'll follow-up with feedback from the test, but like you said Jorn, a hidden benefit of the low-slung battery packs should be a bit better handling/stability of the prime vs my current RAV4.

Yeah, definitely not comparing the Prius to the RAV on ground clearance.

Other friends traded their XC60 on the XC40 Recharge. They spend the winters in Puerto Rico, so the XC40 is supposed to arrive before they return. Meanwhile they got like $38K for their XC60 from the dealer. Must be an incentive. For years they had an XC70, the last of the square Volvos, but they didn't like the XC60 in comparison. However, they drove a dealer sample XC40 and really liked the way it drove. I think it must have been the torque of the electric motor and the balance of the car with the battery weight. I'll be interested to see if they'll let me drive theirs after they pick it up.

I think the best thing about any of these cars is how quiet they are when run on batteries.

Would either of you (and others here) recommend a SPA-chassis Volvo, whether as an SUV or as a wagon?

I've been wanting to buy a Volvo wagon for a long time. For a long time (at the beginning of my career), I didn't have the funds for it. Now that I do, I'm not amused by the fact that the CPO wagons are mostly selling for $40k or more (I recall the times when pre-SPA CPO V60 sold in the low $30k range). In comparison, a XC60 seems more reasonably priced (despite the fact SUVs are more popular in general). The SPA XC60 actually happens to be one that I wouldn't mind, as on quite a few occasions I mistook them for a V60 CC.

Mechanical reliability is perhaps my primary concern, and I'd ideally want ~10 years of worry free driving from my next car. Too much to ask for from a Volvo?

Also, does anyone here happen to be active on SwedeSpeed, and if so, any comments on whether I could glean more there?

Thanks in advance.

[htwoopup]

Would either of you (and others here) recommend a SPA-chassis Volvo, whether as an SUV or as a wagon?

I've been wanting to buy a Volvo wagon for a long time. For a long time (at the beginning of my career), I didn't have the funds for it. Now that I do, I'm not amused by the fact that the CPO wagons are mostly selling for $40k or more (I recall the times when pre-SPA CPO V60 sold in the low $30k range). In comparison, a XC60 seems more reasonably priced (despite the fact SUVs are more popular in general). The SPA XC60 actually happens to be one that I wouldn't mind, as on quite a few occasions I mistook them for a V60 CC.

Mechanical reliability is perhaps my primary concern, and I'd ideally want ~10 years of worry free driving from my next car. Too much to ask for from a Volvo?

Also, does anyone here happen to be active on SwedeSpeed, and if so, any comments on whether I could glean more there?

Thanks in advance.

I had a 2014 xc60 T6 that was basically good until about 130,000 miles of mainly highway driving commuting between NYC and Northwest of Montreal and then it started to get pricey on repairs of things that I felt should have lasted longer given the “Volvo” reputation. I sold it at 155,000 miles because it was getting out of hand on the repairs. Again, not versus other cars but not in what my head said a “Volvo” would need given its long term but maybe not as deserved any more reputation. And, that 10 years of worry free you are looking for depends on miles per year. On the other hand, my 2016 V60 Polestar T6 is at 60,000 miles and has only had the oil changed and brake pads were done at 50,000.

[Tom]

I have an XC40 I bought last year at this time. It went in for its 10000 mile or 12 month, whichever comes first, service. 3900 miles on it. If it doesn't last until I'm 101 years old I'm kicking somebody's butt. Of course, somewhere along the line we're going to have to start burning something besides petroleum in it but I figure I'll just start distilling my own wood alcohol and use that.

[SeanEasley]

Would either of you (and others here) recommend a SPA-chassis Volvo, whether as an SUV or as a wagon?

I've been wanting to buy a Volvo wagon for a long time. For a long time (at the beginning of my career), I didn't have the funds for it. Now that I do, I'm not amused by the fact that the CPO wagons are mostly selling for $40k or more (I recall the times when pre-SPA CPO V60 sold in the low $30k range). In comparison, a XC60 seems more reasonably priced (despite the fact SUVs are more popular in general). The SPA XC60 actually happens to be one that I wouldn't mind, as on quite a few occasions I mistook them for a V60 CC.

Mechanical reliability is perhaps my primary concern, and I'd ideally want ~10 years of worry free driving from my next car. Too much to ask for from a Volvo?

Also, does anyone here happen to be active on SwedeSpeed, and if so, any comments on whether I could glean more there?

Thanks in advance.

If you're asking if volvos now are as bullet-proof than the pre-SPA ones then I'm not really qualified to answer that, but my experience with a pretty base V60 FWD has been too many electrical issues to feel good about reliability. The engine feels pretty good fwiw, and I really like driving it, especially any distances since it's so comfortable, composed and quiet at highway speeds. But I've also been on a 3-yr lease until this May, so I've paid basically nothing to get those issues handled. (head-unit re-flash, two separate visits for 'software refresh' due to several warning lights going off at once (ABS, stability control, parking brake, TPMS). Obviously all those systems didn't have issues, but their sensors were affected by whatever was going on. To this day they haven't been able to explain to me definitively what went wrong, and how they fixed it beyond any doubt. So, when my lease is up in May I'll be very tempted to buy it at the under-estimated pre-pandemic price and then turn around and selling or trading at some point not to far away.

