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I love Volvos, but I am about to commit heresy in this thread.

1K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  steve s 
#1 ·
This thread is not Volvo related, I just wanted to share my latest VW experience with you all. Hope you dont mind. And no, Im not thinking about buying anything else but a Volvo...

So.... I go over to my parents house this afternoon for a typical sunday visit. To my shock and horror I find my fathers XC90 missing in the garage, and in its place, a 2006 VW Jetta 2.0T with the DSG 6 speed transmission. Paniced, starting to break out in a sweat I think, OH NO! Did they trade the beast in for THIS?! But no, it's simply a service loaner from the dealer. Thank God! My dads XC90 is having work done to the steering rack, again... And they ran out of the regular Volvo S60 T5 loaners they usually have.

As I walk into the garage I look down at the little car and think, Yuk, never again!! You see, I use to be the very proud owner of a '97 Passat GLX, which was my first new car. My parents "bought" it for me after I graduated from HS. (Hey, I worked for it! I was top 10% of my class!) Shortly after HS I got a job and finished paying for the car myself. The car was a complete and utter lemon. Which is 90% of the cars VW makes I think. THOUSANDS of dollars were spent just keeping the beast on the road. Every problem you could think of, I had. And then some. But, I loved it very much. And it showed.

So what do I do after I say hello to my parents?! Grab the keys and check out the Jetta of course!
First thing I notice is the wonderful textures of EVERYTHING inside the Jetta. I hate to admit it. But its beautiful. Odd styling and a little cheap feeling here and there, but still beautiful looking and feeling. The stereo absolutely sucks. Even for the upgraded Premium package it has. Its trash. Rattles behind EVERY door panel!! Which speaks a *LOT* about the build quality and attention to fine detail. Id never put up with rattles in any car. Especially one with less than 2.5K on the clock.

Once on the road, (and the awful radio off) I felt as if I was "king of the world" The power delivery is AMAZING from this albeit, very noisy & twitchy little 4cyl 2.0L FSI Turbo (Fuel Stratified Injection, which directly injects the fuel into the cylinder at higher pressure, kinda like a diesel so the engine can use higher compression and run cooler and more efficient) it makes 200hp 207FtLbs and uses 25 MPG City 31 MPG Hwy.

The transmission is the thing that makes me want to write this thread! It's called DSG. Direct Shift Gearbox. A $1,075 option. Kinda like BMW's SMG tranny. It basically uses two clutches instead of a torque converter. The clutches handle the even and odd gears and reverse. There is NO delay between shifts, thanks to the two clutches one working the even and the other clutch working odd gears. The next higher gear is somehow always engaged, so there is no shift felt at all ...from what I understand. And when you put the pedal to the metal, OH MY GOD!~ Hang the heck on! The car disengages drive EVERY TIME you come to a stop (I hate that feeling) BUT when you floor it, the car will rev up, then engage the transmission a second later. So it's as if you're peeling out in a manual tranny car. Or neutral dropping an automatic that is revving. Only smoother. This will make who ever is in ear shot turn and look at you as if you're an a$$h0le on the road because you're peeling out with the Anti-Slip Regulation off. But oh, is it so smooth and QUICK! Blink, and it seems as if you're at 60MPH. Each and every shift point is not felt. It's just a constant propultion. It's like "buttah" The only thing I *HATE* is the disengagement felt when stopped. And when you accelerate slowly from a stop, it feels as if you're about to stall out a manual transmission car when going up an incline. You can feel a delay while the transmission re-engages when you start to accelerate from a stop.

However, the suspension! Oy! Gotta love it!!! Firm, flat and controlled, not obtrusive, not harsh. Just how I wish my 850 would handle sometimes...


The steering is Electro Mechanical. There's no typical power steering pump. The steering is dead on. I love it!

All for the nice price of $27,434. I really dont think it's bad for what the car has, which is a LOT. BUT... I'd NEVER buy one. All of that wonderful technology is almost guaranteed to fail. That is, if it's anything like my two Passats, and all of my friends VW's and all of the reliability reviews associated with VW. I'd fear too much for the reliability of everything in the car. Ive been burned one too many times with the Passats, and all the other VWs I bought for fun. This 850 I now own has been a sweet dream compared to the VW nightmare I use to live. And I like this forum a lot more! Hope you all had a great weekend!

