General: Ownership Thread - 2012 XC90 Executive

[Odysseus]

MOT and service day today!

Good news is that it passed once again with no advisories. Fantastic for a car that's 9 years old and has done the thick end of 200,000 miles.



The service was completed successfully too. Just a simple oil and filter job, no extra work or drama.



All in, £320.70, which I don't think is too bad all things considered.

All done by IVS at Letchworth, as usual.

Typically the hours my XC90 is being looked at at IVS I spend in cafes/pubs enjoying the local hospitality. With everything shut thanks to coronavirus I had a somewhat daunting three hours to kill with everywhere bar supermarkets shut. Even so, clad in thermals and a woolly hat it wasn't too bad, and I definitely got my step count in. The break from home-schooling was actually quite welcomed too.

In other XC90 news it's been a real trooper during the recent storms and flooding. My youngest child is still able to go to nursery and there have been weeks where that two mile journey between villages included a good stretch of driving through flood waters far too deep for regular saloons or hatchbacks. The XC90 simply drove through it, saving me a 20 mile and 45 minute detour twice a day.

I've also been very impressed with the Cross Climate tyres. They've given far more grip on cold wet surfaces than the performance oriented Michelin Pilot Sport 4s on my other car. I'm conscious this is what you'd expect really, but it's still nice to feel the tyres doing what they're designed to do.

I can also confirm the AWD is definitely working, having experienced my first entirely unnecessary but definitely enjoyable lurid XC90 power slide on a deserted snowy junction.

Tellingly, despite a busy summer last year and still being the main family transport, the XC90 has only covered 5,000 in 12 months. Under half what we'd normally expect. Maybe the sign of things to come for motoring?

Anyway, here's to happy XC90ing, thanks for reading.