As part of my returning to blogging, I’m hoping to take some time to talk about products and things that I buy, own, use not only to share my thoughts with you but to also keep a record for myself as to why I may or may not have loved a product. The first one up is going to be my current automobile, the 2017 Volvo S90 T6 AWD.
Some Background first
Those of you who know me well know that I have a love of cars, and while I might love and lust after cars like Porsches and Ferraris, the cars I’ve owned have been a bit more level headed, well at least to me. My love affairs with cars started as a young child but my first car did not come my way until my 19th year on this earth. When I graduated high school and started working, I needed a car. I decided that car should be sporty, it should be quick, it should be luxurious, but, my budget did not allow for such things, and so in 1992, my first car was a 1984 Chrysler Laser, the twin to one of the cars I adored in high school, the Dodge Daytona. Now because this car was cheap, it was also not in the greatest shape but it was sporty, and did have leather seats, cracked and dry ones, but leather none the less. It died less than six months later and I was relegated to driving my Mom’s used, Dodge Colt Vista wagon… not happy Jan!
Move forward a decade and watch as I make the biggest mistake of my car buying life… the 2002 Acura RSX. From the first day I sat in it, it hurt my back…badly… and I after six weeks, I couldn’t drive the car without being in tears. Almost as if it was kismet, I met one of my best buds MIke, another car guy, and in fact a car dealer and when I told him of my “pain in the back” Acura, he told me to come see him and he’d help me out of the car and he did, out of that Awful Acura and into my first Volvo, a 2002 S60 2.4 in Platinum Green.
I’m a Volvo Fan… I Roll
From the moment I sat in that S60, I knew I was a Volvo guy. Every switch and control was exactly where I thought it should be, the car was quick and handled well and those seats… they were amazing. This Volvo started a very long string of Volvos in our life, to date since 2002, we have had 10 of them between the two of us, pretty amazing considering I bought four MINIs during that time! Last year, I moved from my MINI Paceman S back to my beloved Volvo, a 2016 Volvo V60 Cross Country. Yes, a wagon, in fact, my second wagon and like my first (a 2008 Volvo XC70 Cross Country) it was one of my favorite Volvos ever. I have a love for hatchbacks and wagons and the V60 Cross Country more than scratched that itch. I was home, back in my beloved Scandinavian wagon and I wasn’t going anywhere, until that is, Mike gave me a call and asked me “What do you think about the S90?”
I told him that “I really hadn’t considered it. It’s a big, expensive sedan that certainly was drop-dead gorgeous, but, I just got a new car.” to which he replied “Go drive it, the deals on that car are stupid good” and so I went to check it out and I have to admit I fell in love with it on the second curve. The car is good. No, not just good, it’s great. I have always hated to admit it but, that 2007 Volvo XC70 (a car for a family of four!) was my most, favorite Volvo ever, but the S90 has now taken the crown.
Why was that XC70 my previous favorite? The truth is, that wagon was the most luxurious, loaded, comfortable car I’d ever driven. It was big, but it didn’t feel like it on the road, the seats were super comfy and there was plenty of room for everyone and our stuff. We took a vacation in that car and sat four adults and all their luggage for a week in that wagon and there was still tons of room to spare. The only negative was, it was a station wagon, a car for a family, not for a guy in his 30s!
The S90 ticked all of the boxes that XC70 did. Luxurious (so luxurious), loaded (more tech than you can shake a stick at), roomy (puts that wagon to shame!) and super fun to drive. The car I purchased is Osmium Grey, a color I absolutely fell in love with on my V60 Cross Country and could not resist choosing again. It is the Momentum T6 AWD version. I decided against the Inscription trim level as it has way too much chrome on the car, and I do not like chrome! It has the Charcoal Leather interior with the Dark Flame Birch accents (yes wood trim!).
So what did you get?
Since it is the T6 version, it has an All-Wheel Drive system and an inline-4 that is both Supercharged and Turbocharged and puts out a whopping 316hp and 295lb. ft. of torque. Truly impressive numbers from a four-cylinder engine and with the Supercharger covering the low-end and the Turbocharger covering the high-end, the car gets up and goes and pulls impressively to its redline. The car has virtually no turbo-lag and is quick as can be in Comfort mode and a little scary in Dynamic mode. Also since it’s a four-cylinder, I routinely get about 26mpg around town and up to 30mpg on long hauls on the highway, not bad for a 4200-pound sedan.
So, the engine is impressive, the drivetrain smooth and capable, but what about the styling?
I must say, this might just be one of the most beautiful cars I’ve ever seen. The long hood certainly belies it’s tiny engine and makes it look much more elegant and impressive like a sedan that might have a V8 or even a V12 under the hood. The overall profile of the car simultaneously makes it look substantial and nimble. The grill is a gorgeous set of black slats with a huge Volvo logo in the center (and a camera!) and the “Thor’s hammer” daytime-running lights really make the fascia drip style and elegance. My only complaint about the design of the car is the rear-end. I realize and actually respect Volvo’s ability and desire to make cars of the same model line (90, 60, 40) look similar, but the brake lights and the way the deck-lid falls off is quite bland compared to rest of the very sculpted, sexy and aggressive lines of the car. Luckily, adding the optional duck tail spoiler really helps to reduce the blandness and in my opinion, it should be made standard on all cars.
So, it’s quick, and it’s damn pretty, but what about the tech?
