V60 & V90 to return to the UK 🎉

[Whippy]

Car makers don't make cars for practicality, they make cars that they think people want to buy. It's all form over function.

See also "let's stick a ferkin big touchscreen on the dash, no-one wants switches these days".

[george57l]

Originally Posted by Sergeant Grumpy

Not sure what V90 you have looked at with the rear seats down, but my 2022 model goes completely flat from back to front with the seats down, and even with the raked rear window, is more than ample for load lugging when required.

I looked at a showroom V90 about a year or more ago and its rear seats fold down 'flat', but they still sloped slightly. Flat is a sometimes loosely used term - they were absolutely not level. Unless Volvo has done a redesign I'd be surprised if the latest model is any different. From what I could make out it seemed to be a generic problem across the Volvos based on that platform.

One person's 'ample' is another person's 'insufficient'. I sometimes have to carry some bulky, tall squarish items and in a V70 or XC70 I can get them in with the rear seats up, barely an inch or three from the bottom of the tailgate. In the V90 I suspect I'd have to have the rear seats down because they would have to be pushed several inches forward to avoid touching the tailgate glass.

[poisondart]

Originally Posted by Moose Test

Isn't it just?

To each their own and maybe it's just that I'm getting older but no, the V90 doesn't put the smile on my face that the V70 or XC70 (or indeed, their venerable ancestors) did and still do.

If you took the Volvo badge off the front of the V90 I'd suspect it was something out of the JLR or Mazda stables.

Agree completely.

Out driving I will see SUV after SUV, Kia after Kia, Golf after Golf, Audi after Audi, Beemer after Beemer.

Will I see another mid-noughties XC70? Perhaps once a month.

Great for dogs and stuff, and it's not the end of the world if she gets a scuff or a ding.

[poisondart]

Spotted this

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cars/vol...o-estate-cars/

Never driven any of them haha.

I wonder, those of you who have driven them, which is the best?

[george57l]

Sadly, that article is behind a paywall. I'm certainly not going to give the Torygraph any money just to read it. Anyone care to provide the list of six?

[poisondart]

Originally Posted by george57l

Sadly, that article is behind a paywall. I'm certainly not going to give the Torygraph any money just to read it. Anyone care to provide the list of six?

Oh yes right enough, I forget I have a paywall remover on my browser.

Use this link:

https://archive.is/20240625130318/ht...o-estate-cars/

[Tannaton]

Originally Posted by george57l

Completely agree.

And I'll repeat my oft-uttered rant. The V60 and V90 are not proper estate cars. Dog-leg tailgate preventing loading to the roof at the rear and no level platform all the way to the front seats when the rear seats are down - they fold down at an angle many degrees short of level.

The Mk1 V60 was never claimed or marketed as an estate car by Volvo - they called it a "Sport Wagon" aimed at people with bulky hobbies rather than antique dealers.

[george57l]

Originally Posted by poisondart

Use this link:

Thanks for that.

Six of the best and no V70?
(850 does not count!)

And it chooses 140 over 240 estates.

The Torygraph demonstrates, yet again, why nothing it publishes can be trusted. ;-)

[baggy798]

The V60 isn't that bad, as close as you're going to get to a flat back in a modern car.



Both the V60/90 are not that much smaller in boot space compared to an XC70 either.