I keep wondering why when using the I-pod in the car, it always seems to forget where it is in the track and revert back to the first song on the machine.
I think I have tracked it down to the battery not being charged in the car. When you remove the I-pod from the car, it has a low battery symbol. So obviously it becomes discharged when not in use. I don't know why the connector is not live? I am using the car everyday, so no reason for it to discharge overnight.
Sunday 25 May 2008
Sunday 11 May 2008
Safety Information on Dashboard of XC70
Found a strange situation yesterday.
Children got into the back seats.. and the right hand side LCD display on the dashboard gives a message that both rear seat belts have been activated. I am not sure why I need to know this, surely it should tell me if they were not activated? Anyway, the message remains on the screen. Now it's a bright sunny day, and I don't notice anything else - but my wife mentions that the interior light is still on.. well I thought it was still on the timer.. but it remains lit. No other information is being provided by the car. I then cancel the seat belt message - and then pops up a message that a door is open at the back. Obviously it was not fully open, just not properly shut. So this is a bit of flaw in the safety of the car - you could drive off not knowing the door is open - simply because the seat belt message takes precident over the door message. How ridiculous is that !
Children got into the back seats.. and the right hand side LCD display on the dashboard gives a message that both rear seat belts have been activated. I am not sure why I need to know this, surely it should tell me if they were not activated? Anyway, the message remains on the screen. Now it's a bright sunny day, and I don't notice anything else - but my wife mentions that the interior light is still on.. well I thought it was still on the timer.. but it remains lit. No other information is being provided by the car. I then cancel the seat belt message - and then pops up a message that a door is open at the back. Obviously it was not fully open, just not properly shut. So this is a bit of flaw in the safety of the car - you could drive off not knowing the door is open - simply because the seat belt message takes precident over the door message. How ridiculous is that !
Saturday 10 May 2008
Volvo XC70 Long Term Road Test
I will be updating my website www.carfun.org where I have more information on my long term road test for the VOLVO XC70.
www.carfun.org
www.carfun.org
Sunday 4 May 2008
Fuel Consumption Update on volvo XC70
Mileage is now close to 12,000 in my Volvo XC70 D5 Sport - currently averaging more than 2000 miles per month.
The fuel consumption is getting slightly better as the engine gets older. The best I can get on a long motorway run is very close to 40mpg.. previously this type of run when the car was new was around 38mpg. Similarly the general driving around consumption - has gone from around 33mpg to 35mpg. It's good to see this improvement - but it's still not as good as I had hoped.
I continue to run the tyres with 2.7 bar pressure.
Next time around - I am seriously considering something like the BMW 5 series with a 2.0D engine. The power is very similar to the volvo, but the overall consumption is a lot better and therefore a big difference in taxation from the benefit in kind.
The fuel consumption is getting slightly better as the engine gets older. The best I can get on a long motorway run is very close to 40mpg.. previously this type of run when the car was new was around 38mpg. Similarly the general driving around consumption - has gone from around 33mpg to 35mpg. It's good to see this improvement - but it's still not as good as I had hoped.
I continue to run the tyres with 2.7 bar pressure.
Next time around - I am seriously considering something like the BMW 5 series with a 2.0D engine. The power is very similar to the volvo, but the overall consumption is a lot better and therefore a big difference in taxation from the benefit in kind.
Tailgate squeaks at 10,000 miles.
Starting to get a bit frustrated with Volvo build quality.
The overall finish of the car is high quality from a design point of view - but it is the build quality that gives me concern.
We have already had the problem with the CD player not working from day 1.. then there was a problem with a squeaky gearbox -
and now the squeaking tailgate.
The noise started perhaps 3 or 4 weeks ago. Just very noticeable only at slow speeds as you go over a bump that might twist the car - a clunking noise is heard. I thought something was loose in the luggage area and thought nothing of it. However it got worse and worse.. till finally I couldn't stand it anymore. I thought about going to Volvo dealer to investigate - but that takes time and my energy + nerves.. so decided to experiment and see if I could solve it.
I drove slowly around a cobbled carpark with the tailgate first closed and then open to compare the difference. There was no noise when the tailgate was open. Therefore the problem must be with the tailgate - maybe it was not properly closing. Now recall this car has an automatic closing tailgate - so closing it is the cars responsibility and not mine.
I got a can of WD40 and squirted it into the locking mechanism of the tailgate. Then opened and closed the tailgate automatically perhaps 5 or 6 times. Something was different in the noise of closing. In the past.. even from when the car was new, it always seem to close in two actions. The tailgate would close down.. then a 2nd noise as if the latch was being made.. you could actually see the tailgate move slightly in the 2nd phase of closing. After spraying with WD40, the tailgate just closes in one motion and one noise.. there is no 2nd phase.
More importantly, out on the road.. the squeaks have gone. It's like having a new car again.
I really wonder if the locking mechanism had never really been properly lubricated from day 1 of manufacture.
This comes back to my point about "build" quality versus "design" quality.
The overall finish of the car is high quality from a design point of view - but it is the build quality that gives me concern.
We have already had the problem with the CD player not working from day 1.. then there was a problem with a squeaky gearbox -
and now the squeaking tailgate.
The noise started perhaps 3 or 4 weeks ago. Just very noticeable only at slow speeds as you go over a bump that might twist the car - a clunking noise is heard. I thought something was loose in the luggage area and thought nothing of it. However it got worse and worse.. till finally I couldn't stand it anymore. I thought about going to Volvo dealer to investigate - but that takes time and my energy + nerves.. so decided to experiment and see if I could solve it.
I drove slowly around a cobbled carpark with the tailgate first closed and then open to compare the difference. There was no noise when the tailgate was open. Therefore the problem must be with the tailgate - maybe it was not properly closing. Now recall this car has an automatic closing tailgate - so closing it is the cars responsibility and not mine.
I got a can of WD40 and squirted it into the locking mechanism of the tailgate. Then opened and closed the tailgate automatically perhaps 5 or 6 times. Something was different in the noise of closing. In the past.. even from when the car was new, it always seem to close in two actions. The tailgate would close down.. then a 2nd noise as if the latch was being made.. you could actually see the tailgate move slightly in the 2nd phase of closing. After spraying with WD40, the tailgate just closes in one motion and one noise.. there is no 2nd phase.
More importantly, out on the road.. the squeaks have gone. It's like having a new car again.
I really wonder if the locking mechanism had never really been properly lubricated from day 1 of manufacture.
This comes back to my point about "build" quality versus "design" quality.
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