Potential purchaser - bit scared off by IT issues

Faults and Technical chat for the Volvo XC40
ThreeGraces
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Feb 10, 2020 10:12 am

Post by ThreeGraces »

Hello everyone, new member here.

I'm thinking of getting rid of my very basic, but very trouble free Yaris for a cx40, but a bit scared off by reading about engine managment system issues and messages like "engine not working properly" etc. As I'm 20 miles from the nearest Volvo garage, I can't just pop in to get it sorted, let alone if I were out in the wilds.

Is this something to be concerned about, bearing in mind I'm neither a mechanic nor a techie, and in life tend towards 'keep it simple, stupid'? Do such issues render a car undriveable and beyond a local garage or AA to fix?

I've got visions of being stuck immobile miles from anywhere followed by vast expense to put right! Not what one expects from a Volvo.

vpw
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Jul 30, 2019 2:35 pm

Post by vpw »

Hi there. I have never heard about such issues until I read it here. It is an overall problem of modern cars. I experienced such message when my VW Passat lost its alternator. No way to run the engine nor to unlock the car. The only way was to tow it to a garage. It might happen to any car which is not dacia or lada. I was on toyota rav4 ride when considered that car and it stopped in a middle of test drive with locked CVT at 100 km/h. It was now way to move it away from the main road nor to start the engine again. I was just happy that it happened on low traffic and has never entered Toyota garage again since that day.
MY20 momentum pro t3 automat fwd white + lights + winter + versatility + driver assist + park assist + climate +
DarrenF
Posts: 274
Joined: Tue Jul 16, 2019 4:50 pm

Post by DarrenF »

You have to remember you are seeing the problems of all the cars sold rather than the positive thoughts of the people who have had trouble free motoring. So far in nearly 3 months I had one issue - the sensus turned off on a journey (still had dials and navigation working. On investigation it was because I had started off the upgrade as I left - it should have restarted and worked but needed to be turned off and back up to fully load.

Some of the problems are real issues but also some (like mine) were people not reading the 100+ instruction booklet.

The car is amazing and I have had the safety features active twice already (driving in London you realise how many idiots are on the road) and once when someone (wearing headphones and not looking) stepped behind my car as I was reversing. So I suggest you give it a test drive and see what you think.
XC40 T5 R-Design Pro in Bursting Blue with Convenience, Intellisafe Pro, Winter Plus and Xenium Packs and a few other bits. Ordered July'19 picked up end of Nov'19.
ciuncky
Posts: 205
Joined: Thu Jul 04, 2019 2:46 pm

Post by ciuncky »

As others have said, you're seeing mainly issues especially considering you went on the Faults & Technical side of the forum.

I'd say pretty much all cars today are deemed to have 1 or 2 issues over their lifetime, especially as they rely more and more on computers. I wish you'll never have the joy of seeing your dashboard turn into an Xmas tree with all lights on or blinking, while you're doing 78 on the highway - it happened on my Mazda 3, and i had to throw away the pants i was wearing that day :).

That said, you don't need to be a techie really - many of them are small errors that will be sorted by the car itself after the usual "have you tried turning it off and on again?". The bigger issues will be for the mechanic, but as i said, it might as well happen on *any* car you buy.
ThreeGraces
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Feb 10, 2020 10:12 am

Post by ThreeGraces »

Thanks all for the replies.

Like you say, pretty much all cars are computer controlled now, and you only hear of the problems not the 99.999% of issue-free driving.

And to be honest, if something mechanical went wrong with my old jalopy I'd have no idea what to do anyway! :oops:
DarrenF
Posts: 274
Joined: Tue Jul 16, 2019 4:50 pm

Post by DarrenF »

ThreeGraces wrote: Mon Feb 10, 2020 3:45 pm And to be honest, if something mechanical went wrong with my old jalopy I'd have no idea what to do anyway! :oops:
In the old days (mk 1 fiesta) I liked being about to do the service myself, fix minor issues including changing the rocker bar after it snapped on me when pulling out of junction. Going to the breakers yard and buying the bits you needed for a few ££ - the good old days.

I would have trouble finding the spark plugs on a modern engine never mind changing them. But with change comes a whole host of safety features that could save your life and make the daily commute 100 times easier than managing an old car with its peculiar habits. (god bless auto chokes!)
XC40 T5 R-Design Pro in Bursting Blue with Convenience, Intellisafe Pro, Winter Plus and Xenium Packs and a few other bits. Ordered July'19 picked up end of Nov'19.
ThreeGraces
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Feb 10, 2020 10:12 am

Post by ThreeGraces »

Well, if all else fails, we can always try the good old 'switch it off and switch it on again' technique!

Not sure how that pans out doing 80 on the motorway though....
gt40
Posts: 116
Joined: Mon Jun 17, 2019 11:23 am

Post by gt40 »

As a software engineer my view is that good hardware manufacturers (cars, TVs, cameras, computers, phones etc.) are all rubbish at software, and vice versa. Apple are probably the exception that proves this rule.

Volvo's software would never pass my UX or QA tests, but I don't think it's a showstopper and it shouldn't put you off your purchase. It may even improve over time!
T4 R Design FWD in Thunder Grey, with Intellisafe Pro, Winter & Convenience packs plus a few bits & pieces - arrived Sept '19
Deleted User 2484

Post by Deleted User 2484 »

Just my personal experience so far...
I've had my XC40 for 4 months and covered 2,000 miles.

Software wise the car has warned me of brake failure and told me to pull over safe. It then locked on the handbrake. It then cleared itself after the usual computer switch off and on. All on a busy dual carriageway at night !!

It often informs me that the PAS system has temporarily stopped working.

It often brakes heavily when rounding corners, seemingly thinking that a car is going to run into me when in fact it's just going around the same corner in the opposite direction.

It often, until I turned it off, mistakenly tries to switch lanes on the motorway when it thinks that the blacked out lane markings, due to maintenance works, are real lane markings.

I intend to sell the car shortly and buy something less software driven.
ThreeGraces
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Feb 10, 2020 10:12 am

Post by ThreeGraces »

That's exactly what I'm worried about,Oldface.

My old Yaris has given me 12 years of trouble free driving -a couple of sets of tyres, exhausts and batteries and £600 a year for tax, MOT, service, insure/breakdown cover. I'll be spending a lot more - which I don't mind, I'm about to retire and happy to move up to a nicer car- but I don't want to be spending more to be giving myself a lot more hassle as well.

Do you mind me asking what 'less software driven' cars are you looking at?
Post Reply