XC60 T8 1000 Mile Review

infiniteloop · Aug 9, 2018

All the cool kids are doing reviews, so I thought I would use my 1000 mile milestone as an opportunity to weigh in about pros, cons, and neutral impressions.

Pros

The car feels like a tank, but in a good way. SOmetimes I'll be crossing an intersection and see a big truck waiting to make a left turn and I will find myself thinking"I wonder who would win in a fight? Oh who am I kidding, I'd totally win". I'm sure reality won't match my thought patterns, but still, there is something to be said about being in the driver's seat of a well-built car.
The luxury seats are really nice. It feels like I'm sitting in butter whenever I get into my car.
The ambient lighting is very subtle, but I've grown to like it a lot. It is not as in your face as what you see in a Mercedes, but it is still enough to provide some mood lighting for night drives.
A capable EV motor - I didn't have my first fill-up up until about 800 miles.
The B&W sound system is killer, even for those of us who listen to audiobooks. The listening experience really does make driving less stressful/more enjoyable.
Preconditioning is such an awesome feature when you're in the midst of a heatwave. I use it all the time.
The cameras are a joy to use, particularly in low-light.
Everything people say about the interior being best in class is true. This car is beautiful and airy on the inside.

Cons

The brakes - 1,000 miles in and I still struggle to find the right amount of grip. There is no brake feel at all on this car.
The census startup is annoying most of the time, but down right rage inducing when I need to just get in the car for a sec to move it around and the parking cameras that I'm so fond of don't boot up for 15+ seconds.
I really wish the blindspot detectors would make an audible noise.
I hate that my preconditioning timers no longer work (works fine if I manually set it off, but timers have been broken for over a week now)
The exterior of the car looks feminine. My wife looks great in this car, but I feel like an XC90 is more muscular and would suit me better. Purely subjective and a little silly, but hey, that's my opinion. :screwy:
I hate that most everything is driven via the touchscreen. I would like at least a few dials for commonly used features (temperature control, radio presets, etc.)

Neutral

I started off hating Pilot Assist because it was so jerky, but now I feel really sorry for it and I just hate everyone around me. The poor system is responding to people making sudden, poor, and jerky movements, which of course makes my rider less smooth than I like. That said, I do use PA ~25% of the time during my long commutes.
Android Auto has so many great features, but it makes my phone run dog slow. The net effect is that my audiobooks will often pause or skip.

Conclusion
No regrets. Despite it's flaws, I'm very happy with the car.

Gammelgubbe · Aug 9, 2018

Boy, you guys with T8s sure don’t like your brakes, do you? My T6 brakes are great and proved it in an 85mph lockup - car stayed absolutely straight and when I got down to 25 or 30 I was able to ease off and slide into the next lane.

Used PA a lot in Norway and Sweden but people there don’t do stupid or rude things very often so the PA is pretty smooth.

Sensus bootup doesn’t bother me, I still remember how to back up using the mirrors for a few seconds. 😉

The BLIS would be better with a klaxon or something but the light is 10 times better than my F150 so I’m good.

jyanosh · Aug 10, 2018

As far as I can remember, the pre-condition timers have never worked in the Volvo app. I've told Volvo about it and I never heard back. I did set a timer in the SENSUS system and I THINK it works? I've gotten into my car when it's supposed to of worked, but it felt like it never ran (it wasn't any cooler than usual). If I try and create, delete or start a timer from within the app, it tells me that it was unable to start and I get a red bar at the bottom of the screen.

lamarguy · Aug 10, 2018

I have no issues with the T8 brakes in DYNAMIC mode. :thumbup:

Regarding Android Auto skipping audio, it may be Android's powering saving functionality not letting your app get enough CPU cycles when the screen is OFF. I had a problem with Amazon Music being slow to respond, random pauses, etc., which disappeared after I added Amazon Music and Android Auto to the powering saving 'exclusion' list (Android 8).

genesmasher · Aug 10, 2018

lamarguy said:
I have no issues with the T8 brakes in DYNAMIC mode. :thumbup:
.

Yes, selecting "Dynamic" braking under Individual settings helps - brakes become less jerky and more predictable (still nowhere as smooth and linear as a hydraulic system) . Now if only it were possible to save "Individual" settings as part of the driver profile. Also, home screen configuration memory option - so that when the car is started, I could have the Nav map maximized automatically from the start (just how I had it when I turned off the engine the night before). This and having a physical knob for the fan speed - this car could be perfect! (really hope somebody from Volvo is listening...

