[CalAcacian]

The chip shortage hit home for me a second time last week. My dad is looking to replace his XC90 T8 which has now been lemon law'ed for an unfixable hybrid system, and get back into a CLA 45 which is what he drove before a dealership employee took it on a joy ride and totaled his 2014 back in 2018.

We put in an order for a late 2021 build slot, but were unable to get a confirmed build spot with the driver assistance package which includes radar cruise control, collision warning, and the rear end prevention package (actually a very interesting system that detects incoming rear-end collisions and flashes the rear lights to alert the driver while also applying the brakes to prevent roll forward after the impact, pre-tensioning the seatbelts, and then playing a pink noise just prior to impact to lessen hearing damage in the impact). The 2022 build slots just opened up for our dealer last week, and there are still not DAP builds available. Looks like we will be several months to secure a build with that package.

The one bright side is that we decided to get a 3000gt VR-4 as an interim car for him for a year. My first car was a caracas red 3000gt DOHC which he passed down to me, so this is a great little bit of nostalgia.

[Biginboca]

Originally Posted by CalAcacian

My dad is looking to replace his XC90 T8...We put in an order... we decided...

This aspect of your post was kind of confusing to me... Do you and your dad share a car?

[IllSic_Design]

Originally Posted by CalAcacian

The one bright side is that we decided to get a 3000gt VR-4 as an interim car for him for a year. My first car was a caracas red 3000gt DOHC which he passed down to me, so this is a great little bit of nostalgia.

Interesting that while waiting you/he decided to get a 3000gt vr4? Those things are money pits and probably worse on maintenance/etc than N54's, hope its well sorted?

[CalAcacian]

Originally Posted by Biginboca

This aspect of your post was kind of confusing to me... Do you and your dad share a car?

No, we don't share the cars, but I manage most of the car decisions and purchases in the family.

I've got the M2, he has the XC90 T8. Now he'll be moving to the 3000gt before the CLA 45.

[CalAcacian]

Originally Posted by IllSic_Design

Interesting that while waiting you/he decided to get a 3000gt vr4? Those things are money pits and probably worse on maintenance/etc than N54's, hope its well sorted?

Since this is basically a one-year or shorter lease, we're selecting between a selection of a few very well maintained and low mileage examples that we will just sell when the CLA 45 comes in. Even if we lose 5-8 grand on maintenance and sale price it's still cheaper than just leasing a car for that time.

[SteveinArizona]

Originally Posted by CalAcacian

No, we don't share the cars, but I manage most of the car decisions and purchases in the family.

I've got the M2, he has the XC90 T8. Now he'll be moving to the 3000gt before the CLA 45.

I don't want to steal the thread but I am curious about the problem with the hybrid XC90 T8. I cross shopped an XC60 T8 against the BMW 530e (I know, SUV vs. sedan). I selected the BMW because I thought it rode better despite having less HP.

Is the problem with the hybrid just your dad's or is there a systemic hybrid problem with Volvos?

Thanks.

Steve

[CalAcacian]

Originally Posted by SteveinArizona

I don't want to steal the thread but I am curious about the problem with the hybrid XC90 T8. I cross shopped an XC60 T8 against the BMW 530e (I know, SUV vs. sedan). I selected the BMW because I thought it rode better despite having less HP.

Is the problem with the hybrid just your dad's or is there a systemic hybrid problem with Volvos?

Thanks.

Steve

Not a problem, it's a an issue I'm happy to discuss in detail.

It appears to be an endemic issue with the XC90 T8's, unfortunately. Our car was unfortunately error prone from the start, our first visit to the repair facility was at only 11 miles, for a CEL. The car went in 4 times for a CEL over the next few 4 months, each time they claimed it was due to "ghost codes" which did not actually indicate a fault in a system. They reflashed the software multiple times, to no avail. Ultimately, we told them to open a direct line to Sweden to get information on the problems because we were very unhappy just driving around with an intermittent CEL that would go away and come back seemingly randomly.

On the fourth visit, the car went in for the same issues and they replaced the entire ERAD (electric rear axle drive) which is the hybrid motor mounted on the rear of the car. That was about $15,000 in parts alone, but all under warranty.

That began a new series of issues, where the car would be started in the default hybrid mode, be put in reverse to get out of the driveway and leave initially on the electric motor as it should, but then stutter and lurch back before firing the gas engine. This happened repeatedly and was very concerning. The repair facility tried reflashing the software multiple times but never got this to go away.

Throughout the course of the year, the car also had one instance of the SRS system fail light coming on and the sunroof stopped working. Both were fixed in one visit and did not reappear.

The car has now been in the shop for over 70 days in the first year and 8,000 miles of ownership. We requested a buyback from Volvo and were approved.

This is just not acceptable for an $80,0000 car with options and contract.

If you do some digging online, you will find that our car is not alone in having these kinds of issues with the hybrid system.

Some counterpoints:

1. The car, when working properly, was a great vehicle. My dad could drive it to the office and back on pure electricity and charge it overnight on our home 220 volt socket which we had installed and essentially never use gas for daily commutes.

2. The power at 400 hp and 472 lb/ft was plenty for an SUV, and it had good pickup.

3. The range of the car was incredible, I could drive from south orange county to big bear and back and still have about 200 miles of range left, and it would recharge almost the entire battery on the way down.

4. The sound of the supercharger was awesome. In "Power" mode, you could hear both the supercharger whine on throttle and the recirc on liftoff.

Basically, the actual driving of the car was great for an SUV. But the reliability problems we had were completely inexcusable for a car like this and gave me serious pause about resale value and ownership post-warranty.