Let me start this section by reminding you, dear reader, that I am a “techy” guy. I love my Macs and my gadgets and never go anywhere without at least two devices on my person and so the tech is important to me. The tech in Volvos in the early to mid-2000s left a lot to be desired, and while it got better with the Sensus system in the early 2010’s 60 line, it still was far from “best-in-class.” This, however, can not be said about the new Sensus Connect system. Debuting in the 2016 XC90, the huge 9-inch iPad-like interface is a huge improvement. It is a touch-screen which is bright and easy-to-use with simple touch and swipe gestures and is well laid out. I don’t particularly like the fact that it’s a fingerprint magnet, nor that there are tons of useless applications to install, but the overall system is more than capable, showing three static rows of information (Navigation, Telephony and Audio) and one dynamic row that shows you the last app you ran, for me that is most often CarPlay, but more on that in a different post. The Navigation is impressive and stays up-to-date via the car’s communication system which can connect to a hotspot on your phone or to your home WiFi and is easy to use. My favorite part of the Navigation system is the map that is built into the all-digital dashboard, which shows you not only where you are but shows you the next turn under the map.
Speaking of the digital dashboard, I enjoy that I can choose from one of four different themes that show different information on and designs for the gauges, it’s really nice to be able to customize the look to my liking. Like most modern cars, the car has a back-up camera and I must state, that I’ve never seen a camera that is so clear and sharp, it’s truly a marvel but it pales in comparison to what might be my most favorite feature of the car, the 360-camera system.
The car has a “bird’s eye” view mode that using only FOUR cameras, one at each mirror, one at the front (under the Volvo logo) and one at the back above the license plate that gives you a full 360-degree view of the car and everything around it. This makes it so much easier to park as you can see the lines, the cars next to you and even the wall in front of you! As you might have guessed, this also allows for the car to park itself not only parallel parking but perpendicular parking. Click the Park-in button, turn the turn signal toward the side of the row you want to park on and the car will scan for a spot that you can fit into, signal you and then take care of the steering while you shift gears and apply the throttle and brakes. In addition to backing into the spot, it can also pull out of a spot it parked in.
As impressive as the camera and parking systems are, the Pilot Assist system takes it to the next level – Autonomous Driving, well sort of. As you’d expect in a luxury sedan, the car has a distance based cruise control system that will accelerate and decelerate the car up to your maximum speed and down to zero. It also can crawl along in traffic for you speeding up, slowing down and even stopping the car. The lane departure system in Pilot Assist is also way more than an alarm that sounds when you cross a dividing line without signaling, it actually steers the car back into the lane to keep you from drifting, but it doesn’t stop there. Combining the self-steering with the cruise control, the S90 can actually steer itself while you’re driving. Yes, the car drives itself in every sense of the word… as long as you keep your hand on the steering wheel, and the cameras can see the lines on the road.
This is a very cool and useful feature and works extremely well, but does take a little bit of getting used to. I’ve been able to drive long distances in the car (road trip to Benton the first weekend!) and the car handled traffic, curves and even off and on ramps with aplomb. I’ve also used the system in stop and go traffic and I hate to admit, has kept me more than once from rear-ending the car in front of me. Add to this system all of the other Volvo systems I’ve come to take for granted: the BLIS (Blind Spot Information System), the Active Bending Headlights with Automatic High beams, the Advanced Braking and the City Safety system, which keeps the car from hitting a person, a car or an animal in the road by emergency braking for you and which can even keep you from hitting a car who ran a light while you’re turning left, and the car is a wonder to drive.
The audio system is impressive and I only have the standard system which is a 10-speaker, 224W affair. The optional Bowers and Wilkins package bumps that to 19 speakers and 1400W of sound. As much as I would love to have that B&W setup, the standard system is loud, clear and fills the car with sound from a number of sources including apps for Spotify and Pandora, Bluetooth Stream from your favorite device and both Android Auto and Apple’s CarPlay.
Okay, okay, enough with the tech, how is to ride in?
The interior of the car is called by Volvo a “Scandinavian Sanctuary” and I have to agree. This car is super roomy, and it’s not even the 2018 model which will have a standard extended wheelbase adding even more room to the more than ample backseat leg room. This thing is cavernous. I haven’t been able to find someone who’s knees hit the back of my seat when I’m driving, a huge improvement from my V60’s cramped backseat. The car has a ton of niceties including not three, but four-zone climate control, heated front AND rear seats, a heated steering wheel and a heated windshield which can clear a frosted or snow-covered windshield in almost no time! It’s a very comfortable, luxurious place to be.
However, for all of my praise for this car, there is one thing that I do not like… the seats. Now don’t get me wrong, they’re comfortable, and they’re stylish, and they’re nice and all but.. they’re not Volvo Seats. In the nine previous Volvos we’ve owned, the seats have been THE. BEST. PART. Hands down the most comfortable seats I’ve ever sat in, and not just in a car!. Now, I know that things change and nothing can stay the same forever, and again, these are some comfy seats but, they’re not overstuffed like the previous ones are and while the driver seat has a really impressive lumbar system, I still can’t get 100% comfortable because I just don’t have enough support around my lower back, but they are nowhere near “Acura Awful!”
Okay, so you aren’t loving the seats, what else isn’t perfect?
There isn’t much else wrong with this car, I really, really love it. My only other niggling complaints center around the fact that it is a very big sedan and not an SUV or a Cross Country version, which I’ve had for the past three years, and what this means is… it’s LOW, really, really low to the ground. But once I get down, into the car, all of that is forgotten as I turn the way cool start knob in the center tunnel, the engine fires up, the wonderful radio starts up, the 360 camera system guides me out of the garage and I’m off for a drive in supreme luxury and I say, as I have every time I drive the car I love this car.
Do you have any questions? Something you want more details on? Drop me a comment below.