herbvdh

I looked at a Volvo was shocked at its cheap thin body. Let alone safety I debate!!! We have had two volvo's in this area disintegrate on impact one was barely recognizable the other was found in parts all over.I own two Lexus a RX300 and a LS400

LexFather

At the Lexus redefined event at Stone mountain, they pitted 43+ SUVs against one another. There were at least 2 of each..

The Volvo XC90 broke down during the event..

cmstahl

Adding my two cents' worth to the XC90 vx. RX330 debate:

I can't speak directly to the quality or performance of the XC90, but I can speak to the Volvo experience in general. I just traded my 2000 Volvo S80 T6 in two weeks ago for an RX330, and on my way home from the Lexus dealer in my new RX was singing to myself "Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead".

When I purchased the Volvo S80 3+ years ago, the intent was to keep it for many years , but alas it was not to be. The litany of problems with the car was endless, almost from the beginning. Mostly the problems were warning lights coming on (DSTC and Emission System), but I also had other problems like the CD player, the key-in-ignition chime not turning off when key was removed, but I also did have a problem with the car stalling. The last straw was when the car lost all its power steering fluid while we were on vacation 700 miles away from home. Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed that a car with Volvo's reputation and price should carry with it so many issues. To add insult to injury, the level of service at the dealer was very poor. The DSTC Service Required warning light, Emission System Service Required lights and stalling problem required multiple service appointments to resolve. When I told them that my CD player was displaying "CD Error", they told me that they looked at my CDs and they were scratched, but didn't bother to test my CDs in another unit or test other CDs in my unit. All in all, I would have to say that my all-around ownership experience with the Volvo has been the worst of any car I've had.

Before you make your decision, I would recommend you spend some time on the Google newsgroups for the respective makes that you're looking at (alt.autos.volvo and alt.autos.lexus). Pay special attention to the posts relating to the models that you're looking at, and also to posts relating to all models within 2-3 years of the one you're looking at. Also, I would take the time to look around owners' club sites like this one. One I know of for Volvo is Volvospy.com, and another is brickboard.com (although I've never looked at the latter). An additional suggestion would be to go to the NHTSA website, where you can do searches on technical service bulletins by year/make/model. You probably won't get a lot of specific info on either the 330 or the XC90 because they're so new, but doing a few searches on Volvo models and Lexus models will give you a good idea of the amount and severity of technical service bulletins for each make. Option comparison is easy, looks and comfort and "feel" is really more about taste. What you can't get from these two is an idea of what the total ownership experience is all about.

Live and learn, I wish I'd done all these things before I bought the Volvo. I did do all these things before I bought the Lexus. No one can look into a crystal ball and predict what my experience will be like with the RX (so far, I love it!), but at least I feel like I used all the resources out there to make as informed a decision as I could.

Hope this is helpful.

Claire Stahl

smalcom

Traded my '98 V70XC (Cross Country) on an RX330. The reason I traded was simple - reliability. The Volvo had 75,000 miles. Last year, repairs, etc were $3,000. It would have been much worse, but I had an extended warranty to cover some of the costs.

This year I was facing new tires, new brakes (all four wheels), a 75K service (which is a very expensive one), and a timing belt replacement. Never mind the regular maintenance.

Add to this that the closest Volvo dealer was 1.5 hours away (the Lexus dealer is further away, but they valet the car to and from the dealership, and bring me a loaner for any and all service), and it was a no brainer to leave Volvo.

The Volvo was a great car, a pleasure to drive, but reliability sucks, and that's the bottom line, especially when the dealer is not close by.

jeffknet

the wife and I were driving today and we noticed a boxy, unattractive looking SUV with red tail lights running up the entire length of the rear hatch - then we realized it was and XC90....YUK

Rx900

In my opinion, the only thing good with the XC90 is the roll over feature. The only thing is that the engine is messed up with the 5 cylinder and 6 cylinder. I would consider the XC90 when they have fixed their engines. But if you really want to buy a vehicle right now, I would get the RX330, not because it looks great but the reliability and features included in the vehicle.



___________________________

2003 GX470
Sand Dollar Pearl
Charcoal Interior
6th in Fresno

davecsu

Although the Volvo XC90 was Motor Trend's SUV of the year, I'm quite uncertain about Volvo's quality. Two years ago, I purchased a brand new Volvo S60. Soon after, there's a noise coming from the steering wheel that took my Volvo dealer 4 times to eventually correct the problem. Later that year, I traded the S60 in for a Lexus ES300, which I should've purchased in the first place.

IMHO, Volvo's quality isn't up to par. When we were considering a new SUV to replace our 3 years old RX300, the new RX330 was a sure bet, despite Volvo's SUV of the year title.