VOLVO XC60 2023 T6 Recharge AWD. The good & the bad…

[@richardhale2117]

As an owner of a 2022 XC60 (non-ER) T8 Recharge for the past 14 months, I was really sorry to hear that the newest models still are experiencing problems with AAOS reliability. I had a series problems, mostly with connectivity, for the first 8 months of ownership. In May the dealer replaced the TCAM and since then the system has worked perfectly...which tells me they CAN make it reliable. Now we love the car. Most comfortable seats. 53 miles per gallon since day 1. Safety features have proven valuable. Regarding the other dislikes you mention (other than reliability of certain components), the design and placement of switches etc doesn't bother me. I've owned other car brands of course and they all have some things like that that I'm not fond of or are simply missing. Great, honest review, thanks Thom!

[@AngloHuscarl]

Got my XC60 2023 RCharge Plus Dark last week. I just finished a 2k road trip... absolute pleasure to drive, performance outstanding, and great fuel economy too for a fair sized car. So happy.

[@thom-lov]

Great to hear! 😁

[@soetegrek]

What was the fuel economy if I may ask? 😊

[@AngloHuscarl]

@Dimitrios Lounis sadly where I was there was no charging facilities, so petrol only. I think it ended up at around 7.1l per 100km. However, since I'm back and charging regularly, I'm on 0.2l per 100km.

[@soetegrek]

@@AngloHuscarl that is great numbers for a big heavy petrol car without battery, I'm waiting for my MY24 to arrive and I'm so exited, I'm getting it after the summer 🤗 Since most of my driving will be in the city and I have charging avaliable I never thought of the consumption on a long distance journey hense my question 😁

[@AngloHuscarl]

@Dimitrios Lounis I was surprised too, its a 2.5 ton car. So was very pleased. My current situation is ideal, I'm within the 75 km range of most areas I need, so regular charging keeps my fuel consumption at nearly zero. Very pleased.

[@cinemastratv]

It is a great car! I've got my MY2024 T6 in January 2024. Super happy abou the comfort of the ride. I was expecting it to be softer with air suspension. But in general - I like it. Speaking about - already driven almost 5000km. The avg consumption on the journey of 2500 km was 7.5 l / 100. The max pure electric distance I managed to drive was 90km, with the avg speed 80km/h. I'm very careful driver. Google infotainment system is awesome! I completely forgot about annoying carplay, connecting with cables, etc. No issues with opening of the roof. Very smooth and instant feedback from the touch button. Only once so far I had a camera glitch. But it was okay after I re-started the car. The screen is very responsive. Even possible to operate in the gloves. But I use voice commands for everything. What I don't like is a road sign recognition system. It recognizes always too many signs around. But it should be fixed in OS 3.0.3, which is coming in April 2024. The car is good!

[@thom-lov]

Happy to hear! :-)

[@Welovedaxies]

I recently took delivery of a V90 T6 Recharge Ultimate. Epic car with plenty power, refined, well built. Love it

[@thom-lov]

That is awesome! Great choice :-)

[@georgevavoulis4758]

I have always love Volvos and SAABs the best cars ever made and most under appreciated cars

[@ulfehrning7009]

A big minus is that while using the adapted cruise control you cannot easily connect or disconnect the steering assistance without going deep into the centre display functions.

[@thom-lov]

Absolutely agree with you there. Kinda forget to mention as I'm used to it now but for sure a big miss. Let's hope we get it back with an OTA...

[@medi288]

I second you on this problem. Its a huge negative point and my main complaint with the car!

[@MrTribalsun]

In the Sensus Infotainment system you didn't have that problem... again as I said... Android automotive system is a downgrade in my opinion.

[@Vamanos46]

It's the new trend for any manufacturer: release the car with bugs, we'll fix it in post with ota updates.

[@thom-lov]

Bad trend!! 😂

[@richardhale2117]

I worked in a very successful enterprise software company for many years. Sure, when we released new software, it wasn't perfect. But we would dedicate engineers to focus on fixing bugs and retesting as fast as possible, sometimes overnight but always quickly. That was expensive, but much less expensive that the extra cost of releasing perfect software or the cost of lost sales by taking weeks to fix critical bugs. Note that we had to deal with software only; auto makers have to perfect the hardware, too.

[@fadya3901]

I don’t think that’s new 😂, it’s always been this way. Have it not.

