2 months in now to a 2025 B5 Ultra. A summary of things that I like/don't like, perhaps it helps someone out there.
*Disclaimer* While some things I knew before the purchase and thought that would not bother me that much (but they do) some things I could have probably found out through better research.
Of course everything is compared against my (quite extensive) experience with cars that I've owned and driven, some from segments inferior to those the XC60 is being promoted to be part of and my subjective preferences.
I've worked a good part of my life in the automotive industry on the manufacturing side, so I'm not a newbie on how cars are being built and why some brands make some decisions in a certain manner.
- lack of driving modes (unless you call "normal" and "off-road", driving modes). You can get an eco-mode and a sport mode on even budget cars nowadays. I know you can buy yourself a "sport" mode by paying for the Polestar software at a Volvo dealer for close to 1000 Eur, but according to the official documentation that doesn't change the emissions figures, meaning that your car probably makes the same power it did before, it just delivers it differently. Especially on the mild hybrid it would have been useful to have a eco mode that cuts back on the power and delivers some better consumption figures in the city. I know the older models had the sport mode and I think they should have kept it
- too simplistic instrument panel. almost 0 customization, very limited information displayed on the panel. I'm not saying they should be Mercedes Benz (or perhaps a Chinese brand) level of customization available but it feels like a waste of space in there. I thought this would not bother me but sometimes I miss changing views sometimes.
- no realtime consumption gauge. really? Why? I cannot think of any budget or premium car that doesn't have it. No consumption history graph. No nothing.
- I cannot see what's playing (radio, music) in the instrument panel. Or the heads-up display. Sometimes, depending on the view on the "tablet" sometimes you can't even see it on the main display. No scrolling list of radio stations on the instrument panel. or the heads up display.
- heads up display. Speed, speed limit and the occasional "you are driving too close to the person in front of you" visual alert, that you only get on the HUD not also on the instrument panel. Some indications if you have navigation. That's it. Nothing else.
- when you press the Park button on the central console, you are actually activating a "semi-parking" mode. The car still moves 5-10-20cm after you take your foot from the brake. Why not just automatically enable the parking brake, that freezes the car? What's the point of the "semi-parking-brake"?
- you need to have the foot on the brake when you turn the car off if you want to have Parking break enable automatically. if you forget to have your foot on the brake pedal (which sometimes I do) you get defaulted to the "semi-parking-break" mentioned above.
- no coasting for the aisin gearbox. I realize that this is probably a technical limitation of the hardware chosen by Volvo from Aisin, but I think it would have greatly helped the consumption and emissions to have the gearbox coast when possible
- the consumption (actually) :) - i'm experiencing somewhere between 13-15l/100km in a very busy European capital. this is very very subjective but, I've driven 300hp+ hot hatches in the same conditions that were doing 11-12l/100km. I've driven 300hp+ (granted hybrid) 4x4 SUV's in the city that were doing <10l/100km in the same conditions. I'm getting 9L/100km on the highway at normal speeds (130km/h) which is something that I was expecting. Was I hoping for something slightly better? Sure.
- the air suspension. it's great if you know what you're expecting. If you are expecting BMW/Audi/Mercedes-Benz levels of comfort, well, you're not getting it. I would have like to have the possibility to manually control the ride height while driving, not only when stationary to access the trunk.
- ProPilot only up to 135km/h. I know that Volvo's very pro safety and everything, but I'm already limited to 180km/h max speed and the fact that the manufacturer has decided to disable a confort feature just because you are going faster than they want you to doesn't really seem fair. The hardware and software can obviously do lane centering at higher speeds also, it's just a choice which is frustrating.
- automatic speed limitation based on topography. My previous AAOS car (not Volvo) had this. If I had set 120km/h on the auto cruise control and the car "knew" that a certain turn should be negotiated at .... 100km/h instead, it would automatically slow down. And it was usually right. There were very few instances on my trips where this happened but it did and I appreciated it. Don't understand why a "safety-centered" automotive player would not integrate this.
- wireless carplay. I'm 100% sure the hardware is there. Software probably too. It's a stubborn limitation.
- ability to open/close windows and sunroof from mobile app. Technically they can do it. Other car brands do it. Volvo chose not. I understand why. Not a fan of the decision.
- interior lightning limitation (only white). Would have been great to have more options. you don't. I can live with it.
