Lead Times & Air Suspension

[shortword]

4 Corner Air adds around 6 weeks to a new order.

I considered it just before the cut off for my T8 R-Design and my dealer asked Volvo what delay if any it would cause and they said 4-6 weeks.

3K KM into ownership and all is well btw, no bugs. No weird ****.

Regards,

Paul

[PerfidiousAlgernon]

Originally Posted by PerfidiousAlgernon

I can go some way to answering your question. My own First Edition (with air) has been off the road for a couple of weeks and I've been using an Inscription without air. So I've plenty of opportunity to drive my normal routes in both cars. I'd say that my car has a more comfortable, compliant ride overall but it does have a little suspension noise over rough surfaces at low (30mph) speeds. This Inscription rides well but feels a little stiffer, firmer ride. My car has covered 10K+ miles, the Inscription is still pretty new. And there may have been updates to the air suspension set up since the First Edition models.

I can offer an update to my original comment. On Monday I drove about 500 miles from home to visit friends in the Ardennes area of Belgium. I drove on just about every conceivable type of road and surface. At the end of the journey, uniquely for us, we felt pretty tired from the ride of this loan, steel sprung car with 20" Conti tyres. It was not a comfortable journey at all. The springing was very stiff, it really crashed on rough road surfaces and on winding lanes it was also harsh. On the concrete section of the M25 east of the M3 junction we literally had to shout to maintain a conversation. It was very, very different from my own air sprung First Edition. I accept that there's a fair bit of hyperbole posted on this subject, but had this been a car that I had paid £50K+ for I would be very, very disappointed.

[neon]

Originally Posted by PerfidiousAlgernon

I can offer an update to my original comment. On Monday I drove about 500 miles from home to visit friends in the Ardennes area of Belgium. I drove on just about every conceivable type of road and surface. At the end of the journey, uniquely for us, we felt pretty tired from the ride of this loan, steel sprung car with 20" Conti tyres. It was not a comfortable journey at all. The springing was very stiff, it really crashed on rough road surfaces and on winding lanes it was also harsh. On the concrete section of the M25 east of the M3 junction we literally had to shout to maintain a conversation. It was very, very different from my own air sprung First Edition. I accept that there's a fair bit of hyperbole posted on this subject, but had this been a car that I had paid £50K+ for I would be very, very disappointed.

That is a pretty damning review of the standard suspension on 20"wheels. I am yet to drive a car over concrete roads that is not noisy and it sounds like the Continental tyres have just made that worse. I really wish Volvo offered the option of 19" wheels on the Inscription, it is annoying I am having to pay extra for something I do not want and does not work well with a package. I would rather have the 19" wheels and the £1000 back for the additional cost of the 20", tyres would be cheaper too. I do not understand why there are no complaints with 21" wheels.

[eax]

Very damning indeed. My last day of change is tomorrow and I currently have Air susp off my options list for various reasons. But now I'm hearing volvo has improved it, and as per comment above that standard suspension isn't quite good, it seems I might not enjoy the car as I would have expected. And I'm being told adding 4C Air this late on might increase lead time by another 6 weeks - maybe even take it to December (current ETA is in 6 to 8 weeks).

What to do, what to do????

[Deman77]

Originally Posted by eax

Very damning indeed. My last day of change is tomorrow and I currently have Air susp off my options list for various reasons. But now I'm hearing volvo has improved it, and as per comment above that standard suspension isn't quite good, it seems I might not enjoy the car as I would have expected. And I'm being told adding 4C Air this late on might increase lead time by another 6 weeks - maybe even take it to December (current ETA is in 6 to 8 weeks).

What to do, what to do????

I suspect he may have had overinflated tyres in his loaner - jittery crashy ride is not something you can describe xc90 in any set up unless you overinflated the tyres - I had that both times straight out of dealers post tyre swaps and that was on air - both times overinflated tyres.
I have had a standard suspension loaner for three weeks now and I cannot complain about the standard suspension.
There are advantages to having air but I don't think ride even if better than my16 will be that much better - people notice the difference but they don't suddenly say that it beats q7 here.
Don't make rush decision- you had your reasons originally.

[Saltdeanbeach]

My original car was my2016 with air (although I didn't get to drive it that much). I then had loan XC90s for 6 months without, now back in my2017 with air and it feels a much better drive and subjectively quieter than any of the other XC90s I have driven. All on 20" tyres. I have driven about 10,000 miles on mixed roads including 1000 miles in Europe.

[neon]

When I had one with 20" wheels for a day I must admit I did not notice a poor ride. I am coming out of a Mercedes CLS with 18" wheels and wide tyres though. I wonder how much of this is what you drive before the XC90. If you are used to a softer riding SUV or the like then 20" wide wheels on anything will be different. After all these are big wheels.
After my experience with air on a Mercedes, I said never again, even if things may have moved on and the reliability has improved. I have not seen any evidence of this with any air suspension yet though, Volvo or non Volvo, although I am not really in a position to have a lot of knowledge in this area.

[eax]

Thanks guys. I have now asked dealer to add dynamic in for me if still possible. I know I will always be second guessing my decision on the long run if I didn't. Only downside is i might end up no longer receiving the car in September anymore as planned. Hopefully additional wait will be worth it. Because the new 2017 air just keeps receiving thumbs up all round from all. This is one of the reasons I had removed the air from my original order in Feb. Cos of the complains about the setup - struts noise etc - on the MY2016 then.

[AB-UK]

Originally Posted by Saltdeanbeach

My original car was my2016 with air (although I didn't get to drive it that much). I then had loan XC90s for 6 months

Was there a problem with the original car?

[Simdru]

There's lots of food for thought on the air suspension, but sadly, as I expected, no conclusive consensus! I might be cheeky and ask if I can test drive both. The upper ceiling of my budget is £52k, which i know I'm pushing with an R-Design in Bursting Blue and the B&W sound system. When i buy cars I like to look after them and, because I don't do high mileage, keep them for at least 10 years, so I want to make sure i'm not regretting the options i choose on such a large investment over such a long period of time. I'm a real audiophile so the sound system is something I really want, and if it means sacrificing the air suspension to come in under £52k but still having the B&W then I will do so. What I'm looking for really is a reassuring consensus that the air suspension is an unnecessary luxury and it's absence won't spoil my enjoyment of a £50k car! Like i say, my mileage is limited to about 10k per year and i only make a couple of 500 mile+ journeys per year, so perhaps the added comfort of air suspension on long journeys would be an unnecessary expense.