Of course, you're talking about a small sample size here, so take it FWIW. Seems like Jorn is pretty happy with his wagon. I just don't trust mine and don't want to spend gobs of money on stupid electrical or software issues once it's off warranty in a couple months. Mine is still under 40K miles as well. It's not even into the normal wear or higher mileage items down the road.

[j44ke]

Would either of you (and others here) recommend a SPA-chassis Volvo, whether as an SUV or as a wagon?

I've been wanting to buy a Volvo wagon for a long time. For a long time (at the beginning of my career), I didn't have the funds for it. Now that I do, I'm not amused by the fact that the CPO wagons are mostly selling for $40k or more (I recall the times when pre-SPA CPO V60 sold in the low $30k range). In comparison, a XC60 seems more reasonably priced (despite the fact SUVs are more popular in general). The SPA XC60 actually happens to be one that I wouldn't mind, as on quite a few occasions I mistook them for a V60 CC.

Mechanical reliability is perhaps my primary concern, and I'd ideally want ~10 years of worry free driving from my next car. Too much to ask for from a Volvo?

Also, does anyone here happen to be active on SwedeSpeed, and if so, any comments on whether I could glean more there?

Thanks in advance.

Our Volvo V60 is a 2017 that we bought in Nov. of 2016. I guess that means it is the year before the SPA chassis (had to look that up - I had no idea what the term meant.) The model is the front wheel drive V60, not the all-wheel drive. I enjoy driving it. No problems on it. Love having a wagon. Seems to have plenty of oomph, but it isn't a sports car. I need to take it in for its 60,000 mile whatsit. I think odometer reads 58,999 or something close. Do feel like it goes through tires more quickly than I expected, but maybe that's a relatively heavy car with front wheel drive. And most of my driving has been from NYC to Hillsdale and back again. But maybe tires just aren't what they used to be. I haven't noticed many limitations to front wheel drive. When things are snowy enough I would have difficulties, I probably wouldn't be driving even if it was all-wheel drive. The car has been averaging 31-32 mpg since the day we bought it. I think that's pretty great actually.

If I was looking at a new Volvo, I'd think long and hard about a hybrid model. But the V60 hybrid starts at $67K. I can't see paying that much for a car. Would I get my money back in gas savings? I don't know. So I'd probably end up getting the V60 Cross Country. I just like wagons much better than SUVs, and they aren't making the plain vanilla V60 wagon any longer.

But I'm not ready to get a new Volvo. I probably would recommend at least test driving one. And comparing their wagon to their SUV. Our friends sold their XC70 and bought a XC60 in 2019. They didn't like the extra height and said it didn't feel peppy (their words.) Then on a whim, they tried a demo all-electric Volvo. The XC40 or C40 - don't know which. And based on that test drive, they traded in their XC60 for one of the all-electric models. All this to say, you might like the SUV but try the wagon and see which one you like better.

[Tom]

I got a big laugh the other day when I got a promo for the Polestar flash. One time I pushed the button for "dynamic mode" in the XC40. Yikes. Not paying money for more motor than I get for free pushing that button. I'm not that skilled a driver.

[echappist]

Thanks to all for chiming in. Didn't realize that there are quite a few Volvo drivers among the regulars. And @Jorn, apologies about the alphabet soup.

My current car (2010 Camry V6) still drives great, but little problems are beginning to rear their heads (latest is false ABS activation), and the local dealership couldn't get it fully fixed even after I've plunked down $1k (the dealership said it'll need another 1.5 hours minimum for diagnosis). So on a whim, I got my car appraised at Carmax, and it came in shockingly high (about $5k higher than my last Camry V6, sold in the latter's 13th year and with a slightly higher mileage)

But even before the valuation, I had wanted a Volvo (preferably an AWD), especially as my wife will need to drive to work in early mornings, which may just be too early in the winter months for snow to be cleared. Alas the inquiry above.

[robin3mj]

I got a big laugh the other day when I got a promo for the Polestar flash. One time I pushed the button for "dynamic mode" in the XC40. Yikes. Not paying money for more motor than I get for free pushing that button. I'm not that skilled a driver.

Flash as in software update?

Both our cars are gas and reasonably low tech, but I’m intrigued by newer and electric offerings. One thing that turns me off however is the idea that certain features built into a car are disabled unless/until you pay extra for them.

[Tom]

Yes, flash or chipping is update changing performance profile I believe firmware actually.

Weirdly, the disabled features actually keep the cost of manufacture down because they can crank out only a couple configurations and use the code to customize and configure instead of the manafacturing line. I think.

[j44ke]

Yes I think the “larger” battery in some Teslas is just a software switch. The batteries are all the same.

[Saab2000]

Yes I think the “larger” battery in some Teslas is just a software switch. The batteries are all the same.

This isn’t entirely accurate. The base model 3 has a different type of chemistry than the other models and is more suited to daily charges to a 100% state of charge. Additionally, they will soon be introducing Model Ys from their Austin factory with the new 4680 cells, which are quite different from previous models.

They are evolving.

[j44ke]

This isn’t entirely accurate. The base model 3 has a different type of chemistry than the other models and is more suited to daily charges to a 100% state of charge. Additionally, they will soon be introducing Model Ys from their Austin factory with the new 4680 cells, which are quite different from previous models.

They are evolving.

That was the case with our neighbor in Amagansett - the battery was originally shorter range and then he paid extra money to "unlock" the extended range of the battery. Didn't seem like he was making it up. Of course, that was a while ago.