Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience • Hacker News Board

Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience

#391

Post by culopatin » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 4:12 PM UTC

m-ee wrote: post #262

prmph wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mazdas too. I find Toyota's suspensions and driving dynamics terrible. Mazda represents a perfect combination of good Japanese reliability and good handling dynamics. I also like that they still offer a proper automatic transmission in their cars (as opposed to the CVT epidemic in other makes), as well as naturally aspirated engine options (whereas many other makes only offer turbos now). The days of their collaborat…

My 2014 Mazda 3 has fairly regular infotainment issues, audio playing on my phone but no audio from the speakers, resolved by rebooting it. Also had an issue with the backup camera cutting out. Was caused by a loose connector. Dealership was unwilling to help for free so I just cleaned the contacts and reseated the connector myself. Months later I received a recall notice with no fix available, still more months late…

For a 2014 that’s fairly normal tbh, all the infotainments of that era were shit.

Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience

#392

Post by tim333 » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 4:13 PM UTC

ahartmetz wrote: post #335

prmph wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mazdas too. I find Toyota's suspensions and driving dynamics terrible. Mazda represents a perfect combination of good Japanese reliability and good handling dynamics. I also like that they still offer a proper automatic transmission in their cars (as opposed to the CVT epidemic in other makes), as well as naturally aspirated engine options (whereas many other makes only offer turbos now). The days of their collaborat…

From what I know, Mazdas are the most European Japanese cars: more fun and less reliable. I was considering an MX-5 / Miata once, and... they rust quickly (maybe the current model doesn't).

The Mk1 Miata was prone to rust - I had one of those. But I think the more recent ones are better. It was a good car though - 15 years old when I bought it, 30 when sold and only needed to go to the garage about once a year.

Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience

#393

Post by culopatin » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 4:13 PM UTC

prmph wrote: post #129

runako wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Mazdas too. I find Toyota's suspensions and driving dynamics terrible. Mazda represents a perfect combination of good Japanese reliability and good handling dynamics. I also like that they still offer a proper automatic transmission in their cars (as opposed to the CVT epidemic in other makes), as well as naturally aspirated engine options (whereas many other makes only offer turbos now). The days of their collaborat…

I had a sub 5sec 0-60 Miata set up for the track and I gotta tell you that I can whip our Prius much more than I thought was possible. Camry is a barge though.

Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience

#394

Post by culopatin » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 4:16 PM UTC

ReDeiPirati wrote: post #376

eckelhesten wrote: post #12

Volvo 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.

> 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. I own a 2020 BMW with an electronic gearbox, which broke at around 80k km just a couple of months after the warranty expired (yeah I know!). It was a bit of a headache going back and forth with BMW to request a free repair. Fortunately, the headquarters agreed to cover t…

Well that’s why they didn’t mention BMW lol

Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience

#395

Post by marssaxman » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 4:18 PM UTC

germinalphrase wrote: post #82

breadwinner wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I rented an Audi Q7 for a week recently. The drive quality of the car is excellent. But the software is terrible. Just getting CarPlay to work every time is a challenge. I will not be buying an Audi any time soon. As more and more of the vehicle's experience becomes software controlled, manufacturers who don't have good software development teams are going to lose out. German companies don't seem to understand the gr…

The VW Group is putting billions into their partnership with Rivian specifically to improve the software experience (and enabling hardware). It may be the only thing that keeps Rivian alive until (if) the R2 successfully launches to the mass market.

Imagine what they could do if they put those billions into building auto control panels that had actual knobs and buttons instead of a glorified iPad. They might actually be able to create a pleasant driving experience!

Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience

#396

Post by krapp » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 4:28 PM UTC

RumourRider wrote: post #369

krapp wrote: post #362

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They didn't say "is" they said "might be," which is a reasonable assumption to make given how ubiquitous the use of AI has become. One has to assume all content one encounters online is at best AI assisted and at worst entirely AI generated unless some explicit statement to the contrary is made, and even then, one should doubt.

They are complaining about the hero image (which is pretty inoffensive). Which is ridiculous. It is no different than using a stock image asset for some decoration, which is what people would have used before the current AI tools. Therefore I consider it unreasonable on the face of it. I shouldn't really have to explain this, but here we are. I don't care about how you wish to split hairs because I made a minor mista…

AI slop is ruining the web. You may consider it unreasonable but most of the rest of the internet disagrees. Get over yourself.

Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience

#397

Post by RumourRider » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 4:45 PM UTC

krapp wrote: post #396

RumourRider wrote: post #369

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are complaining about the hero image (which is pretty inoffensive). Which is ridiculous. It is no different than using a stock image asset for some decoration, which is what people would have used before the current AI tools. Therefore I consider it unreasonable on the face of it. I shouldn't really have to explain this, but here we are. I don't care about how you wish to split hairs because I made a minor mista…

AI slop is ruining the web. You may consider it unreasonable but most of the rest of the internet disagrees. Get over yourself.

[dead]

Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience

#398

Post by more_corn » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 5:34 PM UTC

mark_mart wrote: post #115

asciii wrote: post #45

Volvo may not want to replace the car for the guy...but from a marketing standpoint, they truly picked the wrong hill. The site is very nice and pretty thorough. Makes me not want to get this car or any Volvo!

I was genuinely thinking about buying a Volvo car today. This blog changed my mind now. It seem they are the exact opposite of what I thought.

This is why it is of crucial importance for companies to take things like this seriously. A customer complaint can quickly become a crisis and lead do serious damage to the brand.

Anyone with any training in crisis management would immediately refund the purchase price, apologize and offer a discount on a replacement.

The negative publicity of this post alone has cost the company millions in customer goodwill.

Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience

#399

Post by gessha » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 5:43 PM UTC

eckelhesten wrote: post #12

Volvo 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.

In the US, I’ve seen enough problems on VW cars that I won’t make the same conclusion.

US driving culture-wise, I’ve seen Audi and Mercedes drivers adopt the same brain-dead behaviors BMW drivers have that I wouldn’t want to be associated with them either.

If I were to buy a new car today, it would be a Toyota or a Honda, maybe a Hyundai.

Re: Unsafe and Unpredictable: My Volvo EX90 Experience

#400

Post by eckelhesten » Wed, Jul 23, 2025, 5:57 PM UTC

wenc wrote: post #309

eckelhesten wrote: post #12

Volvo 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.

> Volvo 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. I feel it's quite off-base to associate the quality of a car to a country. The quality of a car is a statistical quantity tha…

Quality is not just based on the design some office workers come up with. It’s also manufacturing process, material sourcing (iron ore etc) and processing of these materials.

The list goes on. But yeah, if I look at for instance Volvo EX30 or EX40 etc, they look very ”off” somehow and doesn’t scream ”built to last” any longer.

Compared to the older XC70, 740 and so on which are built like locomotives.

I strongly believe that some countries correlate with quality (in general, and depending on the subject). It has to do with the way of working I guess. People in countries with stronger hierarchy in the workplace tend to polish away the faults and shortcomings when reporting to their superiors.

I don’t believe there’s anything strange in thinking that way. It’s as if saying the Avocados in Peru is generally better and higher quality than the Avocados produced in Spain.