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Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience
171–180 of 436 posts
Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
For a long time Consumer Reports has ranked cars as Japanese > American >> European, European cars have some luxury cachet but if you want a car that starts when you turn the key look elsewhere. American cars came a long way since the 1970s when they really were trash.
"European" cars are not really a category. French/Italian/Spanish cars are very different from German/Volvo, and even these groupings are a stretch. Then you have Dacia too, and I have no idea where to even put it. Plus you have some luxury British cars, which are again veery different. In-group std is greater than between-group std.
In the USA (where Consumer Reports exists), we don’t have any French or Spanish brands. Italian brands are only exotics and couple near-luxury brands from Stellantis.
To a USAian, “European Brand” means something from Germany or Scandinavia. If you mean a Ferrari or Lamborghini, you say that name.
Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
What reliable is left?
Toyota, Lexus, Subaru, Honda. Not sure if Hyundai & Kia are quite as reliable, but if not it's on them because they have some of the best warranties in the industry.
Not so sure about Subaru. I love my Outback but it is also the only car I've ever owned which left me stranded twice due to two separate firmware issues. Both issues were known and Subaru failed to communicate them to me.
I will probably go with Toyota for our next car despite loving the handling and comfort of our Subaru.
Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience
#174[dead]
Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience
#175I have an XC90 but the hybrid that is not plug in. I can say that the software is complete trash. The screen often goes black. I’ve had to replace twice parts that made the entertainment system dead. My second car is a model Y and now I dread driving the Volvo. It’s bigger so we use it to go to the cottage but other than that, I wish I had something different.
Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience
#176I’m just happier and happier with my ‘dumb’ car. It has physical buttons for the aircon. No wifi = no speakers listening to me and selling my personal data (yep that’s a thing) I have to press a button on the key fob to open it so it can’t be stolen by relaying the signal. It’s pretty cheap to run because I hardly drive anywhere anyway. But when I do I just buy this stuff called ‘petrol’ that’s all around the place a…
> the environmental cost of producing a new electric car is WAY greater than the petrol I’m burning.
The environmental cost of producing an electric car happens once. But driving a car is an ongoing environmental insult. This is an apples/oranges comparison unless you integrate the driving damage over time.
This analysis suggests EVs are overall a win for the environment after 5 years of ownership, assuming your electricity comes from coal. If it comes from hydro or renewable sources, it's more like one year.
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/when-d...
Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
To be honest, it has never been about pure brand. Every brand has had clunkers and has had great models. Having said that, Toyota is known for their reliability, and Volvo (+ Polestar) was / are known for their safety. Just to emphasize the point: Nissan is doomed because generally no one wants their cars, but they have perhaps one of the greatest bang-for-buck EVs outside of Chinese brands: the Leaf 2.
Nissan makes fantastic cars that develop a following, and then proceeds to change everything about the car that created a following in the first place. Mitsubishi seem to be learning this skill from them. Toyota still sells cars that have a direct lineage to the original model 40 years ago, and charges a fortune for them.
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Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience
#178If you're selling cars at that price tier ($150K CAD / $110K USD), you'd better be backing it with top-tier service.
Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience
#179Volvo sadly no longer stands for Swedish quality and safety. What you’re buying is essentially an overpriced Chinese car with Volvo stickers. And I’m saying this as a Swede. Buy German cars, specifically within the Volkswagen auto group (Audi, VW, Skoda etc) if you want reliable quality.
Or just buy a Zeekr (if you want a non-Elon EV) - a much more technically impressive and better looking car than the Volvo or Tesla and it was designed in Europe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvnZ0mTCBng
That touch screen-only with the different modes of activation is my nightmare and literally giving me anxiety watching that showcase if that's to be the future of auto driving.
Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
What reliable is left?
Believe it or not, both the software and hardware on Chinese-made Teslas is rock solid. (With the notable and massive exception of Autopilot/FSD, but this is an optional feature.) The Model 3 has been ranked the most reliable EV in Australia: https://www.shopforcars.com.au/news/most-reliable-electric-c... However, this is not the case for Teslas manufactured in the US, which is why Tesla's global reliability ratings…
It should be noted that “autopilot” is the included driver assist feature and “FSD” is the optional extra cost feature.