2013 Volvo XC60

Safe car with exceptional handling

By Uwe (CA) on Tuesday, April 02, 2013

I own this car - My approximate mileage is 32,000

Pros: "Good value, exceptional handling"

Cons: "Nothing major"

Likely to recommend this car? (1-10): 10

"We bought the XC60 3.2 (no turbo, 2WD) as a commuter car for my wife's 50+ mile commute. Main reason was safety. Volvo's always had the reputation for being safe and looking bad - this one actually looks good too. We got a 60.000 mls free maintenance and repairs and that means we don't pay anything - even wiper blades are free. There are two issues with the car: the software has a few glitches and it took the dealer a few visits to finally make it work properly. All the glitches were minor, i.e. it wouldn't beep when locking. The second issue is really bad design on the seatbelts in the front. The angle of the slot where the seatbelt goes in is off, thus kinking the belt and sometimes not really rolling it up properly. Also minor, but it's odd to see such a flaw on an otherwise well designed car. That all said, if you want a vehicle you can pull off the road onto a soft gravel shoulder at 70 mph and have no problem controlling the car, the XC60 is the car to go. I had to do that on I5 when someone pushed me off the road and I would be in the hospital if not dead had I driven our second car (ford escape). The chassis is incredibly stiff for an SUV - it's more like a porsche or other high end sportscar. So don't wonder when your inner rear wheel lifts off when you pull into an elevated driveway. The stiff chassis gives you exceptional handling in corners and emergencies. The mileage is pretty good for a car that weight. We average close to 26 mpg with around 80/20 highway to city. It's a safe fun car to drive and for the price it outperforms pretty much all of it's more expensive competitors."

3 people out of 3 found this review helpful

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Transmossion problems

By tpohil80 (IL) on Monday, March 25, 2013

I owned and sold this car
Reason: Transmission problems - My approximate mileage is 12,000

Pros: "It's a beautiful car very luxurious."

Cons: "Transmission problems, terrible GPS"

Likely to recommend this car? (1-10): 1

"After a week of driving the XC60, I noticed a problem with the transmission, a hesitation when accelerating from a complete stop/speeding up to pass etc. Like driving manual transmission in the wrong gear. Took it for service repetedly. Volvo wouldn't admit a problem and told me to use premium fuel. One mechanic said it's a 5000lb car you have to gun it (!!). Finally they said they knew what was wrong and to wait for a software update, that took 6 months. It helped but the problem was still there. Volvo went back to saying there was nothing wrong with the car. After a year, I had had it and asked how much they would give me for the car to end this, Carmax gave me more. The GPS stinks too. I didn't have the time or energy to persue the lemon law."

4 people out of 6 found this review helpful

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