[@garywallichs5541]

Great review. Recently purchased a 2022 XC90 T8 Recharge for my wife. Overall, it is an excellent vehicle. The single biggest flaw that no one seems to mention in reviews is that the car's cabin heater will not function when operating in electric mode. You have to press the charge button to enable the gas engine to get hot air to come through the vents. It also takes 10 min of driving to actually get warm as well. We were surprised by this "feature" and never see that mentioned in any Volvo reviews.

[@billbrown722]

That was happening on my XC60 recently and Volvo fixed it under warranty with a new management module £1500!!

[@akriener]

I don't know who told you that, but we just picked up a 2022 S60 T8 Recharge and all our heating and cooling elements work in Pure mode.

[@chuhuunhan]

I think your electric heater (heat pump) is broken and volvo does replace it. You don’t need to turn on ice engine to heat up.

[@carlovarini1814]

I hope my new XC60 recharge wll not have this issues. Great video as usually Thom!

[@henriknielsen1176]

I don't understand why it is so bad that the button/wheel to adjust the brightness in the dashboard has been removed, because how often is it used? In the cars I have had I have never used it.

[@Marcodurango22]

i have a 2024 Xc60 T8 ultimate dark in Brasil with 1414 km in the odometer and i still have 80 km to use in the gas mode to refuel for the first time ever in this car!Perfect!!

[@Debrha]

Thank you for a good review. What i don't like about the new Google system is that you can't listen to music via USB.

[@volvo_kristian]

Thumbs up for great review. And absolutely agree. There's a bunch of good things, but the bad (capacitive panoramic roof buttons, display light adjustment and drive mode wheel) are really annoying.. Glad you mentioned it. Honest reviews are appreciated 👌 Especially from long term Volvo owners.

[@thom-lov]

Thanks mate! Still a great car but as we both know there are missing some great little details nowadays.. Important to mention this as well and not be a full time fan as here and there it could be better... 😉 Let's see what the EX90 will bring to the table this week. Enjoy your sunday!

[@MrTribalsun]

All those bad things you mentioned...that are missing in this 2022-2023-2024 model year face-lift model, you had in the previous Sensus infotainment system. XC60 for me is from model year 2018 to model year 2022.

[@billc7667]

The first week December we ordered our 2023 XC60 Ultimate Bright plug in hybrid! We are looking forward to delivery March-April!

[@AAhmad3449]

This car is so nice to look at!!

[@thom-lov]

I agree Quinton! :-)

[@norbertmayer7005]

Wonder when Spotify Hi-Fi is coming. Would be great with Bowers & Wilkins.

[@thom-lov]

That must be super nice! Can’t wait 😎

[@georgevavoulis4758]

Please design cars with round bezel switches for HVAC controls and light switches on common stalks on one side of steering wheel and washer/wipers on other side .

[@thom-lov]

Some buttons would be nice for sure!

[@mjyous]

I am getting new xc60 t6 2023 next month after waiting for a year😢. Can’t to get it! I am currently riding d4 2019 still solid car and enjoying driving it.

[@thom-lov]

That's a long wait, sadly many of us need to wait long times for their car. Demand and production still don't match after covid sadly... You will enjoy the car I am sure!! (the D4 is great btw, sad that we need to get 'rid' of these engines).. Cheers!

[@Ajajambo]

Can the voice command allow you to change thendrving mode? The old wheel near the gear box was so annoying to have to change everytime you turn off the engine. Iy would be ideal to have voice commamd do sonto avoid looking at screen

[@panameradan6860]

No… needs a drive-mode dial on the steering wheel; the old drive-mode roller dial was badly designed and in a horrible location

[@ruuddobber6853]

Being an owner of a XC60 T6 Recharge with extended capacity I like the car. But also some annoying issues. What about the dashboard reflection in the front window. With the head up display a disaster when the sun is shining. Also the missing Bliss system is strange after already 1 year of lacking this safety issue in Volvo’s production cars. How is it possible other car manufacturers are able to deliver this safety solution in their production cars? Last but not least I am surprised that my R Design XC60 is lacking of a 360 degrees camera or at least a camera in the front of this brand new car of over 75K. How come Volvo?

[@thom-lov]

Ruud, sounds like you have one of those XC60's which was impacted with quite some production issues. BLIS and 360cam are the biggest missing pieces on that. Simply has to do with conductor shortage and Volvo prioritizing other models (Recharge EV Volvo's and 90-series) for these options. I assume the dealership kept you in the loop on these things. Otherwise you shouldn't have accepted it for missing ordered options?

