Starting to see a ton of these around LA.

 

Same in NJ. Saw one in a parking lot and one in the street. Looks fantastic

 

I sat in one recently at the Toronto Autoshow. While it looks large outside, it feels narrow inside; the doors are likely very thick.

I also did not like that centre monitor. Almost everything is touch-and-swipe, as on tablet computers, and not intuitive, definitely a head-down display. I somehow swiped something that turned the radio on but someone had turned the volume up very loud; I tried swiping everything everywhere on that screen to turn down the volume, to no effect until the guy in the passenger seat turned the dial; at least it had one dial.

I mentioned to the salesman but he was rather arrogant, saying that everything is going digital (live with it / get used to it) and that obviously Volvos are not the car for me.

 

It really does. I just can't get down with that powerplant unfortunately.

 

Seems like the T8 plugin hybrid doesn't get anywhere near its rated mileage. At greencarreports.com an early buyer said that he got 10 miles or less of electric range in cold weather and when the engine kicked in, he got 25 mpg. That's very underwhelming.

Maybe plugin hybrid SUVs are just greenwashing by automakers. My big 1650 kg ES300h gets 45-50 mpg on my daily commute and it has a tiny battery pack compared to the 9 kWh packs in these plugins.

 

It's a bloody Buick!

 

Where is spwolf and his rants about European hybrids and plug-in hybrids being nothing but PR campaigns?

Did you really expect super fuel efficiency from a twin-charged (supercharged AND turbocharged) engine? Does that engine ever run without forced induction? Perhaps only during the European fuel consumption assessment cycle, when the front and rear passenger seats are removed and body seams are taped over.

These heavy large Volvos would probably get better fuel efficiency with a larger, normally-aspirated 6-cylinder engine (perhaps with cylinder shut-off at cruising speed) but Volvo made the (wrong) decision to use ONLY 4-cylinder engines.

 

The non-hybrid model isn't hitting its mixed city/hwy targets either- that twincharged 4-cyl isn't all that effecient. I'm ready to see how Chrysler does with the Pacifica plug-in hybrid to see if it runs into the same problem.

 

I wonder if this engine will do better as Volvo puts it in smaller/lighter models?

 

Nothing wrong with that. But you will find most Volvo suspensions to be very un-Buick.

 

I would think so...although Car and Driver didn't return good results after a 500mi road test. It actually scored 1mpg under the average of the older S60 T6 long-term car.

I guess the bottom line is the same as all these other small FI motors- a light foot goes a long way.

 

Same issues with the new X5 plugin hybrid, one Autocar reviewer said he didn't get much electric range and the average mpg with the engine on was in the mid-20s. The X5 and XC90 plugins show huge discrepancies between their rated and real world efficiency figures whereas the much lighter i8 can achieve decent figures with a light foot.

Could that be down to the use of small, turbo engines hauling big SUV bodies? Once the plugin charge is gone, it's pretty much up to the engine to haul all that weight and regen braking won't get much charge back. Those turbos will be running at full boost most of the time in daily driving and that'll kill fuel economy.

 

I agree.
I've also read reviews where the ride is very stiff.

 

The one I drove was stiff. It had 22s but not the adjustable suspension.