[AZT]

I love reading your threads on this car. As Dr. AD said, this is relatively rare and it would be difficult such a good resource on this as your input.

I hope the 10 year diesel rule gets changed soon, this car still looks like it has a lot more years inside it

[fawad0222]

Wow, what a good looker the car is, handsome and elegant. Its shine tells us the way it has been cared for. Wish you many more miles of love and fun.

[Puneet0051]

Mr Narayan, Your posts are a treat to read. Very informative and gives a clear picture on the vehicle ownership.

After reading your thread is when i tried 3M PPF (Venture shield) that was the first time, spent 70k on few body parts and i wasn't sure on the investment.

But trust me it is an amazing investment atleast on the luxury cars. I will always get it done now. I am converted from a non believer to believer to a promoter

I also like to keep cars for long, and i so wish the diesel rule to end in ncr. But it makes me wonder if Volvo is @8.72 per km how expensive would Merc turn out to be during the same period. I have never visited an independent garage and do not intend to

So does it mean that its only Lexus which should be kept for long 8-10 years of ownership?

[V.Narayan]

After reading your thread is when i tried 3M PPF (Venture shield) that was the first time, spent 70k on few body parts and i wasn't sure on the investment.
But trust me it is an amazing investment at least on the luxury cars.

Agree. I have found the PPF very agreeable. Though it is expensive and may not suit every budget. When I got the PPF done in January 2015 some on this thread were critical about it and aghast that the whole body was being done. But I feel vindicated with this passage of 6+ years.

I also like to keep cars for long, and i so wish the diesel rule to end in ncr. But it makes me wonder if Volvo is @8.72 per km how expensive would Merc turn out to be during the same period. I have never visited an independent garage and do not intend to. So does it mean that its only Lexus which should be kept for long 8-10 years of ownership?

Any well maintained and properly driven car should be able to give you 10 years of good service. If it is a Toyota or Lexus or Volvo make that 15 years at least. I intend to keep my Lexus for 20 years if I can. A Mercedes Benz I have no personal ownership experience of. I can't put a number but it would probably be 50%+ more expensive on a per kms basis mainly because parts cost a lot more and fail more often. But this is just my guess and I don't want to show another great brand in poorer light. I sincerely hope that with the switch to EVs MB overcome their reputation for weak reliability and regain the bullet proof reputation they had till about the early 1990s

Originally Posted by fawad0222

Wow, what a good looker the car is, handsome and elegant. Its shine tells us the way it has been cared for. Wish you many more miles of love and fun.

Originally Posted by AZT

I love reading your threads on this car. As Dr. AD said, this is relatively rare and it would be difficult such a good resource on this as your input. I hope the 10 year diesel rule gets changed soon, this car still looks like it has a lot more years inside it

Originally Posted by Puneet0051

Mr Narayan, Your posts are a treat to read. Very informative and gives a clear picture on the vehicle ownership.

Thank you for your kind words and for reading the thread.

[bharathan]

This is a car which has been so very much on my radar for like ever. Glad to see it perform well at this mileage. Have to make the mental leap soon enough.

[Gaboonviper04]

Hi Narayan!
Let me join many others on this thread to say that it's been such a joy to every bit of it! Your love for your car, how you've cared for it is admirable. I've spent countless hours talking to the better half about safety braking features on your Volvo, especially that Santro experience. My eventual aim is to own a car that was built with such brilliant engineering, with the driver/passengers in mind and not just the market.

I like reading long-term ownership reviews here, and yours clearly stands out. Needless to say, please continue with regular updates, and some more pictures!

On a related note, a quick question- my humble Baleno RS (clearly, said aim is yet to be met!) has picked up a few nasty scratches on the front bumper. And it happened while it was parked. I'd like to attend to these as soon as possible. In your experience, has 3M been able to work on plastic parts as well? I am planning to take it to my 3M folks here, but wanted to know what your thoughts are when it comes to fixing prominently visible gashes (3-4, several inches long, and deep enough to reveal the darker plastic underneath) on the bumper. If not 3M, what other good options do I have? Thank you, in advance.

[gismosin]

Mr Narayan, I have been a stalker, leech, vampire...sucking up all the information about your account of the ownership for the Brown mare with absolute greed and delight. I had been considering to buy a Volvo and yours was one of the accounts that gave me courage and I am now a proud owner of Volvo XC40! Wanted to thank you for your time and effort you take to keep the story of your ownership updated and I am sure this will continue to help people like me out there! Many more miles to you!

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by Gaboonviper04

On a related note, a quick question- my humble Baleno RS (clearly, said aim is yet to be met!) has picked up a few nasty scratches on the front bumper. And it happened while it was parked. I'd like to attend to these as soon as possible. In your experience, has 3M been able to work on plastic parts as well? I am planning to take it to my 3M folks here, but wanted to know what your thoughts are when it comes to fixing prominently visible gashes (3-4, several inches long, and deep enough to reveal the darker plastic underneath) on the bumper. If not 3M, what other good options do I have? Thank you, in advance.

