S2000toIS350

I received an offer from Volvo in the mail to take a test drive and receive a $75 pre-paid visa card.

An excuse to test drive, sign me up.

I dropped in to the local Chicago dealer today.

Small show room, every car on the floor was white, doing the winter theme.

Nicest part about the place was the black and white photos of old school Volvos in the sales folks' cubes.

Friendly sales woman.

The info in the mailer said the offer related to only the XC90, S90 or V90CC.

I sales women asked what I would like to drive and I mentioned the limitations above and she said, no drive anything you want.

OK, let's try an S60.

While she was getting the keys I checked out a couple of the cars on the floor. The S90 looks good and was only about $57K sticker. The electronics are nice but then I started touching things. The leather wasn't nice and a lot of the plastics were on par with my kid's Vibe (no BS at all here).

She comes back with the keys and we sit down in the S60. She starts it up and it is so low on gas that she is afraid to take it off the lot. She gets keys to the next one. It is filthy on the exterior including some bird ****, but it has gas. I didn't find anything inspiring about the drive. She said you can expect better things when the next version of the car comes out. Due to insurance stuff, she had to park it and had a hard time getting it backed into an angled spot, Dealership has a small lot and way too many spaces painted into it.

I told her I don't buy FWD based stuff up front and she agreed as she drives a C Class (just moved from and MB dealer, crazy if you ask me).

We went back in, she thanked me for the visit, gave me the validation code and that was that.

mmarshall

Those pre-paid card offers for test-drives aren't new....they have been around for some time. Ford ($50) and Lincoln ($75) have offered them at the D.C. auto show for years. Ford still does, but Lincoln now donates the $75 (in your name) to a charity of your choice instead. Buick and Cadillac also offered them at the D.C. show for a couple of years, then stopped the practice. The Buick one, BTW, was not a waste of time or money for them.....I took home a new Verano that year.

This (Volvo) one, though, that you mention is the first one I've seen from a non-American manufacturer. Not surprising, though, that it's there.....Volvo is currently struggling in the American market, and not a whole lot of people actually traffic in and out of their showrooms.

LexBob2

I received two of the Volvo test drive offers but haven't used either one. I think I saved one and may try to find it and check out a Volvo. I wonder if this was a targeted mailing to the Chicago area?

S2000toIS350

Mine was connected to a specific dealership, Orloff.

Toys4RJill

Does Volvo even have a RWD model?

LexBob2

Mine is for International Autos.

S2000toIS350

I do not believe Volvo currently has a RWD based vehicle

I have never been to Orland Park, I guess a field trip is in order

Johnhav430

I used to do the Audi and BMW ones for $100, got so many GM ones for $50 I was finally asked if I really wanted to drive the car or just want the $50. I appreciated that salesperson. The last one I actually did was the Regal Turbo and I just turned right around, no interest based on how it felt leaving the dealership. The joke was almost on me with the 2016 Tahoe--salesman gave me a fake code. Don't worry, he didn't get away with it and I got my $50. I used to say $50 is my minimum (you can always give the card to your wife or anybody), but I did the Passat diesel stick for $25 and the Subaru WRX Limited stick for $25. Funny Volvo doesn't do $100 it's an expensive vehicle. Jaguar gave a free White Ice Putter, at the time pretty sure it had a $159 list.

human nature being what it is, someone uploaded an entire spreadsheet of GM dealer codes nationwide, so people were simply using their offers without doing anything

LexBob2

There is an auto dealer row along 159th street for one stop shopping. All of the brands are there except for exotics, they are up in Hinsdale/Downers Grove.

S2000toIS350

I definitely want to go Hinsdale some time to see Continental's Ferrari store, plus one of the Weinberger family that owns Continental has a personal collection of super interesting, rare cars.

A local guy, Lou Constable has feature a bunch of those rare cars on hi YouTube channel.

Mike728

My wife got one of those from Volvo of Lisle. I wonder if this is just an IL thing. She took out an XC60. It had one of the most confusing infotainment systems I've ever seen! I don't see us ever buying a Volvo, but the ride was nice.

BoDarville

you should ask to test drive either an S60 T6 R-Design or a V70 T6 R-Design (or a Polestar if they have one, which I am sure they do not). both are AWD, faster in a straight line than lexus, and have the digital tach thingy like the F-Sport. and can be equally calm and quiet like like the F-Sport when put in comfort mode. i'm certain you won't dislike the front seats. basically, if you find driving the R-Design to be boring, then you would equally find driving the IS350 F-Sport to be boring.

as far as expecting "better things when the next version comes out", that remains to be seen because it sounds like Volvo will be moving away from the ICE in the future and the engine in the R-Design is a little gem

S2000toIS350

There was no sign of a Polestar in the store I went to

I mentioned Polestar and she asked if I was interested in the Polestar 2

I replied the Polestar 1 would be of interest but she didn't have any familiarity with that (she also didn't know the NSX was back)

mmarshall

In the passenger-car (or car-based vehicle line-up), no, but they do market a line of heavier trucks.

LexBob2

I was planning on going out tomorrow and test the S90 sedan to see how it compares to our A6 but may wait until it's not so cold.