#1
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Big Volvos - showroom view
As I had a bit of time to while away this afternoon in a Volvo dealership, and my reading material was getting boring, I had a good look round a couple of top-spec flagship cars in the showroom - an S90 and an XC90.
To quote Volvo: S90 - Sophisticated, intuitive and powerful. An executive saloon, without compromise. and XC90 Twin Engine - Luxury performance without compromise. Finishes and materials were pretty good, but things I noticed that weren't: 1. Front seat thigh supports were quite "lumpy" when not extended. 2. Manual adjustment of the steering wheel (unlock lever and "wrangle")! 3. Manual adjustment of seatbelt shoulder height. 4. No adjustment of front headrests. The XC90, like IT's favourite Audi, has 3 rows of seats and is equally enormous. And the S90 did at least have a space-saver spare wheel. The XC90 I don't think did, seats and batteries presumably get in the way. Just first impressions, but they count.
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2003 D2 FL S8. Irish Green Pearl/Beige. Solar sunroof, auto-dim mirrors, electric rear seat functions and extended leather. Ski hatch retrofit. Aftermarket reversing camera. DVB-T and XCarlink now removed as redundant. 2016 Volvo V40 T5 Cross Country (4WD) with ALL the toys including adaptive cruise etc. etc. Osmium Grey with Blonde/Charcoal leather interior. Polestar performance "optimisation". (Even rarer than a D2 S8!) Oh, and a brand new engine at just under 30,000 miles on the factory one! Finally: gone, but not forgotten..... 1998 D2 PF S8. Agate Grey/Platinum. Every option (I think) except electric rear seats, Tiptronic steering wheel, ski hatch, towbar & dimming door mirrors. e.g. Cruise control, NavPlus/TV, Bose, GSM, Xenons, Solar roof, Parking sensors, Alcantara/leather everywhere of course. (internal dimming mirror added later) 1998 (very early) Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec; ABS/TCS, Heated screen/mirrors, Aircon. Added Auto-dim mirror, Leather seats, Trip computer, Cruise control, OEM Ford SatNav with CD changer. And before that a lot of Rover 800s, a few oddities, a lovely Triumph Dolomite 1850HL with Overdrive and way back in my schooldays an Austin Seven aka Mini 850! |
#2
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You've become desensitised to luxury with your S8
Volvo are churning out some really striking cars in the last couple of years with the S90 and XC90, but I can't tell the smaller SUVs apart. XC60? XC70? XC40?
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Currently '8-less Previously: - Aqua Blue Pearl D3 S8 - Kamut Beige leather, ACC, B&O, factory RSE, solar sunroof, electric blinds, ski bag, Homelink, comfort headrests. - Aqua Blue D2 S8 - Grey leather/Alcantara - D3 A8 3.0 CVT - D3 3.7 V8 |
#3
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No just demanding of accuracy; "without compromise" does not mean "cheap manual adjustments because we couldn't be bothered to do it properly".
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2003 D2 FL S8. Irish Green Pearl/Beige. Solar sunroof, auto-dim mirrors, electric rear seat functions and extended leather. Ski hatch retrofit. Aftermarket reversing camera. DVB-T and XCarlink now removed as redundant. 2016 Volvo V40 T5 Cross Country (4WD) with ALL the toys including adaptive cruise etc. etc. Osmium Grey with Blonde/Charcoal leather interior. Polestar performance "optimisation". (Even rarer than a D2 S8!) Oh, and a brand new engine at just under 30,000 miles on the factory one! Finally: gone, but not forgotten..... 1998 D2 PF S8. Agate Grey/Platinum. Every option (I think) except electric rear seats, Tiptronic steering wheel, ski hatch, towbar & dimming door mirrors. e.g. Cruise control, NavPlus/TV, Bose, GSM, Xenons, Solar roof, Parking sensors, Alcantara/leather everywhere of course. (internal dimming mirror added later) 1998 (very early) Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec; ABS/TCS, Heated screen/mirrors, Aircon. Added Auto-dim mirror, Leather seats, Trip computer, Cruise control, OEM Ford SatNav with CD changer. And before that a lot of Rover 800s, a few oddities, a lovely Triumph Dolomite 1850HL with Overdrive and way back in my schooldays an Austin Seven aka Mini 850! |
#4
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Maybe it's to save weight so the "powerful" (ok the T8 helps) engine can haul the weighty barge along!
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Cars... '93 Audi Coupe 2.0 Alpine White (sold) '99 Audi S4 Merlin Purple - K04 upgrade to 412hp (sold) '00 Audi S8 Agate Grey (Sold ) '11 Audi Q7 4.2tdi Unknown Red (Classic Red Pearl Effect - thanks MJ) |
#5
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Our XC90 "classic" has a J-shaped upper seatbelt slot that automatically adjusts to the correct height for your shoulder. Why they've strayed from that excellent design feature (and then didn't make it electric) is anyone's guess.
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Ours doesn't have one simply because it has the R-Design twin exhaust on it! The "classic" did have a space saver with the standard exhaust. I ended up finding a full sized alloy spare and we have that in the garage for carriage on long trips. Melanie has orders to stay put and phone me if she has tyre problems driving locally. Yes, we've started getting the XC40 adds here and until they actually said "XC40" at the end, I thought it was an add for the XC60! They're not the only ones to do it though... How about Aston's? Or closer to home: D3/C6 nose, B8.5/C7 front and rear, Q5/Q3! They've brought out a new XC70 have they? It was always previously based on the V70 a'la Allroad. Quote:
Still VW did it with the Amarok for quite some time until they saw the light and realised their luxury arm had a very capable 3.0tdi staring at them!
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Cheers Marty ____________________ Current: 2001 Audi S8 - Brilliant Black with Black interior, C5 RS6 rims (whenever I actually put them on...), Solar Sunroof, Tinted side and rear glass, RNS-D, Grom, Bose, clunky old phone in arm rest! 2002 Audi S8 - Project Replacement head coming arrived thanks to MJ Silver with Black interior. All features as the '01, with the 'S' mode auto shifter. Dodgey rear tint (need to find a way to get rid of that). Family: 2009 Volvo XC90 V8 R Design - has a louder more obnoxious exhaust than the S8, sounds great! Love this thing - Q7 was double the price, and certainly not double the car! Sold: 1997 Audi A4 - Hamilton's Club Sport, Achat Grey (will miss the old girl) Last edited by 27litres; 29th April 2018 at 01:20 AM. |
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