Sorry for this late reply. I don't access my membership via my mobile while travelling. The 3M wrap only works if applied on picture perfect fresh paint of a brand new car. It does not work effectively on old paint. Or so I was told by the 3M guys. Though I do not know how it spoils old paint. Both my cars got the 3M wrap within a day or two after their purchase.

However you may experiment with 3M being applied only on the fender portions to see how it goes. I have had a few fender corner scratches thanks to Delhi's traffic & drivers. Those fenders are plastic. In each of the cases I used to have that portion of 3M removed and replaced with a fresh film without doing any touch up paint on the scratch. The 3M worked like a charm and is still holding out in one case for over 5 years. 3M should work equally well on plastic as on metal IMHO as the sticking is on the paint surface. Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by Gaboonviper04

Hi Narayan! Let me join many others on this thread to say that it's been such a joy to every bit of it! I like reading long-term ownership reviews here, and yours clearly stands out. Needless to say, please continue with regular updates, and some more pictures!

Thank you for your kind words. Will keep more pictures in mind for my next update.

[Gaboonviper04]

Originally Posted by V.Narayan

...
However you may experiment with 3M being applied only on the fender portions to see how it goes. I have had a few fender corner scratches thanks to Delhi's traffic & drivers. Those fenders are plastic. In each of the cases I used to have that portion of 3M removed and replaced with a fresh film without doing any touch up paint on the scratch. The 3M worked like a charm and is still holding out in one case for over 5 years. 3M should work equally well on plastic as on metal IMHO as the sticking is on the paint surface. Hope this helps.

Thank you for your kind words. Will keep more pictures in mind for my next update.

Thanks for the reply, Narayan.
It's amazing that the 3M film has lasted this long for you. I smiled when I read your posts soon after you purchased the car, and went for the full 3M protection, much to the disbelief of everyone here! But hey, so many lessons learned.
I'll take the car to 3M folks here soon, and update with what they say. In the meantime, I looked up the part costs of the Baleno RS, and the entire front bumper costs only about 7k! Talk about inexpensive parts (relatively), especially after having read so much about repair costs in the "luxury" segment. So, it may just make more sense for me to change the whole thing.

Karthik

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by Gaboonviper04

Thanks for the reply, Narayan.
It's amazing that the 3M film has lasted this long for you.

Yup. For the bulk of the car going on the 7th year now.

I smiled when I read your posts soon after you purchased the car, and went for the full 3M protection, much to the disbelief of everyone here! But hey, so many lessons learned.

I'm either unconventional, ignorant or stupid or all three :-) All three sounds just right

I looked up the part costs of the Baleno RS, and the entire front bumper costs only about 7k! Talk about inexpensive parts (relatively), especially after having read so much about repair costs in the "luxury" segment. So, it may just make more sense for me to change the whole thing.

This makes best sense. All the best.

This week the Brown mare is on a Rajasthan Aravalis drive to remote havelis and rutted unpaved village roads as my better half and I enjoy our first break in 2 years. The grunt power and high ground clearance is such a delight on rough terrain and steep climbs.

[fawad0222]

Enjoy the terrain, landscape, havelis and the volvo!

[V.Narayan]

After several years I checked the fuel consumption on the Brown Mare. This was on a 700 kms round trip with roughly 100 kms through city roads + 20 kms through rutted village roads + 500 kms on good highway {doing 80 to 90 kmph in the main} + 80 kms on a narrower State highway without a divider. Fuel efficiency came to 13 kmpl diesel. Passenger load = 4 pax + bags. Not being an aficionado of F.E. I have no idea where this stands on the good to bad scale. Just offering it as a reference point.

[VGDelhi]

Hello all,
I have a small query; in the XC60 2014 headlamp assembly where are the horizontal and vertical beam adjusting screws located?
Thanks
VG

[V.Narayan]

Originally Posted by VGDelhi

Hello all,
I have a small query; in the XC60 2014 headlamp assembly where are the horizontal and vertical beam adjusting screws located?
Thanks
VG

Sorry, I do not know.

[Axe77]

I recently test drove an XC 60 with a friend (he was in the market) and I was truly blown away by the product. It’s amazingly well built, absolutely plush, and I can only imagine how nice it will be to drive once it comes in petrol.

Will review your ownership thread more closely to review the cost of upkeep.

He has eventually settled for an outgoing Tucson because he needed a car immediately and this way he can supplement this vehicle with the new Camry sometime early next year and have two cars in the house for a little more than what a new Volvo would have cost. But overall, we regardless came out VERY impressed with the entire experience of the Volvo. The massage seats I thought would be gimmicky but I can actually imagine it being handy on a long drive.

One unusual aspect I found in Volvo - for most brands, the corresponding sedan provides a more comfortable rear seat than its own SUV counterpart. I didn’t feel that was the case here, the XC 60 is definitely more comfortable than the S60 and comparably comfortable to its more direct counterpart, the S 90 as well. The sedans seem to offer a fairly mediocre rear seat compared to what their visual length would suggest. I wouldn’t be surprised if the 3 series also has a better rear seat than the S60 and even the regular 5 or A6 (let alone LWB Mercedes) have a more comfortable rear than the S90.