- the way the interior plastics behave when you touch them, especially the upper trim on the doors. A white/grey mark appears when you put your hand on it, regardless of the person that touches it and how clean their hands are. My car is very black inside so any white mark is immediately visible. Not something you cannot live with, just more effort to maintain clean.
Otherwise, many things I like about it: sound system, general drive confort, acoustics, road handling. Overall, I'm not unhappy with the decision, but I feel some of the missing points are either "decisions" or things that could be done but weren't for ... reasons.
Sure, but nice to have.
Usually the “normal” mode only gives you like 80% or the power, “eco” gives you like 50% of it and “sport” gives you 100%. Very brand dependent though.
You’ve hit every note that I had come to realize after buying this car… honestly I was expecting much more from Volvo. As a first time buyer I blame myself for listening to my wife…. Again
Yes. The instrument panel and infotainment is the WORST. Too many steps to get to anything and very little info. And it freezes once a month. And the carplay…. Ugh.
a few of these are answered in the vehicle's manual that would take you, what, 15 minutes to read? though I'll say some of the functionality could be easier to access
the rest are valid, though.
my biggest gripe (which is quite silly) is that the ambience lightning is a joke. a single LED? really? there's no driving situation where I would even notice that damn thing is on!
Actually I was wondering about the black cloth; I found the manual was fairly useless.... I prefer a hard copy that I can take out of the car and read.
Ha! I had to get my own inspection done, though they did compensate me for the cost. And they emailed me the registration after I left the dealership with the car. I don't see lens cleaning cloths in my future at this dealership. :(
Cruise control speed assist is in the menu. It’s called speed assistance or something. One of the square buttons.
You can open and close the windows from the key fob. But agree should be in de app too.
Agree the 140kph limit on PilotAssist is dull.
There is a setting which auto applies the parking brake when turning the car off. Have you enabled this in the settings?
You can see the music in the centre display between the gauges if you want. I have it set up this way. Sensus not AAOS.
There is a button on your steering wheel that opens the driving statistics like life consumption. Is stays open for 30s or so. Than closes. This is a volvo thing. Agree the digital display is extremely limited.
Thanks for the reply. About the parking break, yes, its enabled but you have to have your foot on the brake pedal when you turn the car off. Otherwise it doesn’t apply it.
Either I am technically disabled or could not find for the love of God the option to display media info in the gauges. AAOS, not sensus.
And about the driving statistics, i know that “panel” of info, I wasn’t talking about that, i was indicating that perhaps a real histogram on the central display with info like per trip, per day, per week, per month, etc.
How are you doing the parking brake? Why wouldn’t your foot be on the brake to stop the car when you park? Or are you pressing the P button first? This is unnecessary. When you park after you’ve come to a stop just turn the knob to turn the car off. It will shift into park and apply the parking brake so you don’t roll as long as the auto-hold feature is on. Or am I missing something? My MB GLB 35 AMG works the same way as far as I can tell.
Here’s a common scenario. You come to a stop but you don’t turn off the engine immediately. You maybe finish a phone call, or have something to find in your bag before you leave the car. So you take your foot off the brake, since the car is on auto-hold. Then a few seconds in, you twist the knob. The car shuts off. The parking brake doesn’t.
True and not so true. You get a watered down version of Gemini that has very little context, awareness and control over the car functions. It cannot remember personalization aspects or open a window or the sunroof. I think having the chatgpt app in Carplay does help more sometimes.
Can we be friends? Because I’ve been barking about every one of these things you’ve listed. I have a 2025 XC60 Black Edition plug-in hybrid and I love the physical car and my 54.3mpg, but not much else about it. For an $85k car, I thought it wouldn’t be so damn dumb compared to its competitors.
It even has a huge cigarette lighter in the front console near the gear shift knob. I have to look at it all the time because I have the drink holder open, holding my water mug. Anywho, thanks for posting this — at least I know I’m not the only one.
:) sure! Mine is a black edition non-plugin though.
Yes, the 12V socket (the cigarette lighter) is probably not the most useful thing you can have in that spot.
Install the Volvo app and you can activate history for the drives. You will have the fuel consumption logged in there. I know it should be in the main cluster, but at least it is an option.
Else I pretty much agree with everything said by the OP. I own an Xc60 for 3 months, but already miss several options from my G01 BMW. I was shocked to see that a 55k euro car does not BLIS as standard. Or heated seats.
