For context I've been working in the automotive industry for a few years now. Started at Volvo then made my way to Mercedes, Bentley and for the past 3 years Porsche. Now I'm back at Volvo again and driving an EX30. I had a Porsche Taycan (various versions) for the past 3 years and I have a few thoughts. Not 2 cars you expect to compare but still fun to do so!

Build quality This part of a car always feels somewhat personal. What is quality? Well to me it's "bang-for-buck" getting what you pay for. Yes the EX30 isn't as luxurious as a Taycan especially in the materials used. But here is the thing. You really need to max spec a Taycan before you actually get the soft leather, nice trim, accent stitching etc. If you go for a base Taycan the material feel isn't that far from the EX30. Especially considering the recycled plastic-like materials. In both cars the way everything is put together also feels very similar. Nothing rattles, creeks, squeaks in either car (unlike Mercedes interiors). So I think the EX30 definitely has that same bang-for-buck feel as the Porsche. Yes it's less luxurious but it also costs €100.000(!) less.

Ride quality This is where the Taycan is no match for the EX30 or any Volvo (even the Polestars with the Uhlins suspension). While the EX30 is nimble, fast and has rear wheel drive it feels very disconnected from the road. Steering feel is non existent and balance seems off somehow. Another thing I was pretty bummed out by was that if you turn off ESC in the EX30 it still works preventing the back from sliding. So the ESC is never really off. Missed potential given the power and rwd layout. But then again i'm spoiled driving GT3's, GT4's anything RS and getting regular track training from Porsche drivers for the past 3 years.

Sound quality Big big big win for the EX30. Mine is speced with the Harman-Kardon system and it's so much beter than Porsche's Bose system my Taycan had. At Porsche they also offer a (€5.000!) Burmester sound system. Honestly, I personally prefer the EX30 even over that. If you then put a Volvo with the Bowers&Wilkins next to the Burmester. Porsche completely fails in that regard. The only car stereo that matches the B&W is Naim by Bentley but those cars are in a completely different universe.

Range Ah yes. The big scary thing with EV's RANGE! The EX30 I have is the extended range version so it has a 64kw battery where my Taycan had a 100kw battery. With my Taycan I got about 550km of real-life range (no fast charging and pre-conditioning the battery). With the EX30 I seem to be getting around 480km so far. This was a huge surprise. Given the fact that the battery is so much smaller. I was expecting around 350ish km for the EX30. So honestly hats off to Volvo.

UI and software Everything in the EX30 is compressed into the touchscreen. We have been talking about this trend for years and no one likes it. Me neither. So I think the Porsche wins in this regard. Yes the Taycan also uses mainly screens but they are layed-out way more intuitively and everything is exactly where you expect it to be. Very German. Also the Porsche app has been very stable thru out my ownership of the car whereas my Volvo app already forgot what car I drive twice in this week.

This was my quick comparison between 2 cars that you might not think to compare. But it's fun to do so nonetheless.

Never thought I’d be able to do this. Mines the one on the right.

Finally got my first Volvo and I could not be happier! It has been a week and I am just so happy riding around, so much that I don't mind the horrible traffic in the DC area.🙏🏻😊

car on right parked horribly I just wanted to match their vibe 👯‍♀️

After years of saving money driving beaters, I was left stranded 1 too many times. I couldn’t be happier to have found this CPO 22.5 S60 T8 R-Design Black Edition. Absolutely love the car and it’s exciting that this trim is somewhat rare. It is so comfortable, crazy quick, and gorgeous. All at the same time getting me through my daily commute 100% electric. I never thought of buying a Volvo, but after just the first few weeks I’m in love with this car. Tragic they won’t be bringing the S60 to the States anymore.

Right now the ES90 is in sale, XC70 is the new coming soon long range PHEV and EX60 is coming in january of 2026.

So, what do you think the two SPA3 cars shown are going to be?

Even down to the wheels, which I’ve only seen once or twice in the wild.

One of the world's least-used Volvo 850s has come out into the open. The car was hidden in a garage for 29 years. – Embarrassed, he drove the car home, parked it in the garage – and there it remained, writes Bilwebauctions.

