2018 Volvo XC90 Review: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

The 2018 Volvo XC90 is arguably the best luxury SUV on the market today. Or is it? Gregson got his hands on one for a week and put it to the test to see if Volvo's award winning family carrier still hits the mark.

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Intro - "Bow and Arrow" - T-Mass

[indiomccoln]

If only Toyota would design something like this I’d be all in no matter the price

[broosewee]

I have the T5 Momentum in the same colors black/amber. Love it! Few things to note:
1. Pilot Assist 2 is standard across all trims for 2018. So is the gigantic moonroof.
2. The T5 engine is also surprisingly sufficient and efficient. It's pretty close to the T6 despite the 250hp/250ish tq rating. They all require 91+ octane fuel.
3. The screen can be turned off if you long press the home button. I haven't had the heating issue myself, even on long road trips.
4. The car also includes 4 years of Volvo On-Call service - remote start, remote lock, other interesting stuff. After that it's kind of an expensive annual fee.
5. The standard suspension is also very comfortable. Everybody talks about the air suspension, which is sublime, but it's really not necessary to enjoy good ride comfort.

[althor]

50k miles is a long warranty?
I've only ever heard 10 year/100k

[ltphilipg]

I haven’t had any electrical problems with my 2018 XC90 - got it in Jan. It really is a dream to drive. However, my ivory leather gets dirty very very quickly, but that’s ok because it’s beautiful (and I’m leasing it for business use, so who cares lol).

[toursouthwestpa]

I think a zero to 60 time is useless since turbos don’t spool up until a certain rpm is achieved. I think a 25 to 65 or 70 time is more relevant since that on ramp is a more realistic concern than a light to light drag race. That is not a 67 GTO after all.

[mtcaceres]

I own a 2016 XC90 in the exact colors as the one In your video and my interior still looks pristine! I have 2 children who are in and out of my car in soccer and baseball uniforms and still I mange to keep the interior looking amazing.

[markkibbe]

These things seem amazing, but I do worry a little bit about all that complexity. I saw a brand new XC40 a few days ago where the front end was a normal height and the back end was laying frame with the rear wheels tucked inside the wheel wells. I think it might have been an air suspension glitch, or possibly the thing was overloaded. I don't know, but what I can tell you is that it certainly looked broken. On a positive note, after seeing that I think the upcoming V40 will look quite good with similar styling.

[ivanlowjones]

I would have chosen the lack of 2nd row USB outlets as a "bad" point instead of the amber colored seats. The interior color is always subjective to the consumer. Just 2 USB ports and no 110/115 volt household plug in a luxury family hauler is a huge oversight by Volvo. Most of your bad and ugly points seemed forced in an effort to fault the XC90. No vehicle is without its flaws, but complaining about the interior color....c'mon now.

[crabbyhayes]

I have had my XC90 since 2016, and I really like it. It is really big though. So for around town I really like my Hyundai Tucson. I also agree with most of what you have said - including electronic gremlins. However, my display does not run hot. It sounds like you have a bad one. With all the tech and features, it is easy to understand why it didn't get a great maintenance/reliability rating. Other than some of the things you pointed out, mine required new rear brake pads and rotors at about 30, 000 miles. That seems way too soon, but I understand the adaptive cruise relies heavily on them. I guess magic always comes at a price.

[AeroFix]

fix your mic.... not the first this happens man!

[tfwang]

Volvo options are actually much cheaper than e.g. Audi, MB.

[nykka]

You can push the second row seat back to have a better fit for your car seat.

[wenkaijiang]

There’s no need to worry about Geely. Geely even won the London black cab! And the new hybrid London black cab’s interior is based on a Volvo.

[rwhunt]

Worrying about 200, 000 to 400, 000 miles is laughable. Geely seems to be just a holding company, they let them (Volvo) go and they are being successful, so that's great. Most real problems like the electronics and the hot screens will fail before the 5 year warranty runs out. It does need to be watched though.

[hakeemshabazz]

Thanks I need to hear this I live in West Palm Beach so the heat that well hit the screen scar me

[cbisjr]

Comparing to a Honda CRV is not realistic. Also there’s a reason why Volvo offers longer warranty. They’ve been known to break down prior to 3yrs.

[rtpatrickify]

I buy Japanese cars...they are highly reliable.

I keep them for at least 10 years and/or 200k miles. Would this be a good choice?

[ourpetsheadsarefallingoff]

dont understand why volvo made the engine 4 cylinder turbo charged and supercharged but still does not get that much more better mileage compared to other suv so what is the point ? wonder how that engine will last years from now specifically the turbos

[klaspeppar]

Man i hate that engine cover.
I defentliy agree with the electrical gremlen thing, the XC90 has a lot what we in Sweden call "barn sjukdomar" as most new models have.
As far as i know Geely has been great and let Volvo be Volvo in a way that Ford did not, and i both think and hope that that will not change.

[leafqi]

The mpg is a joke, I’ve owned for half year, never above 18mpg, the safety techs are really good though