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2021 Volvo XC60 D5 Inscription: Buying & ownership experience

11th March 2022, 10:39 by Utkarsh Chaudhary

We had to cancel the Land Rover Discovery Sport booking due to the delay caused by Covid-19.

BHPian RishavRBhardwaj recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Volvo XC60 D5 Inscription 2021 [Diesel]

As I sit down in front of my laptop to write this thread, I'm surrounded by a cloud of constant Deja Vu, as I've lived this moment in my mind a thousand times if not more. Right from the day we booked the car, to now, all I have done surfing on TeamBHP, is to skim through all other ownership reviews, to retrieve as much writing skills from others as I can. Whether I'm being able to do justice to that, however, is up to the readers. This initial ownership review is going to be brimmed with a lot of pictures, as a consequence of me playing paparazzi to capture each moment with the car till now. I wanted to first get over the initial euphoria and form my opinions about the vehicle before posting this thread. As of now, we have clocked over 9800 Kms in about 4 months of ownership and I finally feel it's showtime.

Likes

The focus on beautiful, timeless design, inside out.
Fantastic Ride Quality.
The superb 15-speaker Bowers & Wilkins audio unit especially with the Gothenberg Concert Hall mode.
The strong twin-turbo D5 Diesel Engine.
Best front seats in the Business (Nappa Leather+ Cooling/Heating function + Massage function + Electronically Adjustable side bolsters, Underthigh support & Lumbar support).
No feature omission by Volvo. It's as loaded as in the international markets.
Everything feels built to last years and years of heavy use.
Fairly usable ADAS features & top-notch safety Tech.

Dislikes

The steering doesn't inspire confidence over corners.
No physical buttons for AC controls.
Just 2 years of extended warranty offered, on top of already tiny 2 years standard warranty.
Ambient Lighting setup feels like an afterthought.
Gearbox takes its own sweet time to shift between 1st and 2nd.
Side door pockets are awkwardly sized. Most bottles tend to dance around.

Background

Our garage consisted of a 2017 Jeep Compass, Diesel Manual (Driven by Dad), a 2017 Maruti Suzuki Dzire , Diesel Manual, which my uncle would get chauffeured around in & a beater Maruti Suzuki Omni to carry miscellaneous stuff.

The Story

So the tale takes me back to December 2020, the first wave of COVID had just subsided, and a need for one more vehicle at the house was more evident than ever, since I was a big boy now. The 2017 Maruti Dzire had to finally change hands, from the drivers to me, and Dad's beloved Jeep Compass found its new master in my Uncle. And Dad had to choose his new darling.

A special mention of me and dad's bond over cars - For as long back as I can remember, we have had these very special moments every once in a while, that I've always looked forward to as a child. We would together take test drives of new cars that we liked, irrespective of if we are looking to buy a vehicle or not. We've loved cars so much, I do not remember a dinner table discussion without the mention of Cars in it.

Till very recently, I have had to be a mere spectator of these test drives, but not this time, as I was an adult now.

Requirements/Usage

The car had to be good at ONE fundamental job, ONE single box to tick: To do highway mile-munching, like no one's business.
Dad drives his car himself. Thus, It had to be comfortable to drive hours on end, without fatigue.
The suspension had to be robust. It's hard to baby your car over bad roads when rushing for a business meeting in another city.
Rear seat comfort could be compromised, as seldom any body/butt gets an opportunity to enjoy the rear bench.

Cars Considered

Since dad was upgrading from a Jeep Compass, nothing under 50 Lakhs on the road felt like a true "upgrade".

The Ford Endeavour- It's a brilliant SUV, no doubt. But with that comes, its ridiculous size, just too big for our average build.
The Germans (BMW/X3/X5/ Mercedes GLC/GLE)- I had to stay away from the germans for a couple of reasons, one, these things are just too flashy for owning in Bihar/Jharkhand. Two, apparently you pay more for the badge, less for the equipment.

I will have to mention the BMW X3 separately though- Oh lord how do I explain what a spectacular driving machine that is. Had it got a bit more comfortable, softer ride and some BASIC equipment like a 360 d Camera/ ventilated seats, we would be sold already.

