MY22 XC90 18kWh Review

[techwatcher]

Originally Posted by Dohnut

If you only get one “proper” key, what’s the point of driver profiles?

You can still set up different profiles and activate them after you get in the car but it's rather more convenient to be able to link the profile to a key.

[cvsmjd]

Originally Posted by tronicx83

The wife and I picked up our XC90 Inscription Expression T8 at the beginning of January - its got the new 18kWh/145hp electric powertrain, so I thought I'd drop my thoughts here as an early review.

STATS:

• ODO - 345m
• 96% Electric and 4% Fuel usage
• 188mpg average fuel consumption in the app

Powertrain - Love it.. so fricken smooth. 90% of our journeys are local school runs, park-runs and shopping runs, so we can do this 100% electric.
No hesitations pulling off, plenty of power there when you need it (like at a roundabout or busy juntion) and it's just a delight to drive in general.

Powertrain economy - Fine. I drove 30-miles to work this morning, 38-mins driving of which 25 mins and 20 miles were on motorways doing ~70mph - all on electric with the exception of 30seconds where I needed to overtake and then it dropped back to electric again. (720mpg according to the journal!)

In-Car Entertainment - is okay. CarPlay is great, it's a shame its wired only and such a small part of the screen. Also, it took me a while to get DAB to be the default radio setting (still not sure how I managed it) rather than FM.

Other love points - things we like

• Drive comfort - it's definitely less crashy than our previous Disco Sport
• Size - it fits everything, kids, adults, kids crap - it swallows it all and asks for more
• Pre-conditioning - gotta love a warm cabin, seat and steering wheel when you set off in the freezing cold (Oh, FYI - this runs off the house charger while plugged in)

Negatives - things I don't like, or have tripped us up:

• Care Key - What is this? I mean, I know what it is, but it's a joke of an idea. Dealer said they can convert it to a standard key so we can use it with a Driver Profile, but I expect that'll come with a cost.
• Car wouldn't start - yesterday the wife loaded the kids and all into the car and it just wouldn't start. "Turn Start knob to start" - it kept repeating. Cue a lot of cursing from the wife. I managed to get it started, half hour later after a bit of back-and-forth with the non-the-wiser dealership. VOC is useless for actually troubleshooting an issue it turns out.
• Manual kids locks - ugh. Electronic kids locking was a basic function on the Disco Sport, and in the XC90 it's a paid add-on. So I have to get this thing they call a key and stick it in a hole in the door... what is this, the 90's?

Thanks for sharing your experience. Can I ask you to clarify the driving range you are getting purely on electric from the 18kwh battery?
Cheers

[tronicx83]

Originally Posted by cvsmjd

Thanks for sharing your experience. Can I ask you to clarify the driving range you are getting purely on electric from the 18kwh battery?
Cheers

31-miles purely on electric is the furthest I’ve got so far- but bear in mind it’s relatively cold now, most mornings are single-digit Celsius, so I would expect the range to improve in the summer.

I think the answer you want is 2miles per kWh on average.

[cvsmjd]

Originally Posted by tronicx83

31-miles purely on electric is the furthest I’ve got so far- but bear in mind it’s relatively cold now, most mornings are single-digit Celsius, so I would expect the range to improve in the summer.

I think the answer you want is 2miles per kWh on average.

Thanks, expecting my XC60 recharge in Feb so that's good to know. Other than charging is there a way to confirm battery size?

[ProfessorF]

Originally Posted by tronicx83

[*]Care Key - What is this? I mean, I know what it is, but it's a joke of an idea. Dealer said they can convert it to a standard key so we can use it with a Driver Profile, but I expect that'll come with a cost.

Eugh. Came here to find out about the Care Key (this is my first Volvo). Got our XC90 at the beginning of the month. Love the car, but it’s a crazy decision and feels like penny pinching to give you only one proper key. I’m in “discussions” to get this changed.

[tronicx83]

Originally Posted by ProfessorF

Eugh. Came here to find out about the Care Key (this is my first Volvo). Got our XC90 at the beginning of the month. Love the car, but it’s a crazy decision and feels like penny pinching to give you only one proper key. I’m in “discussions” to get this changed.

With the dealer or Volvo UK? Be interested to hear the outcome - I don't really understand the need for the CareKey, it's just a mis-programmed key in my mind.

[ProfessorF]

Originally Posted by tronicx83

With the dealer or Volvo UK? Be interested to hear the outcome - I don't really understand the need for the CareKey, it's just a mis-programmed key in my mind.

Volvo de (I’m in Germany but my German is terrible so came to the U.K. forum). Seems there is a possibility to have the orange key reprogrammed to behave as a normal key. I also don’t get the logic of a care key for 99% of situations. I think I’ve only once ever had valet parking, and if the car is at the dealer they could break it anyway. I think the only situation I could see would be if I wanted to limit the top speed for one of my kids that I didn’t quite trust.

[Haldex]

Except for the fact that it cannot be linked to a driver profile - orange key IS a "normal" key - with an added feature (setting the max speed). Just don't activate the speed limit.

Btw, I just changed the ugly orange side covers - and my wife is using it daily..

[nu11eaf]

[QUOTE=tronicx83;

Re DAB as default, I have two profiles set up, one starts up with USB stick playing songs the second (usual profile set to my key) starts up with FM radio, so I would think that what ever media you had playing when profile was set is the default media that plays for that key profile. (I never use DAB)