Here's my old VW picture album for fun: Nathans Passats

The two Passats I use to own before the 850.
 
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#2 ·
Re: I love Volvos, but I am about to commit heresy in this thread. (TurboMoose)

did the front passenger windows fall out of those two vw as well?

sorry, just had to
. i feel the 850 interior doesn't hold well either with all those plastic clips and cheap glue.. my tailgate is all rattly..

but a bunch of the new cars have a decent handling setup without the harsh, jarring effects our 850s infamously have.. almost 30k for a jetta is a bit much. have u checked out some of the acuras or other germans lately? oh, and the new lexus is250/350... suspension is really nice, even on 18" and sport setup...
 
#3 ·
Re: I love Volvos, but I am about to commit heresy in this thread. (steve s)

I've gone through my 850's interior quite extensively. The dash area never rattled when I bought it. The rear door speaker area did rattle. I had to tighten a few bolts that hold the door release handles to the doors down.

Also, my 850 came with a black plastic dash... which I didn't like. I found and purchased a mint walnut wood dash and console out of another T5, but it had grey interior. Mine is beige. I had to remove all of the gray pieces which are held in by a million screws, and on top of all of that, the toughest epoxy ever. Took me a few hours to carefully remove all the pieces from both the wood dash and my black plastic dash, rescrew everything together, epoxy everything as it was, replace the wire loom, and then install it. Of course while it was out I added dynamat to everything that would sit still. Thick cotton batting into any area that I knew would cause a rattle. And made absolutely sure it didnt rattle. And my efforts paid off.

The plastic grade in our cars in my opinion is by far superior to the plastics inside BMWs, Mercedes Benz and Saabs of the same era. Almost every one I get into, there is more than some plastic bits broken, or making a ruckus. I've seen year old Saab 9_3's that look like they've gone through hell they way their interior plastic trim pieces look and feel. AWFUL!

And ALL Volvo 850 wagons I've ever been in have a rattle in the tailgate. Which of course can be fixed with the proper kit. In fact, I think any rattle can be fixed. If you know how. I've got to be the squeek and rattle police. They drive me insane


And as far as the other cars, I have not had the time to check out the new BMWs. I like them. Id never buy one for the same reasons Id never buy a VW. I fear they are too unreliable. And I really REALLY hate being in a car that is so common. Which is why I love my Volvo so much. They're not a dime a dozen.
I could NEVER see myself driving anything japanese, especially a Honda or Toyota product. They're great for reliability, but are far too common and they just dont fit my personality like the Volvo does. I do like the new Lexus' however. And Nissans are just too cheap feeling for me to ever spend any money on. I hate how they have the Monet apearance of flashy opulence, but when you touch and handle the product it feels like a discount plastic wind-up tinker toy.


Quote, originally posted by steve s »
did the front passenger windows fall out of those two vw as well?

LOL! No, but Im glad someone knows what Im talking about when I say they have horrible build quality. It's so widely known VWs are plagued with problems. My window regulator motors all had to be replaced as they developed minds of their own which opened and closed on their own.

Quote, originally posted by steve s »
....the harsh, jarring effects our 850s infamously have..
This is what really irritates me about my car lately. I really need to invest some money in the suspension dept. asap.
 
#4 ·
Re: I love Volvos, but I am about to commit heresy in this thread. (TurboMoose)

Oh, and here's a pic of the said wood dash I installed into my 850 before I took the water pressure washer to it! ....And yes, I have removed the VW posters from the garage walls and hung proper Volvo dealer banners.


 
#5 ·
i own a 1995 Passat VR6 right now and just bought a 1995 850 from my work....and wow...im glad i did, i agree with moose...anything and everything has/or will go wrong on that dang car. I have had numerous problems, and am now lucky to have a volvo.
 
#6 ·
Re: I love Volvos, but I am about to commit heresy in this thread. (TurboMoose)

Quote, originally posted by TurboMoose »
LOL! No, but Im glad someone knows what Im talking about when I say they have horrible build quality. It's so widely known VWs are plagued with problems. My window regulator motors all had to be replaced as they developed minds of their own which opened and closed on their own.

glad we all have a sense of humor. i know my friend's vw had his windows fall out, and his brother's vw, the sunroof dropped.

and of course, the dealer here is an audi/vs/mazda/isuzu/volvo dealer. so everytime go in, sometimes i see a vw jetta or golf with a dropped window
 
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