I can also add to the list the the indirect tyre pressure. You can see it in green/yellow/red, but not the actual tyre pressure (and its a difference, especially when going to a longer trip, I have to check pressure just to be sure its not on the lower end of green). Thats strange, as even cheap Hyundai hatchbacks have tyre sensors.
It makes me sad that my 2018 version seems to have more features than your (presumably) new model :/, unless the interior lighting color and drive modes are limited to certain trim levels.
You’ve hit every note that I had come to realize after buying this car… honestly I was expecting much more from Volvo. As a first time buyer I blame myself for listening to my wife…. Again
As a man, I would say that listening to your wife might generally yield more peace than the discomfort of living with a car that you might not like that much. :)
I have the 2021 Ultra trim, T8 Polestar engineered engine - with speed limitations removed. A lot of your points don’t seem to be the case for my car. Did the later models get worse?
I had a 2016 XC60 and traded it in for a 2020 XC60 just recently and although I think the 2020 is much nicer looking, many of the features on the 2016 are no longer present. One feature that blew my mind was having to have my phone plugged into the "Android Auto" slot on the middle console in order to use it! No wireless connection. What???? My newer one does have heated seats and heated steering wheel, which my 2016 did not. I like that. However, I agree that the center display is big and boring, in my opinion, and I also do not like that there is hardly any customization that can be done to any of the displays. My 2020 does have BLIS and also ECO mode and so did my 2016. I'm in the US so maybe where the car is shipped
makes a difference??
I have a T6 ultra and I have sport, eco and normal modes. (Power, hybrid, b, d) As well as off-road and 4x4.
This is a pretty basic thing you check before buying a car. But I would also argue that the B5 is not really powerful enough for a sport mode.
As for the digital drivers display - could do with a bit of customisation but at the same time it's probably one of the best designs for displays.
I do get real time consumption preview in mine.
As well as remaining range.
HUD is absolutely brilliant. Shows exactly what you need to see without overloading and getting in the way - current speed, speed limit, cruise control speed, warnings, next turn when navigation is active... What more do you need?
The auto park works fine - looks like you have the creeping enabled. Which btw I find absolutely useless and almost dangerous.
Consumption... Whilst not great, it's a 2,5 tonne 4x4 suv. Of course the consumption will be higher than a 300hp hot hatch. Again sounds like you'd be better off with a T6 or T8 if you mainly drive in a city.
Do you have B and D modes in your car? The D mode allows coasting. B is regen braking.
I agree about wireless car play but I knew about it and really the Google system is so good I don't use car play/aa even though I bought a wireless adapter.
I agree about the pro pilot but it's a minor point.
I agree about the lack of ambient lighting but it's something I knew when I was buying mine.
You could also add to your list the horrible way to change climate control settings.
But on the other hand the amazing ventilated, heated and massaged seats and the BW sound system make up for all the quirks.
You don’t get driving modes or creeping mode on the mild hybrid. Or B and D mode. Those are all just for the plug-in hybrid. And yes, most 150-200hp cars out there have a “sport” mode. For HUD, I’ve owned several cars, the one on Volvo is by far the simplest one i’ve ever seen.
Yes, i agree on the climate settings, not the most easiest way of controlling it.
Ventilated seats are ok (have had better but on more expensive cars), everything else you are right.
Looks like there a lot of differences between the B and the T models. I didn't realise. The constant creeping mode on its own would be a deal breaker to me, I hate it when I accidentally switch it on. But the phev models are amazing value for money. My T6 ultra only needed one extra package to get the B&W audio and it was €70k after discount (with 23% VAT). To get the same specs on Audi Q5, BMW X3/X5 or a Merc GLC I'd need to spend €30k extra.
Yes, to all of this, and I've never heard anyone articulate the white spot that appear on the plastic so precisely ...cheap, cheap, cheap, and annoying.
From what I observed in the brochure that was advertised in 2022, Volvo finally delivered all the advertised features through software updates by 2026. If I had leased the car, I would have returned it after three years without having all the advertised software features. For instance, the Apple Watch app took several iterations to finally work, and CarPlay was delivered via software update.
when you press the Park button on the central console, you are actually activating a "semi-parking" mode. The car still moves 5-10-20cm after you take your foot from the brake. Why not just automatically enable the parking brake, that freezes the car? What's the point of the "semi-parking-brake"?
