Volvo Car Company - what's your view/opinion?

[Merrill]

I've had several Volvos over the years (along with a couple of classic SAABs - being true to my Swedish roots!) Volvos are lovely cars for comfort and safety, though not quite as dynamic as some of the German brands. The interiors of the current range are truly beautiful, and Volvo was on the short list at the time of ordering my soon to arrive Tesla (it was between Volvo, Jaguar and Tesla).

If Tesla was not in existence I would be driving a Jaguar, up until I purchased my first Tesla I owned Jaguars since 1970.

 

[tander]

Volvo's are front wheel drive or FWD biased all wheel drive.

While BMWs are rear wheel drive or RWD biased all wheel drive.

So they are never really "similarly equipped."

BMWs simply have superior handling.

That is also why I never considered Audi.

Now, I have ditched the European brands forever

I don't get why anyone still makes RWD unless people just really love doing donuts. I drive frequently in snow and ice in my current RWD and it just seems like taking a knife to a gunfight even with snow tires. My old Subaru was slow but it was a beast in the snow, never had snow tires and never even came close to getting stuck. Only time it refused to go forward was when I had it loaded up with tons of stuff and tried to drive up one of those highway embankment things, it had traction but just not enough oomph.

Back to Volvo, never had one but I think they're attention to safety is really a great thing, wish all manufactures thought that way (Tesla seems to be). I heard that Volvo has a goal set of zero deaths by 2020. I don't know how you could make a little car stand up to a semi going 60mph (I think the gameplan is to be self-driving and have avoidance features), but I hope they do it. Wish the new xc90 hybrid was cheaper or the old xc90 wasn't so much of a gas hog. Also, where is the xc60 hybrid?

 

[berkeley_ecar]

I've only owned three cars in my life; the first was a ~1978 Volkswagen Rabbit (Golf) Diesel (acquired because it achieved 50 MPG -- yes, really). During the first Arab oil embargo, people approached me in the streets offering to buy it. It was totaled in a front-end collision from which I walked away unscratched. The second was a 1986 Volvo 740 station wagon, acquired after the accident, with the safety of my 2-year-old daughter in mind (although it was the last year Volvo made the model without airbags and anti-lock braking). I've had that for over 30 years now, and am about to sell it (to a Tesla service center mechanic!) when my new Tesla S 90D arrives. I'm assuming the Tesla will be my last vehicle. My ethic has always been to do without until you can get something of good quality, and then take good care of it. With the huge embodied energy associated with large items such as cars, hanging on to them and maintaining them makes environmental sense (to the extent that owning any vehicle can make "environmental sense"). For the first few years we had the Volvo, the wife and I both felt somehow we were borrowing our parents' car. It seemed an extravagance, though the price now seems laughably low. Buying it was a close call. We had initially lusted after a SAAB 9000 we had test driven, but we shied away from that when the model got a horrendous crash test report (which turned out to be flawed -- the NHTSA testers had incorrectly latched the driver's seat). Perhaps that was a fortunate mistake -- you never see a SAAB 9000 on the road here today, but 740s remain plentiful. The Volvo served us well and was wonderfully flexible (I even hauled a 4x8" sheet of coreboard inside of it once), It was never a looker, though: the British humor magazine, Punch (which had brief sporadic auto reviews in its last days) once described its front-end design as "pig ugly", and I would not disagree with that assessment. It was/is not a performance car either (its four cylinder engine struggles up the Waldo Grade, approaching the Golden Gate Bridge from the north, with me hugging the right lane), nor particularly fuel efficient. But it was very solid and useful. Having spent a good part of my youth holding metal tools in my hands in freezing weather for an ICE-obsessed stepfather who insisted on working on his own vehicles (even though that day had passed, with the increasing need for highly specialized tools that few if any amateurs could justify purchasing), I developed an enduring dislike for everything ICE, heightened by early environmental and safety concerns. If Volvo had made a good EV, I would have considered it seriously. As it is, I'm grateful for the service I received from the 740, but am excited about the arrival of the new S 90D.

 

[berkeley_ecar]

I've only owned three cars in my life; ... second was a 1986 Volvo 740 station wagon...

One anecdote I didn't share in the above posting: one week to the day after picking up our new Volvo, we were driving in Carmel, CA, with the in-laws in the backseat, with our 2-year-old daughter. A young driver, speeding, ran a stop sign at an intersection with limited visibility due to a large hedge, and hit the left front of our car, compressing a good part of the crumple zone. He got out of his vehicle, stomping his feet and shouting something to the effect of "D**m, the second time in a week, and in a rental car!" (there was not too much discussion of who was at fault after that ). Fortunately, no one in either car was injured. I thought the vehicle would be a total loss, but it was new enough that they towed it to a local body shop in Monterrey, with a lot full of Bentleys, Ferrraris, and the like, and we had it back in tip-top shape several weeks later.

 

[ElectricTundra]

I've always liked Volvo's and we've included them in just about every car search we've done but never purchased. Most recently (2012) we looked at the MB ML-350, XC90, and the Lexus 3xx of some sort (RL330?). The ML-350 won to replace my wife's previous Lexus small SUV. She liked the Volvo but the ML350 was quieter, smoother, handled better on ice, ... It's replacement time and she considered the XC90 but wants a BEV so she's waiting for either an X or 3 (theoretically our place in line is early '18). If a BEV XC90 comes out it would certainly be considered.

 

[Boundtogo]

Volvo has been popular ever since same with Tesla these days. They both has an overall impact in terms of driving technology. Overall, I've known Volvo company to have concentrated on quality and safety.

 

[Brando]

Hello,

Like everyone else here, I'm a huge Tesla fan... my main reasons are that I like a clean world and innovation.

I'm from Sweden and I work at Volvo Cars, been working here for like 10 years or so in different positions. In the grand scheme of things, Volvo is a small company, I think we've sold ~8000 cars in the US this year . But the company is growing, and I see a bright future ahead with the XC90, XC60, V90 and S90.

I'm curious of how Volvo and its cars are viewed by the rest of the world. So if you have some opinions, please share them.

Need to go all electric - ditch the hybrid thing, as far too complex.
Only two cars owned since 1978 Saab 99 and current 1989 Saab 900 SPG.
Thought Volvo close 2nd to Saab - Saab had far better interior design and seat comfort IMHO.
Also liked 4 cyl turbo vs Volvo 5-6 cyl. approach.