I had a fun day last Saturday. My wife is itching for a new SUV. So we hop in the Jag and go to Route 17 in NJ where all the car dealers are.
It was a lazy day, so I was in the mood to browse. Our first stop was at the Ford dealership to look at the Ford Escape. I hop in and immediately notice that the front seat squab [where you place your butt] was too short. No under leg support. I asked the salesman why Ford made this wrong and he shrugged his shoulders and said 'I dunno'. You would think that a car company with over 113 years of seat data could get the drivers seat right by now. Wishful thinking. To compound matters, the rear seat felt like I was sitting in an airline seat in the upright position. Just horrible. I asked him if the rear seat reclines and he said 'no'. Now I know why it's called the Escape - we couldn't wait to escape out of it. We then sat in the Ford Edge, it was a little better but overall both cars felt cheap and didn't impress. Also the employees and customers looked miserable. Most of the women were pregnant and the husbands looked obligated to buy something..anything for the family. We then stopped off at Volvo. I couldn't help but notice the S90 sedan [although we were supposed to be shopping for an SUV]. What a beautiful car inside and out- very distinctive. I would love to own one for sure. The build quality was top notch and the seats felt like I was sitting on a cloud of air. Their SUV was equally impressive, but they were out of our price range. As we were walking back to the Jag, a guy in a new 4 series BMW comes up to me and says 'what year is your Jaguar, it looks amazing'. We then had a nice chat about the Jag, I opened the boot for him [in the coupe it looks amazing]. He also sat inside and marveled at the wood and leather. He really loved it. Even his wife chimed in and said 'I don't even like green cars, but damn that one is just beautiful'. He then ask me if I am a watch nut, and I told him 'as a matter of fact I am'. He then rolled up his sleeve and showed me a Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso with a British Racing Green dial. I was impressed. It was a very pretty piece of horology. I showed him my Tudor Black Bay and we then chatted watches for the next 15 minutes.

Back on the road, we skipped over Honda, Toyota and Nissan as I can't stand how any of their SUV's/cars look. The next step was Land Rover and the moment we walked into the dealership we spotted the Discovery. I knew right there that the decision was made. It had everything we wanted and more. The fit, finish, seat comfort and overall look and feel was spot on. The price was right as well. We looked at the Jaguar SUV but we didn't feel the magic. I also refuse to drive a vehicle called "F-PACE" (Give it a proper name Jaguar and I might buy it.)

We didn't buy it yet, as we have to sell off another car to make some room in the stable. But that is our next car. Overall it was a very fun day!

 

Volvos have a beautiful, but understated elegance about them. Unfortunately, you have to drive them. We had three of them in the mid to late '80s, all three different models, and all three make up my list as the worst three automobiles I have ever owned! Maybe they've improved, but you couldn't offer me one for free.

 

Some number of tears ago, I was in the market for a car, and I was impressed with the exterior styling of the Volvo S80, so I stopped in at a dealer, and had to ask him about my general impression of Volvos: "Why are Volvos always the slowest cars on the road?"
He replied: "Two reasons, first, customers usually buy the smallest engine, so they are under powered, and second, our customers are usually concerned about safety, so they drive extra cautiously."
I didn't buy the S80.

 

"Some number of tears ago" would have been exactly what you would have been feeling had you bought the Volvo "some number of years ago."

 

Ha-ha That's what I get for turning off that annoying auto-correct!

 

My wife's 1st new car which we bought in 1989. Was just what we needed and now it has 365K miles on it and she can't part with it. She wants to go for 500K but I'll most likely have to rebuild the engine.

 

jagtoes,
365,000 miles represents seven times as much mileage as we got out of all three Volvos added together. That included an engine rebuild on our 244 GL at 22,000 miles, 5 turbos on the 740 turbo in the first 12 months, not making it home from the dealer with electrical problems on the day the car was purchased, and a 740 that ran and sounded like a diesel truck and whose leather started peeling off on the first day. But of course, my wife, fell hook, line, and sinker for the Volvo safety campaign, and as we started having children in 1985, she had to have a Volvo. I know it's unfair to brand a company by my experiences, but since it happened in rapid fire succession across three different models, it was certainly more than happenstance.

 

There we have it with 2 different worlds. My wife won't give hers up and you wouldn't buy another. It's what makes the world go around but as long as my wife likes it , then I'll keep it going.

