Lead Times & Air Suspension

[Deman77]

Just saw that you are considering b&w. It does sound great in a stationary car with the engine off. When driving I find it underpowered - I don't think the amp is strong enough. Again there is a recall on my16 b&w amp which might improve delivery, but after 3 weeks with my16 on loan I am not blown away. With all the road and engine noise (which is acceptable in my loaner but still there) it's not much better than standard to my ears. For the money you should get the fuel heater, 4zobe aircon with rear seat heat, family pack - which are all much more useful. I really wanted to like it as this is one of the few options I didn't tick in my car but it was not as good in practice. Very nicely looking though - enhances car interior. In r design in brightens the things up.

[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

[nu11eaf]

Originally Posted by Simdru

Hi everyone, first post so please be kind! We've recently received the good news that our family is to grow by +1 and as a result we are looking to acquire a practical, safe and comfortable genuine 7-seater around August 2017. We make a few long trips to northern Scotland every year to visit family, laden down with Christmas presents etc and only a large 7-seater will suffice. Looking at the UK market there seems to be only 4 cars with the combination of space, comfort & AWD that interest me; The Audi Q7 (beyond our budget), Landrover Discovery (likewise), Volvo XC90 (at top-end of budget) or a Kia Sorento (more comfortably within budget!). So ultimately it will boil down to a choice between a Sorento or the Volvo. My head says spend circa £15k less on the Sorento, which offers excellent value as you get a lot of kit for your money and a 7 year warranty. But my heart says spend an extra £15k on the Volvo, I've fallen in love with the R-Design in Bursting Blue, it really is a stunning car and you only live once. Yes, i've read all the horror stories on here about electrical glitches and road noise, but that hasn't put me off.

Anyway, i've waffled enough. My 2 main questions are, firstly, does anyone know the current approximate lead time on new R-Designs? I need to know how quickly i need to start booking test drives and actually making a decision. Second, to mitigate road noise on the 20" tyres, can people please give me their opinions on whether the extra £2k on air suspension is a worthwhile investment? Has someone driven an R-Design on 20's on both normal & air suspension, and can they offer an objective opinion? I suspect I won't have the opportunity to test drive both and I wouldn't particularly like to rely on a dealers opinion. I have actually E-mailed my nearest dealer with the lead time question and I didn't receive a response, unlikely he'll be receiving my custom! Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks.

Save your money, I have air suspension and have driven the standard suspension xc90 and prefer the standard over mine, it is not worth paying £2,100 for. I added it thinking it would be a softer comfortable ride and I would regret it if I did not have it but after driving the standard suspension car I do wish I had saved my £2,100, the air suspension does very little if anything to improve comfort or ride quality, but does work with drive modes to adjust car height and lowers car for access. I would not miss it if I did not have it.

[neon]

Originally Posted by nu11eaf

Save your money, I have air suspension and have driven the standard suspension xc90 and prefer the standard over mine, it is not worth paying £2,100 for. I added it thinking it would be a softer comfortable ride and I would regret it if I did not have it but after driving the standard suspension car I do wish I had saved my £2,100, the air suspension does very little if anything to improve comfort or ride quality, but does work with drive modes to adjust car height and lowers car for access. I would not miss it if I did not have it.

Thanks for your honest opinion as almost everyone who has paid for air suspension says it is so much better than the standard setup. Gives me more confidence with the standard setup I have chosen cannot be all that bad.

[gaby]

Originally Posted by neon

Thanks for your honest opinion as almost everyone who has paid for air suspension says it is so much better than the standard setup. Gives me more confidence with the standard setup I have chosen cannot be all that bad.

Do you plan to fully load the cargo area or tow a (heavy) trailer?

[neon]

Originally Posted by gaby

Do you plan to fully load the cargo area or tow a (heavy) trailer?

Will not be towing and only occasionally fully loaded.

[gaby]

Originally Posted by neon

Will not be towing and only occasionally fully loaded.

You probably won't be able to feel the difference, but driving a fully loaded car with
auto-leveling is far better than without it, but (perhaps) unfortunately air suspension
is the only way to have auto-leveling in the XC90.
I don't want to buy a new car without auto-leveling anymore.
It could even be described as a safety feature, certainly at higher speeds.

[nu11eaf]

Originally Posted by neon

Will not be towing and only occasionally fully loaded.

I tow quite a heavy caravan with my XC90 D5 with air suspension and find that it is not quite as stable as my old 2013 XC90 on motorways and dual carriageways, you feel side winds and sideways movement when overtaking or being overtaken by large vehicles more that I ever experienced with my old XC90 which was really stable but the power of the new volvo is far better to tow with and you hardly know you are towing, I think the air suspension may be the cause of the slight movement, but the new car is a dream to tow with regarding the pulling power, far better than the old one that way. (The car and caravan are both equiped with electronic trailer stability control systems and caravan has Alko hitch stabiliser and always loaded correctly for correct nose weight and trim)

Warning, for anyone who is going to tow with their new XC90, dont tow in Dynamic mode as this disables the cars towing stability system. It pulls really well in comfort and eco modes.