Wish I had seen this a week ago. Wife just ordered xc40 Inscription T5 with advanced package and park assist this week. She is reluctantly replacing 2005 S40. However her priorities now are short size, easy parking, visibility to front and rear, and comfort features. I wanted the techy safety features. We are long past great handling, high power cars. I was hoping the adaptive cruise and pilot assist would make trips a little easier. I did not test these features on the test drive. Thanks for the evaluation! We will closely examine it when it arrives. We can walk away from the small deposit if necessary.

 

I've had an entirely different experience with PA. IMO it works pretty darn good. It's not anywhere near full autonomy. As long as you are OK with that, you should be satisfied.

 

the park assist is awesome. i use it often because its way more accurate than what i can do in tight spaces.

 

thanks. we definitely did not want autonomous driving yet. We will check it out after delivery along with every other feature. the salesperson will be sick of us.

 

Feel free to DM me or just post here with questions. I've just ticked over 10k miles and still love getting in it everyday.

 

We previously owned a 2015.5 V60, and still have a 2012 XC60 RD with 325HP and polestar in the family. Also an earlier XC90 owner.

Our XC40 RD is a great fun drive. Much more responsive than the current gen XC60, imho. The gas mileage is awesome for long trips, at around 27 mpg. I had four adults in the XC40 for a winter Yosemite weekend trip. We had plenty of room, the Harmon Kardon audio was great, and the AWD kept everything under control.

To each their own, but can def say the XC40 gets plenty of use in our stable.

Like all Volvo XCs, the XC40 has computer controlled stability. So it is almost impossible to roll. Of course, I had Skip Barber training in XC90s on the Laguna Seca racetrack. This included high speed evasive driving and the unforgettable moose avoidance training. So I know a Volvo XC40/60/90 can be very stable if you know how to drive it.

 

I have 3 Volvos with Pilot Assist, one XC40 R-design and 2 XC60 Inscriptions. I have to disagree completely with the poster above. All 3 drivers in our household use the feature daily, and to a person, all 3 of us enjoy it and find that it really cuts down on fatigue. My wife drives 25K miles a year, and uses it all the time and wouldn't have a Volvo without it now. I don't find any real tendency for the car to wander or over-correct, so I don't know what he's talking about. Slow speed and stop and go traffic are actually where I find it to be the best, because below 25MPH, you don' t have to steer at all (or keep your hands on the wheel at all.) I've never had a problem. Above 25MPH, you have to keep your hands on the wheel (and you should definitely for safety reasons) or the car will warn you after 20 seconds. It still helps with fatigue at higher speeds as well. Our first XC40 had the 19" wheels - it was totalled by a person hitting it from behind at 50MPH - on their cell phone. The replacement XC40 R-Design has the 20" wheels. We found both to handle well with no complaints at all. In both cases the XC40 handles better than our XC60s. Not to say that the XC40 has a better ride than the XC60 (it doesn't) but the handling is a bit sharper. The infotainment screen is great, and it is intuitive. There are only 3 screens, one in the center, and one swipe to the left, and one swipe to the right. It isn't hard. However, some folks will find any technology difficult. I saw an automotive journalist the other day testing Sensus, swiping madly at the screen to the right and saying it wasn't responsive. Except she was already on the left screen and it doesn't go any further than that, so she was having a swiping fit for nothing, not understanding that was all the further it went. Again, some people just will never get *any* technology.

You'll love the car.

 

Thanks for the alternate opinion! We got delivery info this week for sometime in April. Getting her out of the 05 S40 may be the bigger challenge. I downloaded and read the owners manuals at least twice. Lots of info. We keep cars a long time. I hope XC40 can last.

 

ah.. the age of lazy drivers and those who want cars to drive for them...FWIW I told the dealer about my experience and a few others shared similar comments... they indicated the vehicle may require ADAS calibration...

 

It's not a matter of lazy drivers... it makes the times driving isn't enjoyable much more relaxed. I love the adaptive cruise system and would agree with getting it checked. Compared to the older Volvo system it does break harder, but I greatly prefer that. It feels more like how I would be driving rather than sneaking into a slower speed behind someone, it drives up to the gap set and then breaks. But that's just a preference thing. I really dislike the older system compared to the new, and the addition of pilot assist is huge.

 

Definitely love this.

 

I still appreciate MRCW observations. We will be sure thoroughly check out these features when we get delivery in April. I do not know what ADAS calibration involves but evidently it might be wrong.

 

ADAS is the automatic driving aid systems... it requires cameras, radar systems to be aimed properly... its likely not part new car delivery, but it you complain about the systems operations, they may perform it for you after delivery

 

Thanks for the ADAS clarification. Hoping to get XC40 delivery next month, but with the Ghent factory shut down that may be optimistic. Wife's 2005 S40 T5 died of head gasket failure a few weeks ago while on a road trip to Florida. She is a bit more interested now. She does not like driving my Chevy.

 

a new uodate... while my 2017 xc60 was in fire service, had another chance to drive a XC40 R Design loaner... it had about 3,000 miles on it.
This vehicle handled much better than previous Momentum edition... was nimble through the sparse traffic.
The ADAS systems seemed to work better. The lane departure system was much more tolerable to drive, but I found that with allot of construction and endless lane shifts in the road, the system would try to keep in the lane at exactly the wrong time and work against the rest of the flow of traffic in twisty narrow lanes... is there a way to temp shut it off from steering wheel?

still deciding to take the plunge on an XC40 or GLC 300... One thing these test drive comparisons taught me was to get the R Design for sure, for better handling

 

Press the left or right button on left steering panel, steering assist will be turned off and you get ACC only.

Fusion · Red · T8 · XC60

 

I posted to MCRW comments very early and used some of his observations when we took delivery in late April (XC40 Inscrip. Adv pkg. Park assist). Only driven locally. We have tried all the features except park assist. We like everything and it rides great. Did not expect great handling but it is adequate.
Compared to GM car.. I wish it it had pre programmed quick responses for bluetooth phone. I wish it had the 10 sec automatic lockup after you close all the doors.