During this trip our expectations to the car were fully met.
On Autobahn in Germany in Austria and partly autostrada in Italy the ACC and Pilot Assist helped a lot to give a more relaxed drive. Especially the ACC was very good during the often very long stretches in Germany with road work.
On the Autobahn we shortly tried to follow the Mercedes and Audi car up to 160 km/h (100 mph). No problem, the ACC and PA worked fine, and the noise level in the car was low. This is my personal record, and my wife didn’t complain
Most of the time cruising at 130 km/h (80 mph) and overtaking the large number of lorries normally was smooth, after indication a lane shift the car automatic accelerates passing the lorry. Strangely, the BLIS in right side didn’t work when passing a lorry. I wonder why.
In contrast to the Autobahn we drove into the center of Florence (we had apartment and parking reservation). My best advice: Don’t do it, the streets are extremely narrow with speeding scooters and tourists walking stunned all over. In one occasion the navigator led us into a one way street, which at the end was blocked by road work. We had to reverse out with all alarms howling due to the limited space. Twice the emergency brake was activated probably because a pedestrian crossed the narrow street close to car.
Of course especially the 360o cameras were a great help, but I wish all the acoustic warnings can be disabled in this situation.
The traffic in Italy is crazy, tailing is obviously a favorite sport. Speed limits were often confusing marked and obviously only guidelines, and many minor roads were in a bad condition. (But we did have a wonderful time in Toscana!).
On the way home we took the trip over the Stelvio Pass 2757 meters (3015 yards). No problem due to the automatic transmission and the T5 engine. The pass has 48 very narrow hairpin bends on the north side. The pass is a favorite challenge for bicyclists and motorcyclists. Being overtaken both uphill and downhill by motorcyclists were normal, by being overtaken by a bicyclist downhill was a surprise.
Going up the pass the petrol consumption was 20 l/100 km (14 mpg)!! Going downhill I tried the manual gearshift, but there were hardly with any difference. It might only be necessary with a heavy trailer.
The overall consumption for the entie trip was 7,9l/100 km (35,8 mpg).
The Sensus Navigation performed flawless in Germany and Austria, but in Italy the basic map obvious has many deficiencies. Of the options “normal, eco, nature” the last one “nature” was a disaster in Italy. The voice commands often were not in sync with the map, so don’t listen when she sais “turn right now”, when there are a deep gorge to the right.
In Germany the navigation even suggested alternative routes based on the traffic radio messages leading us from traffic jams around Berlin and Munich.
After the ferry from Denmark there were two SMS messages from Volvo On Call telling that the alarm had been activated, so on the way home we remembered to choose “Minimum Alarm”.
Well, but now we are getting used to the car, and fortunately we have not been disappointed. Now we are home with good memories and lots of Italian red wine, cheese and a 22 lbs Parma ham.
