A cousin who made good and likes top-of-the-line Volvos claims there is nothing on the car that does not cost $1,000!
He is also a serious gearhead who has built a few project cars in his garage from the frame up.
The idiot light on his XC90 came on... The dealer will pick it up and drop it off, but he took a look. It was a switch on the seatbelt; it should be a nothing burger.$800 plus.
The car was only a couple of weeks old, and warranty work. Dealer warranty work is always pricey. And more so at Volvo.
The cars have gotten way too expensive to fix and they are built not to last. So much for technology making these things cheaper and better.
I remember working on my first used car. A 1971 AMC Gremlin. Each subsequent car became more and more of a hassle to work on.
If he is a gearhead, why would he buy a Volvo no matter how well he made it? That makes no sense.
Ineos Grenadier. Barely has a computer.
Robust ladder frame. Coil over shock suspension.
Simple engine.
Built like a tank. Designed for 250,000 miles.
Car reviewers hate it.
I have a friend who was a service manager at a GM dealership. About 10 years ago he said it cost 1800 bucks to replace the headlights on a Cadillac. You have to take half the car apart to get at them. If you want to replace the starter, which used to be a simple task, you need to take the engine apart because it is inside it.
We surpassed peak stupidity with vehicles years ago. All this “hyper-connectivity” has to do with CAFE and NTSB rule making turning cars into junk.
My wife wanted to buy an Audi. I started looking at reviews on the model she wanted. One fellow wrote that his engine seized up at 9000 miles and Audi refused to warranty it.
Nothing doing there. Bought an 2015 Acura instead.
It has not been in the shop yet except for oil changes.
I rented an Audi recently. Was a nice drive. Great for what I needed. It was self driving. It turned for me, braked It was horrific
My idea of driving is a 1968 VW bug 4 on the floor or my dads boat 7 mpg 10975 Lincoln continebtal. Sound system. AC. V8? Nice speed and pick up
I can manage a seat belt (dad made us wear seat belts even back when you had to dig them from the seat cushions and the overreaching govt didn’t care) I can back up the car, can parallel park in Greenwich village on a Saturday can manage to do all this and survive
I like safety features, air bags, hate getting beeped to seat belt lock to together mail (in 105 heat).
Self driving. What is this?
I had a Tucson with the tire sensors . When I drove around for days with a slo leak tire the warning was invariably on the whole time. Eventually plugged the tire myself. End of problem.
I have a 2012 Toyota Tacoma. It has about 5 or 6 idiot lights in the dash on all the time. These lights include the check engine light, TPMS, ABS and other BS. The dealer mechanics cannot get the lights to turn off. It’s a bunch of crap.
Yep..Wife’s first 2023 XC40 was f’n nightmare. Everything is run by a Google infotainment system which sucks on a good day. It would slam on the brakes with collision avoidance warnings and there’s nothing there. Slam on the brakes backing out of the garage.. nothing there. Infotainment would just go completely blank, no audio, maps nothing. Reset wouldn’t fix it but then out of nowhere it would start working again. Dealership were assholes. Manager tried to tell me how car computers work. I said I designed missile systems not the military..your archaic can bus BS came from people like me and our shxt works.
I could go on but after a BBB complaint, NHTSA case complaint and forwarding both ho Volvo corporate they gave us a new 2024 XC40 at no cost difference. I asked what they’d do with the 2023 and they said they’d sell it.
I said any sane person would send it back to the manufacturer, strip it down and find out what the problem is.
New one is a little better but still requires the doors locked for 90 minutes for a SW upgrade. POS.
Never again. I’ve stated before my classic 75 Vette I can rewire with 3 20’ extension cords and the AM/GM radio works fine.
Vehicle technology SUCKS. I’ll take an ATLAS to gps any day and if you need a camera to back up you shouldn’t be driving.
Ohhhhh how I used to loooove working on my cars. Distributors, timing, dwell, points, gaps and gappers. Once you get used to the sounds of your own car, it was such a joy to make the engine purrrr.
One time, I was at the gas station and witnessed the insanity of computerized automobiles. A very elderly woman was pumping gas onto the cement. Her gas tank was full. I asked if I could assist. She said pleeeeasse. Her car was a brand new Cadillac Eldorado. It even still had the new car smell. I asked if I could sit down in the driver’s seat. The lady was putting more gasoline in because the computer told her to do it. I stated something close to: “Ma’am, you obviously just purchased the car. Take it back, and if they do not fix it, or replace it, scream bloody hell on the showroom floor.”
We have a Toyota Highlander we take for service in Bend Oregon. It has well over 100,000 miles and we have always gone to the dealership for maintenance. I certainly cannot understand what is under the hood like I could the Ford F-250 I used to have. A while back there was a terrible noise by one of the wheels and we had it towed to the dealership. They fixed the problem at no cost, because they made the decision it possibly related to a recent scheduled maintenance they had made. The repair would have been really expensive otherwise. I hope we can buy our next car from them.
Taught my wife how to plug tires (even sidewalls). I use the drill method and I keep a drill and plugs and an air compressor in both our trucks.
My wife bought a new 72 Dodge Demon 225 six, Holly one barrel when she was 17.
Drove it daily for 35 years to work, sold it to a collector with 179k on the engine. She’s now still driving her second car (bought new) a 2007 Sonata with 110K on it.
We believe in buying a good car, taking care of it, and driving it as long as it can be driven.
My daughter bought a used 2006 Sonata in 2008. She is still driving it daily to work. She dislikes over featured cars so I said make it last because that’s all you can get now.
I’m still driving my 2004 Sonata bought new.
I’m hoping when the world goes Mad Max that the electronics will be omitted from the upgrades.
Just need the armor plates.
Fun rig that pulls the car trailer nice...
Vehicle (computer on wheels) is a slave to the Manufacturer. Same for most computing devices used by civilians.
Most of that, involves Windows OS tech. training that is unaware of “outside the box.”
A lot of trouble is caused by using Wi-Fi connections somewhere between vehicle (and/or between the maintenance laptop computer used by the dealership) . . . and the wired network. Sometimes because, nobody will “run the 50 ft Ethernet cable from that network switch to the laptop over there, that is plugged into the truck’s system.”
Holy crap! —> “When a nail punctures a tire, it doesn’t just trigger the tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS). In modern cars, particularly high-tech vehicles like Audis, a single low-pressure reading ripples through interconnected safety systems. Wheel-speed sensors used by the anti-lock braking system (ABS) and electronic stability control feed tire pressure data throughout the car. If one tire spins faster due to low pressure, the ABS control computer registers it as under-inflation. It can trigger faults in stability control, traction control, adaptive cruise, and even parking brake modules.”
My son manages a tire store and they routinely fix flats for free. Quick in and out jobs. Builds great customer goodwill in town.
I sent him this article. Thanks for posting it. I’ll see if he’s heard of this incredible complexity on high-end cars.