Vibrations @55-80mph

Faults and Technical chat for the Volvo XC40
Elvo57
Posts: 39
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2019 5:14 pm

Post by Elvo57 »

Sorry Guys…

After another sleepless night, the XC40 has gone.

Monday, the dealership manager re-confirmed his and Volvo’s position… i.e, no support from VCUK if you want to leave the brand, and that the dealership ‘buy back’ offer, was his final one. His other advice was to try ‘We Buy Any Car’, because they were offering £3,000 more than he could stand. After the initial anger/indignation, the next day we decided to take his advice, and so yesterday the car was sold. Any qualms about selling the car, being allayed by the fact that it was his suggestion (a senior motor trader in full understanding of the situation), and of course the new buyer would still have the remainder of Volvo’s fantastic warranty and support available to them. Also, I suspect there are many many XC40 owner/drivers out there, not at all aware/bothered by the vibration.

Unfortunately @ leveragedbete, we do not have a ‘Lemon Law’ in the UK, but if anyone follows the links on the Volvo UK site to the Motor Ombudsman, they explain the situation. UK law entitles you to a full refund up to six months old (wish I had known at the time), and after that, it is reduced by wear and tear calculations (determined by the seller, it would appear).

I did recently raise a case with the Motor Ombudsman (TPO), but I’m now thinking I’ve had enough with the whole situation, and will probably close it off. Also, the case had to be raised against the dealership, when in actual fact all of the issues are attributable to Volvo UK. Hence, I’m thinking a long letter to Volvo Cars ‘top brass’, is going to be my final action.

On a more positive note, over 16 months, the depreciation on our First Edition has only been £3,600. Not bad at all, that is assuming you ignore all the grief we have had to endure in that time.

So finally, I hope that at least somebody has gained from my experience shared on this forum, but I’m now going to join the increasing numbers of owners (including ricvanbeek who started this thread), who have left the Volvo brand in frustration and with immense disappointment.

Good luck to you all!

Steve

Ex…. XC40 | First Edition | D4 AWD | Bursting Blue | 19" Continental Premium Contact 6 tyres | Ordered 14/03/18 | Delivered 11th October 2018 | UK.

ChrisLF
Posts: 1346
Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2019 8:21 am
Location: Heart of England

Post by ChrisLF »

Thanks for the update. As you say, financially you have come out of it pretty well, I thought it was going to be bad news.

But where are you going to go now? One of the reasons I came to Volvo was to get away from VW Group cars. Fortunately my car doesn't suffer with the vibration (I'd notice it if it did!) and so far it's lived up to expectations and is a joy to own and drive.

All the best for your replacement and do let us know what you choose.

Chris
2023 B4 Plus Dark FWD in Silver Dawn. Tinted Rear Windows. Spare Wheel & Tow Bar dealer fitted.

Gone - 2019 T4 R-Design FWD in Bursting Blue. Winter & Convenience Packs, Power Seat, Front Park Assist, Rear Camera, Spare Wheel & Tow Bar.
Elvo57
Posts: 39
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2019 5:14 pm

Post by Elvo57 »

Thank you for your interest ChrisLF, and the chance to finish on a lighter note!

We are currently running the Citigo, which to be honest, is nice to get back to basics and makes you ask yourself, was paying the premium for all that tech on the XC40 really necessary. Especially as it’s now being introduced on much cheaper cars as (almost) standard.

For the next car, we’ve decided to go electric…

Yes, we know all the arguments…

If you go faster than 4mph, you’ll get a nose bleed… hence a man with a flag required out front…
There’s nothing wrong with Black and White TV, as everyone knows Colour sets will give you headaches….
Those new-fangled mobile phones will rot your brains, and…
Who needs ‘smart phones’ anyway?

We have a Kia Soul EV First Edition on order, expected delivery sometime 2nd Quarter 2020 (not set in stone that we take it, but almost).

It’s already raking in car of the year awards around the world. 280 miles real range. Good fun to drive and mores the point, bags of character. 7-year (reportedly very good) warranty. 201ps FWD. Only 800 available in the UK first year. Equivalent of 470 electric miles, for the price of one gallon of diesel. Marmite box styling, making it a very usable car all round (and it’s the same money as the sold XC40).

I actually think the RWD, VW id3 could eventually be a better car, but certainly not in its planned First edition spec/form, and to me the E-tron and E Golf do not give me the greatest confidence in VAG’s current abilities to make an EV to challenge the well proven Hyundai Kias.

My only worry is that the petrol Kia Soul is the number 1 selling Kia in America (no offence intended), saying that, we were one of the first Skoda Yeti adopters, so that says a lot about us (and I owned a Smart Roadster for 11 years)!

Yes, the future is here, but probably a couple of years earlier than expected for us, thanks to Volvo UK’s intervention.

Steve

Ex…. XC40 | First Edition | D4 AWD | Bursting Blue | 19" Continental Premium Contact 6 tyres | Ordered 14/03/18 | Delivered 11th October 2018 | UK.
Kipper
Posts: 45
Joined: Tue May 21, 2019 7:47 pm

Post by Kipper »

I wonder if the next stage is to ramp up the situation to the motoring press, they love this sort of problem. As none of the road tests I've read even hint of a problem, it must be a production issue and Volvo's lack of interest / inability in dealing with the problem cannot be good publicity, always something that tends to get companies moving. I guess the small number of reports means it is not worth their effort.

