[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by reihem

Swedish cars- the best of both worlds

I doubt that very much somehow. Volvo's in my experience are just very middle of the road. They are the epitome of average.

Just an opinion of course
Jeroen

[Capt. Shyam]

Honda Accord V6 3.0L 2011 was the best that I have experienced.

[ShubhamGhute]

Originally Posted by reihem

Swedish cars- the best of both worlds

True to some extent but they suck in engine department. Volvo’s 1 crore flagship offering (XC90) has just 235BHP with just 4 cylinders. It gets the job done for you but won’t satisfy enthusiasm in you.

[reihem]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I doubt that very much somehow. Volvo's in my experience are just very middle of the road. They are the epitome of average.

Just an opinion of course
Jeroen

Originally Posted by ShubhamGhute

True to some extent but they suck in engine department. Volvo’s 1 crore flagship offering (XC90) has just 235BHP with just 4 cylinders. It gets the job done for you but won’t satisfy enthusiasm in you.

lets talk apples to apples ..

My v40 CC produces 177 bhp and generates 400 nm of torque .. apples to apples the a class produces 134 bhp & 300 nm and the a3: 141 bhp 320 nm. The 1 series is dead. We can debate driving dynamics but thats subjective.

My S60 CC makes 220 bhp 440 nm AND is AWD, the only sensible comparison is the 3 series 320d 188 bhp 400 nm. Again we can debate driving dynamics.

Hating on Volvo and praising Germans is always the flavour of the season

And frankly if you want to talk flagship talk about the s60 polestar with 362 bhp and 470 nm .. and its 50 L ex showroom. Let me say that again: 50L

[vharihar]

Originally Posted by reihem

Swedish cars- the best of both worlds

Do Volvo cars count as Swedish or Chinese? It's owned by chinese Geely now.

[reihem]

Originally Posted by vharihar

Do Volvo cars count as Swedish or Chinese? It's owned by chinese Geely now.

True ... I suppose its about as Chinese as Jaguar or Land Rover is Indian

[reignofchaos]

Originally Posted by ShubhamGhute

True to some extent but they suck in engine department. Volvo’s 1 crore flagship offering (XC90) has just 235BHP with just 4 cylinders. It gets the job done for you but won’t satisfy enthusiasm in you.

They also have the T8 Hybrid petrol with 407 horses if you want more power for just a few lacs more.


Anyways coming back to the topic. Volvo is the only one that offers a real euro (non rough-road/non indianized) suspension for a reasonable price. At least as far as I'm concerned, it has decent enough ride quality with perfectly acceptable handling.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by reihem

lets talk apples to apples ..

L

You mistakenly believe I'm interested in comparing HP. No matter how many HPs you cram in no matter what Volvo I would still find it's an average car. Or bland my be another description. I only like most German cars marginally better than Volvo. They have very little appeal to me. If I once again had to slug it out daily on the Motorways clocking 50-75.000 km a year I would most likely buy the biggest German car I could afford, or rather my boss would allow me to lease. Not because I find them particularly appealing, but because they are just very good cars to spend many hours in.

My own non company cars I buy mostly on emotional value rather then looking at such stuff as HP or even more boring stuff such as efficiency.

Please take no offence, just my opinion and nothing to do what most would call facts. ( or tact perhaps?&#128540
Anorak fact: I have owned two Volvo's 340! That's when I did not have a company car yet. But I did have a family with three kids which usually leads to choosing very practical mega boring cars. At least it did in my case.

Jeroen

[R2D2]

My bro has a white Volvo S60 with the Polestar tune in the UAE. He really loves that car and is happy with the performance, comfort and mileage. And he plans to get guess what? If all goes well a Toyota Land Cruiser by the end of this year. Now that's a comfy ride.

[reihem]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

You mistakenly believe I'm interested in comparing HP. No matter how many HPs you cram in no matter what Volvo I would still find it's an average car. Or bland my be another description. I only like most German cars marginally better than Volvo. They have very little appeal to me. If I once again had to slug it out daily on the Motorways clocking 50-75.000 km a year I would most likely buy the biggest German car I could afford, or rather my boss would allow me to lease. Not because I find them particularly appealing, but because they are just very good cars to spend many hours in.

My own non company cars I buy mostly on emotional value rather then looking at such stuff as HP or even more boring stuff such as efficiency.

Please take no offence, just my opinion and nothing to do what most would call facts. ( or tact perhaps?��)
Anorak fact: I have owned two Volvo's 340! That's when I did not have a company car yet. But I did have a family with three kids which usually leads to choosing very practical mega boring cars. At least it did in my case.

Jeroen

Duly noted :-) the bhp/nm related comments was in response to the second post I quoted, not yours.

I think Volvo has reinvented itself and struggles to move beyond the soccer mom image it had till very recently.

[ShubhamGhute]

Originally Posted by reihem

lets talk apples to apples ..

My v40 CC produces 177 bhp and generates 400 nm of torque .. apples to apples the a class produces 134 bhp & 300 nm and the a3: 141 bhp 320 nm. The 1 series is dead. We can debate driving dynamics but thats subjective.

My S60 CC makes 220 bhp 440 nm AND is AWD, the only sensible comparison is the 3 series 320d 188 bhp 400 nm. Again we can debate driving dynamics.