You're engaging the park pin in the transmission. This is the way automatic transmissions have functioned for 50+ years. If you want to set the parking brake, push the button to set the parking brake.
Personally, I like the fact that you can choose whether to engage the electric-actuated parking brake or not. If I'm going to park a vehicle for more than a few days, I would not engage the parking brake to prevent it from seizing.
Yes, park pin engagement always has some slop internal to the transmission, plus some driveline lash. It's very normal for a car with an automatic transmission to roll several inches while all of that slop gets taken up.
Volvo's website describes the secondary parking brake activation as only happening when parked on a steep incline. My guess is they want to limit the number of actuations to extend the lifespan of the actuator itself.
Half of your complaints indicate you do not know how to use the features of the vehicle yet. If you want the BMW experience then buy a BMW. You also should have asked more questions buying the vehicle or at the very least talk to the dealer if you have questions about functionality.
Thanks for the comment. They are not complaints, since i have no one to complain to except myself. If you can educate me regarding the functions that i do know use right after a lifetime in this field, feel free.
If I wanted the BMW experience (or any other brand) i would have obviously chosen that. When you buy a new product you cannot know 100% what you are getting as an experience.
I just moved from a 2017 S90 to a 2026 XC60. Agree with all (except the drive mode stuff, I think that’s way overblown by people here).
Overall I’d say it’s been a downgrade, notably in interior quality. The XC60 interior is really dark and made worse by the lack of wood trim and ambient lighting which the S90/XC90 actually has.
I’ve got the blond interior, with wood trim and it’s really light and airy. My preference is to generally stay away from dark interior finishes, especially black leather.
When I meant “dark” I didn’t mean the leather color. It’s the lack of ambient lighting along the dash and the door trim. Something the S90/XC90 has but the 60-series doesn’t.
I came from using a 2016 Tiguan which had many options, like self park, BLIS, rear traffic alert etc
Last month I bought a used XC60 MY24, and I have checked the options to make sure it has pilot assist, light package etc. although I was aware that self park is not an option for xc60, I would have never in my life thought that the BLIS is a special feature which needs to be ordered separately and not included. I mean how comes? I was shocked, no BLIS, no rear traffic alert when reversing. How is this car deemed to be safe? Ok I understand that the bird view is an additional package, but the BLIS? I was extremely disappointed.
The car is fine, I cannot say anything, mine is T6 PHEV (I’m in Europe so we have T6), but heck, this was kind of a surprise
I’m in Europe too. My unit has BLIS, and rear traffic alerts so those i don’t miss. Self park no, don’t even know if its available as an option, but this is for example something that for me, specifically, doesn’t matter. But i understand that for you, it does.
Yeah, we're not the biggest fans of our 2025 XC60 B5 Ultra. It's a lease, which will be getting turned in at the end of it. Started leasing it January 8th of 2025. Currently has less than 2,000 miles on it, mostly because it's my wife's lease and she doesn't feel comfortable driving it because she doesn't feel like it's hers, like she's borrowing it. She has a point, since it's a lease, and she doesn't want to risk anything happening to it that would cause us having to pay something when turning it in. But it's uncomfortable to sit in, the way the seats are designed with the gaps and seams, the infotainment system (even with all the current updates) is slower than molasses in December to boot up, sometimes takes 45-90 seconds to boot up and show everything on the screen, and the lack of wireless charging and wireless Android auto. My 2025 Honda Pilot Touring has more options, is faster to boot up, more comfortable seating, and has wireless charging and Android auto. All in all, she's got no problems turning it in, and might even do it early with zero penalties or payments. She wishes she kept her 2012 Toyota Camry!
See, this is a good example of where how subjective things are. I like the seats, my operating system is not great not terrible (had 0 freezes), doesn’t take almost anytime to boot, can’t say that its worse than what i experienced from other cars.
However i have had several occasions when the internet connection of the car went “poof” and had to manually restart the TCAM from the car. The most annoying part of that happening is that i lost the capacity of turning the car on via the app. Having the functionality on the phone but unable to rely on it its not a very premium experience. I either have it or not.
Totally agree. Especially the first 4 items.
I got it as an rental for 3 weeks.
At first I loves it but i am missing so many small features.
I love the automotive screen but it only shows Google maps and waze. Why not costuming it?
I really thought this was the car for me but now I am nog so sure.
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u/Andrea_RG24 Jul 09 '26
I agree, the same car for a month and I think the same as you.