Who knows.

Kipper
XC40 T4 Inscription Pro / Luminous Sand / Blond
ChrisLF
Posts: 1346
Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2019 8:21 am
Location: Heart of England

Post by ChrisLF »

Steve - interesting! In some ways I think it's good to be getting into electric early. As well as it being an emerging technology and therefore interesting and different you can enjoy the cheap "fuel" until the government have to find a way of replacing the lost duty on petrol and diesel. Also as long as you plan accordingly you shouldn't have a problem with getting sufficient charging which may be a real problem in the future if electric does become mainstream. Of course purchase prices are still relatively high though at the moment.

My BiL has embraced electric wholeheartedly with firstly an electric van for work and now a Tesla Model 3 - not the most attractive of cars and very plain inside but the performance is mind blowing - I cricked my kneck when he took me out in it!

As a former Yeti owner as well I can see the attraction of the Kia Soul.

Was away for a few days over the weekend with a friend who works in head office for a large dealer chain and he says that the after sales side of the business is going to be seriously affected when electric does take off because as we know they do pretty well from oil and filters etc. I'm guessing that purchase prices will have to be adjusted accordingly to reflect this.

Chris
2023 B4 Plus Dark FWD in Silver Dawn. Tinted Rear Windows. Spare Wheel & Tow Bar dealer fitted.

Gone - 2019 T4 R-Design FWD in Bursting Blue. Winter & Convenience Packs, Power Seat, Front Park Assist, Rear Camera, Spare Wheel & Tow Bar.
leveragedbeta
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Jan 30, 2020 7:18 pm

Post by leveragedbeta »

Surprised to hear Volvo were so belligerent. Noted with due caution.

As for the Kia I'd have thought being a "First Edition" owner of an XC40 would have put you off getting a brand new model off the line. It's manufacturer lingo for "beta tester", but good luck all the same. EVs and hybrids are not the future IMHO...
Deleted User 2525

Post by Deleted User 2525 »

Personally I think it's bad to get into electric early. I don't think it's there yet with relatively poor range, high price, not enough charging points, poor electrical infrastructure - cabling etc.

I'm looking forward to it, but it's not there yet.
Elvo57
Posts: 39
Joined: Mon Feb 18, 2019 5:14 pm

Post by Elvo57 »

Over 94 % of electric car owners say they would not go back to fossil fuels (and obviously, most of them are in older low range vehicles).

As for the charging infrastructure, personally, we are in the 60% of people in the UK with a drive, so we will be charging at home at 5p / KWH, and our (retired) life style means that the chance of us doing a 280 mile round trip is almost zero. To drag around an even bigger battery, just in case, really makes no sense, especially when all you need is an app on your phone to point you to a charging point (and the car does it anyway, on it's nav).

But yes, as I said previously, I would like to have given it a couple more years, especially as they envisage price parity electric/fossil cars will be achieved in about 4 to 5 years.

If you are seriously interested, there is plenty of eye-opening, and much more to the point, 'informed', content on YouTube... plus the usual 'flat earth' nutters of course!

Steve
Deleted User 2525

Post by Deleted User 2525 »

By charging infrastructure - cabling etc I was referring to the cabling in the street. The cables in the street are design primarily to supply street lighting, housing. Get a whole street, with drives, charging vehicles and you'll soon surpass the rated capacity of the cable.

Ok now I suppose for the early adopters but everyone can't charge at the same time if the uptake of EVs takes off.

There's got to be some serious digging up of roads to lay cable if that happens.

As a fellow retiree I'm going to Cornwall next week a journey of 350 miles or so. I applaud your move, it makes sense but not for me just yet. May go hybrid next time around.
Kipper
Posts: 45
Joined: Tue May 21, 2019 7:47 pm

Post by Kipper »

My wife's step Brother in law (is there such a thing?) is a senior test engineer and drives a Tesler model x or something, big car, £80k. He loves it and says it's just a matter of planning your trips. He journeys from Derby to Bristol from time to time a journey of some 240 miles or so (around that figure at any rate) and says that as one normally has to stop for a break these days, he just has a coffee while his Tesler uses a rapid charger, and because he was an early buyer, it is free.

But as usual, the devil is in the detail, he is one of a few. I recently stopped at Norton Cains on the M6 toll and although I did not count the cars there, it was full. Now connect all those up to a rapid charger, for even then it takes quite a while to charge up, and you will need an electricity sub-station to supply the car park and they will all need 20 min+ for a full charge not the 10 mins at a pump.

Go to visit friends and then after asking for their Wi Fi password, the next phrase will be "can I plug in to your charger?" that is of course, after they have finished with it.

So is it the future? Of course it is, but it is very early and until battery technology and charging technology is up to our motoring habits, then it will be fraught with problems.

That is what you get when the metropolitan elite make decisions based on their driving habits. What is more, the artificial timescales imposed are so unnecessary and will cause untold hardship to many people, there is no Armageddon with global warming, the planet will not melt with rising temperatures by the end of the Century if we carry on using Fossle fuels, so we need to approach the problem in a measured approach. However, with politicians whose only skill sets are advertising and legal bills, what else can you expect. I could go on and explain why I know different, but this is not the forum, however, I feel it is relevant to the subject of motoring. Whether it will fix my wobbly wheeled XC40 is another thing.

Kipper (now getting down from his soap box)
XC40 T4 Inscription Pro / Luminous Sand / Blond
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