[@MrTribalsun]

Mine has the BLIS system and the 360º cameras. Extras I ordered back in 2019. But back in 2019 we didn't have all this crisis going on.

[@RichardHale-wc1vp]

On the Volvo US website configurator there is no T6 recharge, only the T8 recharge with a crazy 455 hp. I'd like to be able to get the 350 hp T6 and save what looks to be about $3,000. I think the best value for us would be the Plus trim level and add features. Unfortunately, the B&W sound system isn't available on the Plus trim and you must pay $800 to upgrade to Harman Kardon which is only ok, IMO. There are other minor differences: no wool upholstery, tinted window option, or heated windshield available here, for example.

[@johngaudet6316]

The Bowers&Wilkins audio is EPIC, I would honestly pay any amount of money to get it in my next car. I've now got a V60 Cross country T5 and love it. Eventually I'll get an EV.

[@Earthling42]

Volvo's implementation of AAOS is shockingly poor in presentation design, access to car controls and dangerous to use while driving. Volvo's USP has always been safety, yet despite the current research clearly showing that having to use the centre console instead of switches is more dangerous that using a mobile phone, Volvo & other car manufacturers have put design ahead of safety. Volvo has made the safety issue far worse by its amateurish approach to AAOS. The T6 Recharge combinations is excellent and my model year 2023 V60 is also good to drive and comfortable, just let down by really dumb design of essential car controls.

[@aldeflorio5500]

Mountain out of a molehill. Pompous.

[@johnkasianowicz6536]

I picked up a 2024 XC60. The digital instrument gauge is clear, simple, and informative. The auxiliary display is easy to read. There’s very little one needs to touch on that display while driving. You can ask Google to set Maps to where you want to go, change the fan speed, and change the cabin temperature. If you need to change the drive mode on the fly, learn where those options are in the safety of a driveway or parking lot.

[@panameradan6860]

Spot on

[@panameradan6860]

@@johnkasianowicz6536putting in an inherently bad voice-command system is no excuse or proper replacement for physical switches/dials

[@Capcom007]

Thank you for a honest review.

[@wickedlammy]

I took delivery of one of these a couple of months ago, full electric range is about 30 miles as my commute is very hilly. The benefits of the hybrid system seems very limited to shorter journeys but I would be interested what other peoples opinions are on this.

[@BHBeckenbauer]

I much prefer the new touch sunroof controls to the old switch personally

[@Vamanos46]

2021 xc60 air suspension is not good. It's barely for ride height. I drove a 2019 xc60 loaner with air suspension and was also not good. Neither had 4c system. Maybe without the 4c suspension and dampers it's not that great. Am I missing something? Did something change ?

[@thom-lov]

As I said in the video the air suspension is one of the best options to spec on your Volvo. Yes it’s expensive but I really enjoyed it on this test example. I’m sticking to my personal advise: air suspension is a great choice.

[@medi288]

@@thom-lov Unfortunately not available with Polestar engineered XC60 T8

[@MrTribalsun]

My XC60 Model year 2019 has air suspension and I am here to say that it's good enough over normal dampers. And you can lower the car and get it a little bit on the firm side aswell. Audi suspension is better though because it filters a little bit better when you go through potholes. But Volvo's pneumatic suspension also good. 👍 Mine has the 22" wheels 🛞 😎 with low profile tyres and the ride is ok. Of course when you hit a big pothole you feel the size of the rim going through but no problem at all in the majority of the situations. The ride is good.

[@MrTribalsun]

@Sami Saarinen don't worry... it's good 👍 😌 👌

[@Chrisony123]

Hi guys, what is the color on this one?

[@thom-lov]

Bright dusk metallic!

[@RoaldHemel35]

Great review Thom

[@thom-lov]

Thanks Roald! Appreciated 😊

[@RoaldHemel35]

On swedespeed I read it’s possible to retrofit the drive mode selector. I hope the instrument cluster dimmer and panoramic roof control switch can be retrofitted as well.

[@thom-lov]

That would be nice! Though I wouldn't be too keen on 'modding' my new Volvo Car. With some bad luck a sudden OTA from Volvo messes it all up again.. The con of having these driving computers.. 😅

[@MrTribalsun]

As I said... the XC60 as a great car that won the prize "Car of the world 2018" stopped in 2022, when they introduced and launched new facelift XC60 2022 with Android automotive infotainment system. My opinion.

[@bobdanis9040]

You didn't know you could say hey Google make the screen brighter?