Hating on Volvo and praising Germans is always the flavour of the season

And frankly if you want to talk flagship talk about the s60 polestar with 362 bhp and 470 nm .. and its 50 L ex showroom. Let me say that again: 50L

I am not talking about specific volvo product but its a general view on overall engine lineup. V40 is a star with its super gorgeous looks but I mentioned XC90 in my post. XC90 has 4 cylinder engine while its competitors Audi Q7, Merc GLS, BMW X5(not a direct competitor as X5 is 5 seater) has 6 cylinder oil burners which are much more powerfull and quick. Same is the case with S90 as well. Mercedes has E350d and BMW has 530d to offer but volvo only comes solely in D4 variant churning 190bhp.

Sensible comparison (w.r.t. power) for your S60 would be a mercedes C250 CDI which has 205 bhp and 500nm paired to 9 speed transmission. C’s power to weight ratio is class leading(diesel only).

Yes! Driving dynamics are a point of debate and subjective. I am neither hating volvo nor praising germans. I am just putting facts on table.

This thread is relating to ride quality and it would be better if we focus on the same.

Originally Posted by reignofchaos

They also have the T8 Hybrid petrol with 407 horses if you want more power for just a few lacs more.


Anyways coming back to the topic. Volvo is the only one that offers a real euro (non rough-road/non indianized) suspension for a reasonable price. At least as far as I'm concerned, it has decent enough ride quality with perfectly acceptable handling.

Agreed! T8 hybrid is in its own class but then ‘price’ matters. XC90 D5 cost 1 crore after discounts whereas XC90 T8 cost 1.4 crores. Thats the money which would buy you a ford endeavour.

As I mentioned above let’s restrict our discussion to ride quality only.

PS: I do not intend to offend anybody’s opinion(s) and choice through any of my previous posts. These are my opinions purely based on my own observations and knowledge.

[dark.knight]

Guys, I know that in discussing various aspects of various brands, that sometimes conversations take a path that is far removed from the original intention of a thread. Almost every other thread discusses power-to-weight, handling characteristics, horse-power, build quality etc but I hope that this thread remains a way for people to find out what cars are actually comfortable to drive on Indian roads laden with stones, potholes, flowing water, cracked portions and unscientifically created speed-breakers and such.

We need a dedicated place to discuss truly comfortable rides across all budgets and not just of luxury brands, many people do consider comfort as the number one priority even if it results in poor power, torque or build quality.

Its also my view that nationality of a car brand has nothing to do with a particular car.. for example Mazdas are considered fun to drive despite being Japanese, Hyundai has scored Top Safety Pick+ in America for multiple cars in their range despite being Korean and VW has poor reliability record almost universally despite being German. Jaguars have actually started to look better since being taken over by an Indian company and same can be said of Volvo. What matters in today's globally linked economy is for companies to have an ethos, a dedication towards quality, design, finishing and consumer satisfaction.

Fiat as a brand is considered a joke globally (just the 'Fiat' cars i.e) but in India I can think of no two cars better than Punto and Linea when it comes to the absolute perfect balance between comfort and handling.. it blows the likes of Polo and Vento out of the planet quite easily. As someone else said in this very thread, a Linea is a solid competitor to even the 3 Series. Their only weakness as has been said a thousand times, is poor interiors+seating position. The gearbox though not much of an issue, is an issue as well.

[reihem]

Duly noted ! I was distracted by the shifting goal posts in the arguments. I responded to post on power with a post on power and was told not to. I was also told the most sensible comparison for my 43L on road v60cc was a 59 on road C class 250 cdi .. I shall abandon this line of argument entirely and behave myself

I blame much of this discomfort on this obsession that manufacturers across vehicle price ranges have with making vehicles lighter either for better mileage or for better power : weight.

quoting graaja from his "A GT joins a GT - Estoril Blue BMW 330i GT M-Sport comes home" thread: "This motion sickness is definitely not because of distraction. The bouncing is definitely there. Just last week, when a bunch of friends had gone for a drive on the highways, I drove my friend's V40, and I could clearly feel the difference in how planted the car felt at highway speeds, compared to my GT."

I was not merely trying to toot Volvo's horn in my earlier post. Its definitely a less sporty car compared to many below and above its price point - I will admit this despite my argumentative attempt at showing off its 'on-paper' power earlier. The point I was trying to make is a "planted" car is always more comfortable than a lightweight rocket.

[splitsecond]

Slight ot:

I don't know where to put this question so i am posting it here.Searched all the web. Please reply.

Does a cars suspension improves(ride quality) with age? Like our engines which goes through a break in period. Any change in character lets say after 10k kms?

The reason i am asking is that today i was in 2 year old eco sport as a passenger and the suspension felt better than my 3k run brezza over badly patched up road, eco sport handled road imperfections well, all the reviews including our team-bhp official review puts brezza over eco sport in terms of ride quality!!

[condor]

Originally Posted by splitsecond

Does a cars suspension improves(ride quality) with age? Like our engines which goes through a break in period. Any change in character lets say after 10k kms?

The reason i am asking is that today i was in 2 year old eco sport as a passenger and the suspension felt better than my 3k run brezza over badly patched up road, eco sport handled road imperfections well, ..

Suspensions will harden with time, wont improve. Regarding these two cars you have mentioned, it would also depend on how these two specific cars have been used.