2015 VOLVO S80

Awesome car - Technology needs improvement

Comfort Rating: 5 Performance Rating: 4 Interior Rating: 5 Reliability Rating: 5 Safety Rating: 5 Technology Rating: 3 Value Rating: 4

Joel H's review was spot on. The 2015.5 Platinum Drive-E is awesome. The gas mileage is impressive - I got as much as 38.5 mpg on the highway. City mileage generally is not near the EPA estimate of 25 - more like 19. It is a very understated car - most people do not realize what an exceptional car it is - great ride and comfort. The folding rear seats give you additional room when you need to move something. The headlights are absolutely awesome! - They are very bright and turn as you turn the vehicle. I can attest to the fact that it is a safe car. I was in a major accident and my S80 was totaled (not my fault - another guy ran a red light). It did exactly what it was supposed to do - side curtain airbags deployed but the front ones did not (since by then my speed was reduced when I hit a pole). I am glad the front air bags did not go off when they did not have to - my head never hit the steering wheel. Even though the front-end of the car sustained substantial damage, the air bags did not go off when they didn't need to. My only major complaint about the car was the Volvo On Call App. It was one of the main reasons I bought the car - ability to remote start, send destinations from smart phone to GPS, etc. But the connectivity and Volvo support was not very good. Even though reliability was only around 60-70%, I needed it for the remote start. Prior to the accident I renewed my Volvo On Call for 54 months. I paid $600 for 54 months. After the accident, I realized I had 48 months left on the service that I would not be able to use. I called Volvo to get a refund of the remaining time since I obviously would not be able to use the service since the car was totaled. Volvo said too bad - we have your $600 and are going to keep it even though we know we can't provide you the service. So as a word of CAUTION, it may be tempting to renew for a longer period of time because $11.11 per month (for 54 months) is more reasonable than $16.67 per month (1 year renewal). However, if anything happens to your car, you could be out a lot of money. It basically cost me $100 per month for the service (used 6 of the 54 months). Not worth $16.67 per month for the service and absolutely not worth $100 per month!! Also, as I understand it, if you sell the car, it is not transferable and the new owner will have to buy the same service again. So not good if you think you might sell the car. Just something to consider should you decide to renew. I was extremely disappointed in Volvo's response to my request for a refund. I will never ever make that mistake again! I have another car (different manufacturer) with a similar app and it is substantially more reliable and substantially less expensive. So I know there are manufacturers out there that have Apps that work well.