[@medi288]

I agree with most of your points in this nice review I don't have the running boards, so I can't comment on that, nor on the air suspension (My T8 Polestar has Ohlins that you should adjust manually). The most annoying problem for me was: a) the bugs in the system that happily disappeared after several OTA updates. b) activation/deactivation of steering assist while using ACC. It's so unsafe to go through the menus and take your eyes off the road. Made several complaints to Volvo, but no response at all !

[@thom-lov]

Cool! Got to agree with your point as well. Volvo really needs to fix that!

[@mahmoodsoleja9068]

Superb ! 👍

[@thom-lov]

Thanks! 😊

[@vaportung]

Thom we are waiting! Where is the EX90 video

[@thom-lov]

Aiming tomorrow afternoon to kick off the weekend! (Lots to research about it and make it worthwhile 😊). Stay tuned!

[@thom-lov]

Update! Live in 2hrs. 😉

[@olovsjobergh6417]

I drive a XC40 P6 2023 and I must agree on all, regarding the new infotainment system. Working so bad, to often. As you sad so many good option and functions is now hidden on the screen. This takes away concentration and eyes from The road. Stear assists, light adjustment nob and Drive mode is now on screen instead. Why Volvo?! So bad. If you chanche that, make sure that you att lest can speak and tell Google to change what you want. Volvo has gone from almost premium to something less good. Unfortunatelly!

[@selinabiacchi8156]

Xc40 t5 2022 every 2 months needs a software update. But you have to take the car to Volvo assistance, so it's really annoying. I was hoping that with Google would be better. In one year i have to change it, not sure about the choice now. Volvo or not Volvo, this is the question

[@MrTribalsun]

One thing I am sure... the xc60 wouldn't win the prize of car of the world, nowadays. I think the xc60 is a great middle sized luxury suv. It's not perfect but it is very good. and I also think that the xc60 as we all knew as a great car started back in 2018 and came to a full stop in 2022. The previous face-lift. With the Sensus Infotainment system. From and since 2022 with the android automotive system, the XC60 lost its aurea and started coming down on a path of loosing its quality and little details that made the XC60 "The car of the world 2018". I know all this because I do own one from 2019. An R-Design. A D4 with the Polestar Engineered optimisation.

[@hungryboy424]

Nice video , worst thing they have done is let Google in !

[@thom-lov]

Thanks! Well there are pro's and con's. Overall I do enjoy the google system a lot.

[@richard09able]

Yes, it’s already 2023 😂. Too early in the morning for me😂

[@minniesaab7255]

🥰❤️😍

[@thom-lov]

🙌

[@CK-og7xd]

2023 volvo google system has took out the android auto, and the google system doesn't have Waze

[@deanchan5960]

Unfortunate if you live in a cold climate I would hold off buying until they fix the Climate system heating performance issue. Many people having issues and part is backorder for a long time. While they say you can get heat on gasoline mode. So what is the point to have an electric car if you cannot get heat in electric mode? Volvo - shame on you for not getting a fix and continue to promote a product that is not working.

[@Vamanos46]

I use the small plastic sport key and keep it in my wallet, I don't use the plastic key fob.

[@thom-lov]

Good solution! Do note that when that little battery is dead you need to purchase a whole new one which I understood. That could be expensive 😅

[@piffe60]

The instrument panel is completely non-pedagogical. They forgot to note that the watch fits completely badly. The ventilation controls cannot be angled properly. The driving record is completely useless. Loud noise in the cup for being a premium car. Center console wrongly angled. There are a thousand other little things. Volvo has lost its soul. Have a Volvo XC60 T6 Hybrid, guaranteed to be the last one.

[@20023230]

Say you are Dutch, without saying you are Dutch.

[@thom-lov]

Hope I didn't hurt your feelings

[@ukgroucho]

Don't try to get people to view another of your videos to see what SHOULD be part of your good and bad - the EV mileage. You opened up with that and then pointed people to another video - life is too short to accommodate click bate.

[@billbrown722]

RECHARGE PHEV VERSION. The singular most disappointing aspect of this car is its inability to set a timed charge, using the car or app (believe the same on new XC90 models too). Unless you have a smart home charge point, people like me with a dumb one, on an economy 7 tariff need to be nocturnal to benefit from off peak charging. A retrograde step from earlier models and spoiling a brand new car! Volvo offer no solution and their promise to fix it has not materialised in 8 months and is nowhere in sight. There’s no timer on the market sufficiently highly rated to make using the plug-in cable safe in the UK at least & in any case it takes 9 hours to charge.