 

We are in an S60 lease that expires at the end of this year. We are considering the V60, Mini Clubman, F-Pace or Stelvio if there's a good lease option... Volvo *80's series is really nice. Was talking with Aston sales guy at the our local auto show and even he was gushing over the car (while we were looking at the DB11 up close). Volvo is just hitting home run's on their designs, but hucking a 2L 4 banger line up is going to draw lines in the sand for some consumers.

Consider the V60 or V60 Cross Country if going to Volvo. If you buy a new one, they'll give you two roundtrip tickets to Sweden, one night hotel and you can pick up and drive you car through Europe! Not available if you lease a car :-(

Green Reverso is a nice watch as any Jaegar. They go for all the money it seems!

 

I have had several Volvos as Company Cars all with the 2.5 litre five cylinder. The T5 was very quick. All covered large mileages with no Garage visits apart from service. Fast comfortable reliable cars. Mind you no Chinese ownership then.

 

I have had a Discovery Sport as a loaner twice and really liked it. Panoramic sunroof is awesome. Familiar dash layout and nice ride. If we go that route (on the list of cars for sure), it would have to be a wicked color combo. The colors are what separate just a lower end Land Rover from generally cool looking car. Black wheels are fantastic on LR's.

Wait for the non-Sport Discovery to come out soon. That may be even better looking than the Sport.

 

Hmmm...So the first one you bought was a disaster, and you decide to punish yourself and buy a second one, then after the second one was a disaster you decide to hang yourself and buy a third one. And now 30 years later you wouldn't take one for free. Of course you wouldn't take it for free, you would buy the fourth one just like you bought the first three and still complain.

 

Michael,
You quoted only part of what tberg said, and if you read the rest of his post you'll see that he bought those Volvos at his wife's insistence. He explained that she "fell hook, line, and sinker for the Volvo safety campaign... and had to have one. " So blame his wife, not him.

Marriage involves compromises, and knowing which battles to walk away from in order to win the war.

Volvo's safety advertising has always been marketed to women, more so than men. But that's not the only reason why women like Volvos. Some women like them because Volvo sounds anatomical.

Stuart

 

We been thinking of a convertible as our next car. XK/XKR is on the list, but back seat is a touch small for our dog. Show the better half some Volvo C60's, but she wasn't digging them too much and did not like Aston Martin pop up Nav...

She did not like the M3 convertible either, or any BMW... She liked the Mini and Maserati Spyders... She's not helping my bottom line!

 

Fortunately my wife never accesses this forum. Comments like that require work on my part. The alternative is simply "yes dear" ,"yes dear","yes dear","yes dear"

 

The first time I blame her...the second and third time...it's on him.

 

michaelodonnel,
We bought them simultaneously. My wife wanted one, and then my elderly parents decided they wanted to get rid of their Cadillacs at the same time. So they were all new at the same time, before any problems had shown up, we had three of them. I should have suspected something was going to happen when we didn't make it the two blocks to the freeway from the dealership with no electrical in the 740 Turbo, no lights, gauges, seat adjustment, nothing, and a clunk in the rear end that sounded and felt like you'd run into a pool sized pothole. One week later, car was re-delivered, electrical was fine, but clunk was not addressed. We took it to another Volvo dealer for the work and finally got the car back after three weeks.

The problems for all three cars manifested themselves very rapidly, and we got rid of them all with very little mileage on any of them as the handwriting (and lots of time and money) was on the wall.

 

Volvo (and Jaguar) had well-deserved reputations for poor reliability for decades beginning in the '70's. Although some people believe that those reputations continue to today, the truth is that their reliability was greatly improved after they were bought by Ford in 1999 (as well as Aston Martin and Land Rover). Volvos were no longer "made in the woods by elves" and Jaguar exorcized "the ghost of Lucas Electric".

Both of my Jaguars have been very reliable, much more so than my previous Lexus LS460.

 

We've owned our S60 for 2.5 years and has not had one mechanical issue. The cowl was loose and the dealer fixed that in like 2 minutes. Not sure they even shut off the engine to fix it, it was so quick. I can't find an fault with our current car, but I don't think I would keep it at lease return even if the offer was quite attractive.

It's a nice dark blue metallic, but I live in Volvo country and this car and color is way too common. Albeit ours is cleanest S60 I have ever seen... Not many are washing the muffler weekly...

 

Thanks, that reminds me of the main reason I didn't pursue a Volvo S80, the lack of color choice, unless you like shades of black, shades of grey, or shades of white.
Where's the friggen red???

Think they had a 'bronze' some year, "oh yeah, that's me in the rolling turd!"