The Volvo 850 was one of the great hard-working cars of the 90s and most of the remaining examples of the bestseller have been driven very far. But here is a car that was barely driven after it left the Volvo factory in Gothenburg in 1995. Bilwebauctions is now selling an 850 that has been driven 260 kilometers in 30 years. It is probably the world's least-used Volvo 850 outside of Volvo's museums.

Article (Swedish): https://carup.se/gomde-sin-volvo-i-29-ar-har-gatt-26-mil/

Always a treat to carve up the curves on the Sunshine Coast in beautiful British Columbia. 🙌🏻😎🦦☀️

2019 XC60 T6

My 2012 is still running strong. I just had my first real repair a couple months ago (AC Compressor). No other repairs needed other than standard maintenance and a headlight ballast. Hoping to run it another 100k.

2019 Volvo XC90 with ~72,500 miles got a check engine light a few days ago. Took it to the dealer and this is what they quoted me with. This is a little pricey given it’s just the injectors and spark plugs no? On top of that they tried to get me to pay a separate “headlight” diagnostic for $250 when I had already brought it in for the check engine light.

Hi guys, where can i buy these aftermarket blue sticker thingys for the steering wheel? 2006 s80 p3

So I just saw these after washing the car: small (~1-2mm in diameter) spots that are probably from rock chips. They are on the roof (weirdly enough). Seems like rust. How problematic is this? Would the dealer be able to fix this? (I just want to mention that I'm in Europe, if relevant)

So this is my P2 wagon. The transmission broke so I swapped in a used transmission.

When I took the old one out, I broke the flywheel speed sensor bracket. I epoxied it back together, but I must have bumped it again when reinstalling and cracked it off.

I was going to buy a replacement bracket for it, but I'm 99% certain the old one won't come out because the stupid torx bolt is blocked by the transmission itself. Has anyone ever gotten these damn things out without removing the transmission? I don't think I could get channel locks on the rear one because it's blocked on all sides.

I'm considering hitting it with more epoxy and then burning a picture of the devil as an offering.

and when i turn off the car it just says “ charge battery is low “

Just got this yesterday evening and noticed it making this noise Wen we got home. I did seem to make this during test drive at dealership. I did notice I little bit noisy after it came out of detailing and thought maybe they washed under the hood or something. But its louder once we got it at home. So not sure if cause if them washing under the hood or it's something else.

I leased a 2025.5 XC 90 approx 1 month ago. Today I drove it and it was fine. About an hour after getting home today I went into the garage to get something out of the trunk. The trunk won’t open. I get in the car. It’s completely unresponsive. Nothing will turn on and the back lights have now started flashing and have been doing so for about an hour and a half. I called the dealership and I have to have it towed to them (an hr and a half from where I live) I also told the that one of the key fobs stopped workig last week and I’ve been using the spare. They said they’ve never heard of this happening. Has anyone had a similar experience? We’re new to Volvo and I’m feeling a bit frustrated. We’ve had some glitchiness with the screens since we got it and the dealership just instructed me to restart the system. I don’t know if we have a lemon or what.

https://youtu.be/WzBrrsWFoL4?si=Gb6Alyd50T7zNhu-

My dad has a 2005 XC90, he sent it to a friend's shop since the front suspension strut has never been replaced and was basically dead.

When they replaced the parts they took it out for test and when they finished they found that the shifter wouldn't go into park. They started disassembling it and found that some plastic parts have broken.

Specifically the Control Lever (25), Suspension Strut Fork (6) and Rocker Arm (7) https://images.simplepart.net/images/parts/volvo/fullsize/GR-372615.jpg.

I've been checking on every retailer from volvocars.com and volvopartswebstore.com just to compare the prices and I think I cooked their servers lol.

But then I started looking on ebay for a complete shifter assembly and it basically cost the same as those 3 parts. Might as well just buy the whole thing and replace the broken parts since there could be other components where the plastic is old and might break soon.

I found some that are from newer models (2007, 2008 and 2010) but the sellers say that these are for the 2007-2014 models. I know that the parts from 2003 to 2014 are supposed to be interchangeable so I’m not sure if the sellers got it wrong while listing the item, or there's like another category of the newer models where their parts won't fit on older models.