S/V/XC T8 Owners Reliability Poll
 

Hi All,

After some feedback here, I have a late 2020 S60 T8 (last to be delivered without the 112mph speed limiter before Covid shut the country shut down in 2020), I have had some very minor cosmetic issues with plastic parts breaking, and a suspected ERAD bearing noise which turned out to be low tyre pressures.

I coated the entire car underside/suspension/bolts/nuts with XCP rust blocker so the exterior/undercarriages is like new and the car itself has a full PPF wrap on it, so its A1 condition. Opted for the non-PE edition to keep future costs down such as brakes, ohlins suspension struts and wheel kerbing costs down.

I drive it hard, mostly with the ESC off and in Polestar mode much to the dismay of many performance car owners, and I'm a firm believer (always buy ex lease/3 year old cars) that issues mainly iron out during the first few years of ownership, but I've had zero engine related issues as it was bedded in hard.

More lately been letting the hybrid mode do its thing and been returning 80mpg+ on commutes so the cost is still in favour of hybrid over paying full electric charge rates, also being able to claim 45p per mile rather than just 5p for business use.

My PCP is up Q1 next year, and I am now struggling to spec/find something to match its performance/spec which hasn't had items removed like the MY22/MY23 models now have due to chip shortages, or simple cost cutting changes such as the synthetic steering wheel that makes it looks like a Vauxhall wheel. Reluctant to step down from hybrid back to Golf R/Audi RS3 economy of 20-30mpg so a T8 is still on my list.

I have seen a few engines let go after high miles, likely due to the stop/start behaviours and general wear and tear, but I would be keen to listen to all issues (no matter how minor) you have experienced over the past years with your SPA based T8's (or feel free to respond with a T5 etc if you have had issues which share T8 parts such as interior cosmetics, wheel corrosion or seat failures etc) :teeth_smile:

Could everybody post responses with mechanical/electrical items they have had let go on their SPA based T8 models?

I may pay the PCP off Q1 and keep it, dependent on a number of things, one of those being consumer feedback on reliability and the second being provided no road damage occurs to the car between now and then. I have been quite sensible during lockdown and sold other vehicles at an inflated price with the 2nd hand market so I could make a pretty penny on this by buying and selling after PCP ends (having paid nowhere near RRP for it back in 2019 through carwow/drivethedeal).

Many Thanks all.

I have owned 2 XC60 T8 vehicles, both Polestar Engineered models. The first was a MY20 car and was owned from Nov 2019 until June 2022 at which point I took ownership of a new MY22.5 Extended Range XC60 T8.
During ownership of the first T8, the only real issue I experienced was with the battery range suddenly dropping from the normal 21 miles to 18 miles after a full charge at approx 20 months of ownership (mid summer so not cold temperature related). This was remedied at the Dealership by re-calibrating and balancing the batteries and this issue never came back.
I had a number of different noises coming from the ERAD just before taking delivery of my new car that I would have had Volvo look into had I been keeping the first car but there was no affect to the cars operation. First noise was a whirring/whining sound from the ERAD clutch packs when doing tight turns in elec mode. The second was a metallic clunk when pulling away from a complete standstill in elec mode, apparently a known ERAD driveshaft spline lubricant thing and Volvo have released a service bulletin about it, or so I'm told.

So far, the new car has been flawless and I hope that continues.

Overall, I have not experienced any failure of any component and as such, I cant really partake in the poll but though it worth while detailing my current positive experience with Volvo reliability.
I hope yours continues to behave too!!

Mine has always made that whirring when In electric mode and turning full lock or close to full lock.

Someone else said it was normal… 😬

Hi Cull, my old car only developed the whirring after about 12 months use and Volvo had a couple of goes fixing it with a software update of the clutch packs when the car was in for service.
Following the updates, the noise did go away for a while but returned after a couple of weeks.
With the above in mind, its definitely not normal but it is probably something most people can live with.

5 years nearly 30,000 miles no problems v90 cc

What i love is that if this was a tesla forum, i'd be receiving loads of people complaining about weak glass on the roof, boot struts rusty, panel gaps and having to reboot the car by holding two buttons down weekly! :D

So far so good guys thank you!

Are these all now wearing a double clutch gearbox? if they are and you have one there are a few things worth keeping in mind,

1 - If you start it up and you can hear what sounds like a pebble in a washing machine the flywheel is on the way, expect this at 70k and above, sadly it's the same as a manual box regarding having a consumable flywheel,

2 - Even though it's not a VW box as such it will still need a service every 40K at about £200 a go, this is if it's a wet clutch box, pray you don't have a dry clutch box as they can't handle the torque and overheat regularly,

3 - It will also have a mechatronic unit bolted to the side of it and these aren't robust either, when I had one over ten years ago it was a £2400 fix, a mate with a 1.5 TSi Superb recently had to have the lot replaced under warranty, £9000 thank you sir! he saw the bill sheet for it and is now praying it last until it's paid for itself, I had another 1.8 TSi and that unknown to me at the time had new clutch plates at 14000 miles, it was only in the family a short while and was let go at 21000 and not 2 years later there's no sign of it anymore,

So if it rattles do what I did and get shot of, if it's a dry box you'll not get much warning as it will be ok one day and not go into or through the gears the next, beautiful boxes when they're working ok.

As far as I am aware, the T8 and T6 Recharge drivetrains are sticking with the torque converter auto (albeit with much better software than the earlier models if the shift speeds and smoothness of my new car is anything to go by!!) so shouldn't have these issues.
However, I think the mild hybrid (B's) drivetrains are switching to a dual clutch setup but unsure who Volvo are using to supply them.

I drove a B4 petrol and a T4 XC40 autos back to back as courtesy cars when mine was off the road.

I found the autobox on both to be quite hesitant and not at all smooth. My T8 with the torque convertor box is smooth as silk by comparison.

I assume the B4 and T4 to be a DSG type box.

If it is a VAG derived dsg box they tend to be a bit aggressive going through 1-3 and 3-6/7 are normally very smooth, too much Back to the Future auto dog feeder in it for me having owned one before, make that 2 briefly.