)

infiniteloop · Aug 10, 2018

genesmasher said:
Yes, selecting "Dynamic" braking under Individual settings helps - brakes become less jerky and more predictable (still nowhere as smooth and linear as a hydraulic system) . Now if only it were possible to save "Individual" settings as part of the driver profile. Also, home screen configuration memory option - so that when the car is started, I could have the Nav map maximized automatically from the start (just how I had it when I turned off the engine the night before). This and having a physical knob for the fan speed - this car could be perfect! (really hope somebody from Volvo is listening... )

A more linear feel is exactly what I'm looking for. I'll give dynamic a try tomorrow.

5thOne · Aug 10, 2018

sitting in butter! Now that is a visual...that I didn't need to see! Ha! very funny

infiniteloop · Aug 10, 2018

jyanosh said:
As far as I can remember, the pre-condition timers have never worked in the Volvo app. I've told Volvo about it and I never heard back. I did set a timer in the SENSUS system and I THINK it works? I've gotten into my car when it's supposed to of worked, but it felt like it never ran (it wasn't any cooler than usual). If I try and create, delete or start a timer from within the app, it tells me that it was unable to start and I get a red bar at the bottom of the screen.

I can tell you without a doubt that it works. I figured I would give it a try with a one-time timer this evening and sure enough it worked. It's obnoxious that nothing changed with the car and it is now honoring something that it wasn't honoring last week, but I won't complain unless it breaks again.

lamarguy · Aug 10, 2018

genesmasher said:
Now if only it were possible to save "Individual" settings as part of the driver profile.

Agreed, but I've since realized it's a nonissue for my driving pattern. My INDIVIDUAL mode is set to PURE, HIGH FORCE steering, DYNAMIC braking, HYBRID suspension (same height as your POWER suspension - 32").

Short city trips - select INDIVIDUAL mode and I'm ready to roll.

Mixed highway/city - select INDIVIDUAL mode and press SAVE/HOLD when entering the highway (operates similar to HYBRID mode).

Fun - POWER mode (same as INDIVIDUAL except suspension is 1" lower than your POWER mode)

FusionRedXC60 · Aug 10, 2018

Absolutely happy with my T8 with about 5k miles. Fit all my needs of power and efficiency, and enough fun things to tweak. No other vehicle comes close.

Glitches? Yes. Several service visits so far but it is only a few days' inconvenience.

Wishes for better things, of course, very strong wish for voice control for nav. But not show blocker for me.

Sensus speed is not bothering me much. I am light on streaming app usage. I found some usb drive when being changed may make it stuck. Maybe bluetooth places some burden on it too. At least rear view camera is displayed in time way before I back out of garage. Nav is usually the last coming up, but I don't need it around town.

Fusion · Red · T8 · XC60

amd2800barton · Aug 10, 2018

Gammelgubbe said:
Boy, you guys with T8s sure don't like your brakes, do you? My T6 brakes are great and proved it in an 85mph lockup - car stayed absolutely straight and when I got down to 25 or 30 I was able to ease off and slide into the next lane.

T8 brakes are also great in a panic stop, there's just a bit of a learning curve for if you're trying to feather the brakes in the default modes. Some people realize they're not stopping fast enough because they're only in regenerative braking, and rather than feathering the pedal until the brakes start to grab, they step on it and the brakes REALLY grab. Driving in dynamic braking mode or in Power mode this problem basically goes away, and if someone else is driving my car, I usually just put it in power mode so it responds like a normal car for them.

genesmasher · Aug 11, 2018

lamarguy said:
Agreed, but I've since realized it's a nonissue for my driving pattern. My INDIVIDUAL mode is set to PURE, HIGH FORCE steering, DYNAMIC braking, HYBRID suspension (same height as your POWER suspension - 32").

Short city trips - select INDIVIDUAL mode and I'm ready to roll.

Mixed highway/city - select INDIVIDUAL mode and press SAVE/HOLD when entering the highway (operates similar to HYBRID mode).

Fun - POWER mode (same as INDIVIDUAL except suspension is 1" lower than your POWER mode)

My point was - I don't want to have to select anything. Driver profile is linked to the key and is loaded automatically when the car is unlocked - would be nice if Individual setting would be loaded automatically too. I'm too impatient

amd2800barton said:
T8 brakes are also great in a panic stop, there's just a bit of a learning curve for if you're trying to feather the brakes in the default modes. Some people realize they're not stopping fast enough because they're only in regenerative braking, and rather than feathering the pedal until the brakes start to grab, they step on it and the brakes REALLY grab. Driving in dynamic braking mode or in Power mode this problem basically goes away, and if someone else is driving my car, I usually just put it in power mode so it responds like a normal car for them.

Not really, but it is alleviated to a degree. The brakes in Dynamic feel less touchy but still kinda numb, and require finessing for a smooth stop. In contrast, hydraulic brakes in my pre-SPA non-hybrid S60 are linear and predictable - easy to slow down to a complete stop with no forward jerk whatsoever.

