We rented volvo xc70 2005 for a week and put a little less than 2000 miles.
I do not own this car, but I would like to give my impressions from being in it for a whole week.
The initial impression of the car is good. It is comfortable and has tons of gadgets. For my taste, it is seriously over-engineered as some of these gadgets seem to be of questionable use, like 3-level A/C.
The car is roomy. We had 2 kids and a LOT of stuff in it and we never felt cramped. It was comfortable on long drives, and quiet even at freeway speeds. However, after a week I have noticed a lot of reasons why I will not buy this car, especially for the price it is selling. Here are my reasons.
1) The car feels unstable both at high and low speeds. My wife was actually a little queasy from constant wobbling which appeared if the road was not perfectly level.
2) The car's handling was an absolute disaster. On curvy mountain roads (no four wheel driving, just a highway through the mountains) the car swings left and right making passengers uneasy. It is not balanced well and feels dangerously unstable when breaking. You might say I can get used to it, but when I compare this car to my old BMW 320i from 1981 or even a heavy diesel mercedes 300D from 78, this volvo is a clear looser in the handling part. Do not buy it as a sportwagon no matter what salesmen say! In this car, you can go straight reasonably fast but you have to slow way down when taking corners.
3) The trim inside the car is somewhat disappointing. Ugly stiches on the seats, cheap-looking plastic hoses under the seat as a/c outlets, flimsy buttons (and a lot of them) make me wonder how high is volvo's commitment to quality when it is owned by Ford now.
In short: this car is slightly more comfortable and roomier than Ford Taurus but essentially a glorified copy of a basic Ford Wagon.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): Rented
Condition: New Model Year: 2005 Model and Options: Volvo XC 70
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