2024 XC90 PHEV has arrived :)

[Murph7355]

Ordered our new T8 Ultimate Dark XC90 in the sales event on 17th Feb. Picked it up on Saturday, 4th May. So 11wks (could possibly have been a week earlier had a couple of other steps been covered sooner).

It replaces our approx. 8yr old D5 that had done around 115k miles (and that was very much part of the family).

Initial impressions...

- obviously much more "together" than the old one, having done a mere 50 miles now. No rattles, feels tight.

- inside the main differences are the wood colour (light ash or something on this, dark on the old one) and the seats (vented in this one, plus have more adjustments with thigh support, bolsters etc). The Nappa leather on the front seats, steering wheel and door trims doesn't feel quite as soft as on the old car. But possibly because it's new. It remains a fantastic place to spend time.

- It obviously goes much better than the old car. Very quiet, even when the petrol engine kicks in. Zero lag at junctions which was one of the more irritating things about the old car. Electric power alone is adequate for general progress....this is good as we expect to be using it in electric mode only most of the time (the numbers only really stacked up with this being the case).

- charging is all straightforward. It runs off my 32A charger happily, and would take 4.5-5hrs or so to fully charge I think. On the 3-pin cable that came with the car, I think that would be 8.5-9hrs. However, in theory we'll only rarely need to charge fully from empty, so the 3-pin should work OK most of the time (and will set timers to make use of our 7.5p rate overnight).

- software...I perhaps oiled my own water on this one when researching which car to replace the old XC90 with...it's not as bad as I was expecting, but equally there are hassles.

Handover was fine and the car was linked to my phone etc etc OK. Though things like the big play/pause button in the middle of the volume control, the left/right buttons on the right-side of the steering wheel etc weren't working. The dealer suspected the latest software update may have changed these.

When I got home, we added my OH's phone...and then couldn't easily switch between which phone was active. The system got stuck on the "edit devices" page...

I also couldn't install any apps - Audio Wagon being the priority due to the lack of std software to play music from a USB stick (grrrr). App installs just stuck on "pending".

And finally I couldn't add an additional profile for my OH to use (main driver of the car).

The internet didn't seem to have huge pointers, so after trying various bits of fiddling I decided to do a factory reset on the software.

After a chunk of time doing this, not exactly sure if I was about to brick the whole car, it all worked!

We now have two profiles assigned to different keys. This works OK, though is a bit slow switching between them when you unlock with a different key. However when doing this it does remember settings, including Audio Wagon remembering which song was playing, regular destinations in maps etc. I think it was worth doing, but will see.

The big play/pause button works as it should, and it's possible to skip tracks etc using the left/right buttons on the right-side.

And the seats do seem to remember all settings with the memory button (including side bolsters, thigh support etc...which the dealer wasn't sure they would).

Audio Wagon asks to have access to the USB-C drive each time it's used, which is a pain (despite checking the "always allow..." button). But this seems to be a known issue with how Volvo's AAOS accesses USB storage. And the vice searching within the app seems to have stopped working (there'll be a Volvo setting I need to find somewhere I think.

Speed limit sign recognition is hit and miss. Which I believe is a known problem. And having lane keep assist on all the time is annoying. More annoying than the boings when breaking the speed limit (which aren't that loud, aren't that irritating a tone and only repeat three times per transgression).

Maps seem to work OK and integrate well with profiles...not sure if they pick up speed cameras yet (we'll try that over the next few days).

Radio app works OK.

Climate control is also not as irksome as I expected, and the heated and vented seats work well.

Wireless charger for our phones works well too.

It would be nice if it would run Android Auto as I suspect that would cure some irritants. May try it with Car Play later.

Everything else is very familiar in the car, as expected/wanted.

No doubt I'll have more questions over the next month. But so far so good.

[CocoPops]

When are they coming to paint it?
Just kidding. Looks great!

[James77]

Not a big primer gray fan myself I do like the wheels they look smart. Suspect it drives very nicely.

Heard of audiowagon is that something to do with not accepting music via usb? Its bad enough on sensus having to tag any music. I gave up on it and just use Spotify app. Its frustrating that it's not simple to enjoy your own music easily anymore!

[sandys]

If you have a, Samsung phone it's music app will work like usb stick over Bluetooth giving you folder access etc, as if it was a USB stick, not many other phone do Bluetooth music that well, you can set it up to lauch on accessing car with routines.

[Murph7355]

The colour's better in the metal, with a bit of a pearl sheen in the sun which doesn't photograph well...probably wouldn't have been my choice but not my car And Volvo's colour palette on these is disappointingly limited these days (old one was black, so that was a no go).

I'm also not a huge fan of the wheels really. Again, look better in the flesh. But would have preferred 20"s tops.

Key thing, however, is that the OH loves it.

Originally Posted by James77

Heard of audiowagon is that something to do with not accepting music via usb? Its bad enough on sensus having to tag any music. I gave up on it and just use Spotify app. Its frustrating that it's not simple to enjoy your own music easily anymore!

Yes, that's what Audio Wagon is for.

We had a USB stick in the old one...tagging music is something I've been cool with for a long time, and Sensus worked pretty well, save for track limits and issues with compilation albums.

Audio Wagon also has its foibles.

Originally Posted by sandys

If you have a, Samsung phone it's music app will work like usb stick over Bluetooth giving you folder access etc, as if it was a USB stick, not many other phone do Bluetooth music that well, you can set it up to lauch on accessing car with routines.

I do have a Samsung phone, so will see how that works.

Software on cars feels like it's written by people who don't actually drive. 80%-90% great, but the last bits really let the side down. Same thing goes with my Taycan.

Still, will spend time with it and see which bits grind the gears the most

Meanwhile, we just did 40 miles in it mostly on battery (kids playing with heated seats etc likely didn't help). So it's looking like the electric only mileage will work out.