Horses have fled, turtle is back...

[Arianne]

It was good while it lasted, and it lasted ten days. After ten days of stonking performance and driving joy.......the turtle has returned and it's frightened off the horses - the car's back to it's uninspiring self.

So I have sent the obligatory email to my dealership and I will no doubt hear from them soon. Goodness knows what they will try next.

What a shame. Our XC60 is such a wonderful looking car but we've effectively experienced lacklustre engine performance across most of the winter months. I actually bought this car in R-design trim because I wanted the stiffer suspension, coupled with the sprightly VEA D4 FWD performance, to enjoy driving around the twisty Scottish Border's country roads.

It was a close call between the D5 AWD and the VEA D4 with FWD. Their performance is almost identical due to the weight loss when AWD is ditched. My thinking was that I could accept FWD with winter tyres and benefit from the improved fuel economy and £30 VED.

What I have got is the £30 VED. That's it. The performance is hardly ever available because of the turtle, fuel economy is usually hovering around 33mpg and, on those rare occasions when we do have 181PS available, I am reminded that I don't have AWD when I decide to utilise all that power through the front wheels.

Aagh

If Olof keeps this up then I will seriously start thinking about the earliest feasible opportunity to dispose of this car and try a different marque. There's absolutely no way I am repeating this with another 4cyl VEA powered Volvo because, if I get the same result, I would feel like a complete .........turtle!

Arianne

[IMG][/IMG]

[volvorocks]

Perhaps ask for the car to be changed?

Regards

[GMcL]

You get on well with your dealer, ask them how much to change to the D5 AWD. £30 a year is what ? quarter of a tank of diesel. Next to nothing in car ownership terms. Switch brands and you will lose ££££, that will be

Plus the lovely 5 cylinder rumble under load, you know you want to ;-)

[volvorocks]

@Arianne and all others with a 'pet turtle'.

As you have had all the gubbins related to this issue checked and or replaced, maybe it could be something else entirely? Perhaps a turbo pipe, or other air pipe is too supple and under acceleration it is being sucked in on itself creating a kink thus a vacuum, thus reduced performance? I have some info somewhere about this, will try and dig it out.

Regards

[Arianne]

Originally Posted by GMcL

You get on well with your dealer, ask them how much to change to the D5 AWD. £30 a year is what ? quarter of a tank of diesel. Next to nothing in car ownership terms. Switch brands and you will lose ££££, that will be

If this were an acute issue and I had reached the point mentally where I consider my only option is to cut my losses then you might be right. Either my local dealership or the selling dealer (TMS Coventry) might do a deal.

There is still something galling in that an agent of Volvo gets rewarded from the misfortune of its client, caused by a temperamental product. That doesn't feel right, does it? I would only accept this outcome if I had reached the end of the road, as it were.

Alternatively, how about just fixing the car once and for all? My XC60 isn't unique. There are thousands of them out there and plenty of these variants on this forum. Surely that's the right solution - I can live with the torque consequences of my earlier decision to acquire a VEA D4 FWD, if only the car actually performed as it was designed in the first place.

I will persevere for a while yet. I have not yet reached the point of separation - albeit that the thought has now begun to cross my mind of a divorce.

Any other ideas people?

Arianne

[GMcL]

I know what you are saying and feel in a similar position.

I don't have a D4 VEA engine but I am in a position where I feel the quality of my current car is not where the "old" S60 I traded for the current S60 is.

My car is out of warranty so I have no hope of resolution with Volvo only to throw money at the dealer network in the hope they will fix my car and give me the satisfaction I seek.

That is all the more galling when the numbers are so much greater, newer car.

[volvorocks]

@Arianne

I have had some performance and some serious performance cars in the past and have found changing hoses for stiffer ones worked wonders with driveability/performance .I remember having a Carlton 24v and the car went into reduced performance mode, so bad that it topped out about 25mph. It was a small pipe, and when I say small I mean small - a little bendy pipe about 5 inches long, and the cost from the dealer was ridiculous - over £100 iirc. Taped it up with insulation tape for a temporary repair, and then a pal of mine made a copper pipe and fitted it.

I have some other info somewhere, but this is one of them on this site. Don't know whether you have seen it? The link to this info on this website looks helpful and maybe worth looking into?


http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showth...82#post1863182

Regards

[wimorrison]

What I find galling nowadays is that they cannot diagnose faults, they seem to have a guess at what the fault might be then charge you to fix their guess. When this doesn't work then they guess at something else, and we Are then required to pay again, this time for the second guess - this then continues until the fault is fixed (or stops appearing).

We are the left, many pounds lighter in the wallet, with no real knowledge as to what the actual fault was or what really rectified it. Why are we never offered a refund for the work done that hasn't fixed the fault?

When I did my C&G we were allowed one attempt to diagnose a fault, state exactly what was wrong and then we would be given the one part we had asked for - if that fixed it, you moved to the next test, if it didn't then you failed. And we didn't have all the diagnostic equipment that exists today, but I can assure you the engines were much more complex than what Volvo fit into our cars yet we fixed the faults. This was especially important with military equipment, you cannot guess at the fault - what happens if you haven't fixed it and it reappears in the heat of a battle or operation?

I think it is appalling that after all this time they are unable to state with 100% certainty what the fault is and fix it once and for all.

I feel for you Arianne, I would be seething and the dealer would know exactly how I felt.

[GMcL]

Originally Posted by volvorocks

@Arianne

I have had some performance and some serious performance cars in the past and have found changing hoses for stiffer ones worked wonders with driveability/performance .I remember having a Carlton 24v and the car went into reduced performance mode, so bad that it topped out about 25mph. It was a small pipe, and when I say small I mean small - a little bendy pipe about 5 inches long, and the cost from the dealer was ridiculous - over £100 iirc. Taped it up with insulation tape for a temporary repair, and then a pal of mine made a copper pipe and fitted it.

I have some other info somewhere, but this is one of them on this site. Don't know whether you have seen it? The link to this info on this website looks helpful and maybe worth looking into?


http://www.volvoforums.org.uk/showth...82#post1863182

Regards

I can see you are trying to help and that is commendable but a D4 Volvo is a run of the mill mainstream model. People who generally buy these are not interested in working with the dealers and manufacturers to find a resolution. They want something that works or something the manufacturer will fix quickly. They do not want multiple trips back to the dealers to have a chat with the guy who is working on the car.

That is where VAG win having Audi TT as an example to launch new tech, those owners love to get under the bonnet and talk to the techs.

Where is Volvo's petrol head car ?

If Volvo do not nip this in the bud then it will do them a lot of damage. There are a lot of people watching this major down scaling from 6 and 5 cylinders with interest. Get it wrong and it could be an expensive mistake.

I really do hope Volvo get this right and quickly....

[Arianne]

Ok, I've really had enough.

I have emailed Volvo UK Customer Services this evening and will telephone them tomorrow morning.

If I don't get this resolved soon then my next stop will be AutoExpress. We subscribe to AE and they have a weekly section about this kind of customer experience. They help owners by picking the matter up on their behalf and normally get a good result. Let's hope it doesn't come to that!

Arianne