FusionRedXC60 · Aug 11, 2018

amd2800barton said:
T8 brakes are also great in a panic stop, there's just a bit of a learning curve for if you're trying to feather the brakes in the default modes. Some people realize they're not stopping fast enough because they're only in regenerative braking, and rather than feathering the pedal until the brakes start to grab, they step on it and the brakes REALLY grab. Driving in dynamic braking mode or in Power mode this problem basically goes away, and if someone else is driving my car, I usually just put it in power mode so it responds like a normal car for them.

I learned to brake early and use the regenerative brake more. Then at the end it is slow enough and I don't need to press hard.
I understand that if you want to brake quickly, you will feel sudden grab when the pads are pressed on rotors quickly.
That's why a sudden or urgent brake feels grabby, but it is a good thing to stop sooner for a heavy car.

bilchil · Aug 12, 2018

Thinking of buying a T6. But 15'' to get the cameras up and running is just unacceptable and it can be a deal breaker cos it's a daily annoyance. Id hope a software update would have fixed this by now this but it seems thats jus the way it is

FusionRedXC60 · Aug 12, 2018

bilchil said:
Thinking of buying a T6. But 15'' to get the cameras up and running is just unacceptable and it can be a deal breaker cos it's a daily annoyance. Id hope a software update would have fixed this by now this but it seems thats jus the way it is

The rear camera is quick for me. I don't feel it is delayed. And on that UI, there is a button to switch to 360 degree view.

Also you can still swap to the options page and click on camera button, when the home page is still loading. So it never was 15sec for me to turn on camera view.

Sent from my Z978 using Tapatalk

Vavavavolvo · Aug 12, 2018

FusionRedXC60 said:
The rear camera is quick for me. I don't feel it is delayed. And on that UI, there is a button to switch to 360 degree view.

Also you can still swap to the options page and click on camera button, when the home page is still loading. So it never was 15sec for me to turn on camera view.

Sent from my Z978 using Tapatalk

Same for me. I've had my new '18 T6 Inscription now for about a week. Basically I get in. Turn the ignition. Buckle up. Shift into reverse. Camera pops right up. I have one of the China built ones manufactured in April '18. All software upgrades done.

bilchil · Aug 13, 2018

Thats good to hear indeed. Thanks

VxF · Aug 13, 2018

I have (should I said, had?) a 2017XC90 T8 and, well, my overall experience is not a happy one, but that's for another thread.

Yet, I just don't get the issue with brakes. I keep reading about it - and I even had people complain about the brakes on my car, when taking it for a spin. Yet, I don't see anything weird, or wrong, with them. Maybe because I had a bunch of "sporty" vehicles with grippy brakes before? Not sure. I did prefer them in dynamic mode.

But what I wanted to say is... I think it's very subjective.

Husker4theSpurs · Aug 13, 2018

We don't have our 2019 T8 yet, but on the test drive I did stop abrupty when first using them. I have had several hybrids in the past though and am accustomed to them overall. Maybe the "problem" people have with the brakes is JUST getting accustomed to the feel of regenerative brakes? Anyone here who's had a hybrid before care to chime in on whether the T8 regenerative brakes are really that different than the typical hybrid?

amd2800barton · Aug 13, 2018

Husker4theSpurs said:
We don't have our 2019 T8 yet, but on the test drive I did stop abrupty when first using them. I have had several hybrids in the past though and am accustomed to them overall. Maybe the "problem" people have with the brakes is JUST getting accustomed to the feel of regenerative brakes? Anyone here who's had a hybrid before care to chime in on whether the T8 regenerative brakes are really that different than the typical hybrid?

I haven't had a hybrid before, but I test drove a Fusion Hybrid back in the day, and had a Prius as a rental for a day a long while back. This definitely feels a little different, but I can think of 2 reasons why:

1. the Prius is incredibly boring and numb. Toyota does everything in their power to make driving it as forgettable as possible. Volvo definitely put good brakes on their cars, and they can be a bit sporty feeling when they grab.
2. The T8 can be a pure electric car at up to highway speeds, whereas most previous hybrids were only electric under ~5mph.

Really, as you note, I think most people simply haven't driven vehicles with regenerative brakes before. There's just a slight learning curve that new people like to complain about. When I'm driving, nobody can tell. I did have a co-worker ask what was wrong with my car.... because the fuel economy readout on the center display was stuck at 150mpg (turns out it won't report any higher than that). They didn't even realize we were in an electric car.

XC60 T8 1000 Mile Review

infiniteloop

Gammelgubbe

jyanosh

lamarguy

genesmasher

infiniteloop

5thOne

infiniteloop

lamarguy

FusionRedXC60

amd2800barton

genesmasher

FusionRedXC60

bilchil

FusionRedXC60

Vavavavolvo

bilchil

VxF

Husker4theSpurs

amd2800barton

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