General Comments:
Big car with good presence which allows good visibility of the road, easy get in and out. Looks are quite clean and neat.
The first car I don't worry a container truck falls on me. I guess it is a good car to crash, the pillars of the roof are extremely trust inspiring (but do hide other traffic participants, so watch it). Great feeling of protection when driving around in places like Malaysia.
Luggage space compromised by seven seater configuration. I much rather have the luggage space.
Internal arrangements strictly plasticky. Even though well designed, not very nice. Dark dashboard looks always dusty.
Side mirrors are excellent - never had a car giving me such good information about whats going on behind. Safety features very good.
Starts reliably, drives well. Quite good road holding for a car this size. You will notice when you drive over bumpy roads - does not filter it away very well. But on good roads pretty smooth and quiet.
Fuel consumption about 14-15 ltr / 100 km, but this is moderate driving.
It is supposed to have 290 hp, but it is not a car which I enjoy driving faster than 160 km. Very fast driving seems out of character with the car, even though road holding is trust inspiring.
Long distance comfort of driver's seat not that great (my seats in old Merc 300SEL way better, and I still keep that one, it glides much better along). Volvo seats seem a bit hard in the wrong places.
Since I am tall, the space in the second row behind my seat is rather modest. Third row for kids only.
I understand they capped engine performance with a chip in the lower gears so that the gearbox does not get eaten - it has a very weird effect when accelerating hard: like the engine gets strangled. Not good. Other engine combinations probably better (4.4?), this seems the least attractive.
At 60k km the auto gearbox in for repair. Expensive. I never had a gearbox fail on my before having driven it 150k km.
Conclusion: a good, relatively comfortable car with reasonable quality, very good safety features, easy and not stessfull to drive, matched with an engine and 4 speed gear box layout which does not give credit to engine performance.
8th May 2007, 07:34
Additional note on reported gearbox problem: it was settled quite cheaply, and local dealer did a good job on this one, even though car is out of warranty. Just drove 800 km with it today, it is a fine car, but not for the passionate driver.