Land Rover Discovery Sport- This was on Dad's wish list since the new facelift was launched. He has always liked its Iron Man-like face and understated looks. A bunch of his acquaintances had owned the pre-facelift one, and all seemed to love it to bits.

Since there's no Land Rover dealership in Jharkhand, Land Rover Kolkata was so considerate that they sent a TD vehicle down to Ranchi, from Kolkata. Not once but twice. And to cut it short, we instantly fell in love with it. The ride quality was fantastic, performance was ample, and it felt nimble to drive too. But it was the horror stories of Land Rover's reliability that made me unsure.

LR Discovery Sport

Someday in the middle of both test drives, they also showed up once with their new Evoque. Looked really striking in this shade, but Dad didn't like the firm ride and an awkward rear-end shape.

Range Rover Evoque

We were still firm on the Disco Sport. As it was the year-end, we were keen on getting the new 2021 model that had to come with a bunch of upgrades. We decided to book one as soon as it hits our shores in March. It finally did in April and we booked one with a RED exterior and Black interiors. We were promised delivery in June. "Sometimes you should let your heart rule" is the excuse I used to comfort myself with, whenever that ghost from the horror stories haunted my nights.

Fast forward to June- No update on the vehicle, no VIN allotted, apparently due to COVID's 2nd wave.

We were told that they could deliver our vehicle (In our desired colour combination) only after October 2021. Since we already had waited for so long, why not a few months more, we thought.

But somewhere, there was this itch to try out the Volvo XC60, more so, after a lot of suggestions from fellow TeamBHPians in my What Car? thread.

Again, we don't have a Volvo Dealership too in Jharkhand, we call their Kolkata dealership, and in a couple of days, they drive down 400kms to Ranchi for the TD.

We realised that pictures/videos just don't do justice to the beauty of this Swedish art of metal. And this was by far the most luxurious interior I'd ever laid my eyes on.

Performance-wise, I hadn't expected a lot from the XC60 initially, since most (Indian) youtube reviews were rather lukewarm about it. But it managed to surprise us quite a bit, and calling it rather "Sporty" didn't feel like a crime anymore. Not as sporty as a Bimmer, but coming from a Jeep Compass, I had no space to complain.

XC60

Amber Interiors

The Leap of Faith

It was already around 7 months into the Car Hunt and that extra space of our garage was still empty. There was still no VIN allotted against our booking for the Discovery Sport, and it started to seem like Land Rover might have to sell ONE LESS vehicle this year. We cancelled our booking for the Disco, with a heavy heart indeed. Having established a rather emotional connection with the people at JLR Kolkata.

Now it was time to book the Volvo, the production of the Diesel XC60 had stopped and it was the last lot of diesels being sold like hotcakes.

Colour options were scarce too, Black, White and Pine Grey were the only exterior colour options available. For the interior, we could pick between dark chocolate and amber. (We chose Amber).

Black and White exterior colours were both eliminated almost instantly, The former upon slightly difficult upkeep, while white was never our desired colour anyway. Options narrowed down to just the Pine Grey. The problem was that I had only seen it in pictures/videos. In some, it looked closer to a black and in others, it looked closer to a green. We were puzzled till we saw this picture, and that was all it took for us to take the leap.

The delivery was scheduled for a date more than a month away, the exact time (down to the minute) was mandated by our Astrologer. And the wait began.

The "New Car" urge was still far from being satiated, so I resorted to some accessory shopping. (More on that later in the thread)

In a week, we got the VIN and a few pictures of the car standing in the dealer's yard. It had to stand there for about a month so I made sure proper conditions were met.

Delivery

Going by the rules/traditions in our Family, we aren't allowed to sit in the new car until a Puja is performed with it at the house. Taking a typical delivery from the Dealership in Kolkata and driving it down to Ranchi was thus out of question. So we chose to get it home delivered instead. Our SA was also coming along to give us a formal delivery experience.

19th October 2021- The car left Kolkata in the morning, and I decided to catch it at the highway to escort it all the way to our place. To this point, I was still apprehensive about how the Pine Grey colour would look in flesh.

Love at first sight

Looking through the healthy layer of dust all over it, the colour looked a lot darker than in pictures, neither too dark to be called a Black, nor too grey or green. It's a very tasteful mix of black, grey and green.

Straight to 3M for a thorough wash.